BitFenix Phenom Mini-ITX vs mATX? Weighing the pros and cons...

Definitely ITX over mATX. There's a lot of reasons why, but it's all based around layout. The mATX versions aren't great for anything really.
The Phenom cases aren't fantastic for cooling, as they have a solid front/side where the Prodigy case can have vents, but for something as low power as your proposed setup it shouldn't be an issue at all.
It'll come with a couple of fans which are very quiet but don't move a huge amount of air. It's likely that these will be sufficient for your needs, but you can look into upgrading your setup as/when required. A lot of ITX boards only come with two fan headers, one for the CPU and one for the case, so you'll need to keep this in mind.

Officially speaking, your PSU won't fit. The maximum length allowed is 160mm, but the fact that it is not modular is actually an advantage, as it's fairly likely you'll be able to squeeze it in - modular connectors effectively add length.
I wouldn't like to go out on a limb and say it'll fit, and then you find it doesn't, but you should be ok. If it doesn't fit, it should be possible to add spacers to the PSU bracket (washers or something) to give you an extra couple of mm to play with. You can see a more extreme solution here. I'd imagine they are trying to fit a 180mm+ modular PSU or something silly.

For motherboards, it comes down to a few things. If you want to overclock (the K-series processor suggests you do, or at least want to keep that option) then you'll need a Z87 board and a competent CPU cooler. Matching a cooler to a motherboard is a little tricky, or can be, as nothing on ITX is standardised. Closed loop coolers will make compatibility a lot easier, but if noise is your priority then it's likely an air cooler will offer you better results at a lower price. If you can afford it, then something like the Asus Z87I-Deluxe is very feature packed, has great CPU cooler compatibility and performance. This motherboard will support massive air coolers like the Noctua NH-D14 which is likely to be huge overkill, but gives you great options.


If you don't want to overclock, then you can potentially drop the 4770K (though there isn't much of a saving if any, depending on pricing) and go for a H81/H87 or B85 board. If you need Wifi, motherboards start at around $100, but if you don't then you can go a lot cheaper. If you are trying to keep costs down then the Intel stock cooler is solid enough, you'll run into similar issues with CPU cooler compatibility too.