Silverstone Shows Mini-STX Case In Development

By Rexly Peñaflorida
published

For its annual CES appearance, Silverstone showed some new cases, PSUs, cooling and accessories, but one big surprise was the company’s first mini-STX form factor PC case.

The new small form factor was created by Intel, and it's smaller than mini-ITX. However, it allows enthusiasts to change various components other than the memory and storage. ASRock told us that it’s working on a mini-STX board, in addition to a full system with the form factor, but the company didn’t have either device at the show

The case from Silverstone is another sign that the OEMs are developing around mini-STX. This case (pictured) has a socketed motherboard, although we don’t know its manufacturer. Obviously, this was just to show a proof of concept: The form factor is coming soon, and Silverstone is one of the first companies to produce a component for it.

One thing of note is that there doesn’t seem to be any space for a PSU (our best guess is that it uses an external PSU). However, the case is still in its early stages, so its appearance could change in a few months. Obviously, price and release dates weren’t revealed. In fact, it doesn’t even have a name yet. Regardless, Silverstone wants its customers to know that it’s already thinking ahead.

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Rexly Peñaflorida
14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Haravikk
    Does Mini-STX even allow for internal PSUs? Thin Mini-ITX doesn't, as the ATX main power connector would take up a lot of space that a board simply can't afford when it's using laptop RAM (which is parallel not perpendicular to the board).

    I'd fully expect these to require external power bricks, as without connectors there's no other choice, and given their size an SFX PSU would require you to double the volume of the case anyway. I doubt many case manufacturers can, or will, make bespoke PSUs.
    Reply
  • Onus
    I think this has a huge potential "cool" factor, especially if it leads to the creation of a new form factor for graphics cards. No, you won't get a power-hungry flagship anywhere near the necessary size (any time soon), but something with the power of a GTX750Ti seems reasonable. This new size could also be used in laptops, bringing upgrade options where they have never existed before.
    Reply
  • TechyInAZ
    Sweet! Love this case! Could pop in a 7870k for a moderate gaming machine.
    Reply
  • RedJaron
    17275131 said:
    Does Mini-STX even allow for internal PSUs?
    Rexly specifically stated in the article that this was likely an external brick situation.
    Reply
  • norseman4
    Most mini-ITX have the standard 24 pin power connector plus CPU power, at least those with a socketed CPU. Nano-, Pico-, and Mobile-ITX do not.

    What are the specs of this mSTX form-factor? The Skull-Canyon mSTX machine being developed is said to be 4x8", but there wasn't anything that jumped out from my quick perusal showing how much free space inside the case was available.
    Reply
  • icsta
    I think this has a huge potential "cool" factor, especially if it leads to the creation of a new form factor for graphics cards. No, you won't get a power-hungry flagship anywhere near the necessary size (any time soon), but something with the power of a GTX750Ti seems reasonable. This new size could also be used in laptops, bringing upgrade options where they have never existed before.

    I would think with the smaller manufacturing process coming out soon they could possibly fit a near-flagship card into one of these. The main focus lately has been performance/watt instead of performance at any cost. It is quite possible that one of the newer GPUs coming out using HBM2 and a 14/16nm architecture could fit quite nicely in one of these while keeping the power usage and heat output low. Of course, this is in my opinion.
    Reply
  • Onus
    That would be outstanding indeed, but I thought overly optimistic, at least for now.
    Reply
  • Gurbo
    I think this has a huge potential "cool" factor, especially if it leads to the creation of a new form factor for graphics cards. No, you won't get a power-hungry flagship anywhere near the necessary size (any time soon), but something with the power of a GTX750Ti seems reasonable. This new size could also be used in laptops, bringing upgrade options where they have never existed before.

    I would think with the smaller manufacturing process coming out soon they could possibly fit a near-flagship card into one of these. The main focus lately has been performance/watt instead of performance at any cost. It is quite possible that one of the newer GPUs coming out using HBM2 and a 14/16nm architecture could fit quite nicely in one of these while keeping the power usage and heat output low. Of course, this is in my opinion.
    Your comment reminded me of the article about the new Radeon that was shown. Really early model, with not even every feature enabled, playing a game at 1080@60hz while pulling an estimated 35-45W from the wall. I don't know if your comment about HBM was about the raw power you could pack in there or if there's a power consumption fact I'm unaware of, but it was inferred that that model in the demo was using GDDR5.
    I could see this happening on the next gen or two, and I'm glad to see this kind of things, that little brick looks really nice.
    Reply
  • DrakeFS
    I still like the Intel NUCs better (looks wise) but something that small with a socket... has garnered my attention. However, I have only seen mGPUs listed with STX builds so far.
    Reply
  • PDXDewd
    I thought I saw an ECS board in an SFX form factor and it had the standard 19-20V looking plugin for the power brick just like the thin mini ITX. Seems like the best way to go for space and cable simplification as long as you don't need sata power connections. I love the idea of coupling this with a 750Ti.
    Reply