DTX Lives! Four Double-Slot Cases For ITX Gaming Machines

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The ITX form factor is great for space-saving portability. But gamers still need that extra expansion slot to support a high-end graphics card. We compare four compact cases that support double-slot cards on a tiny single-slot motherboard.

Building With The Mini-Tank

A dizzying array of hardware lends itself to a deceptively simple build. Four rubber dampeners are affixed to each 3.5” hard drive via shoulder screws.

Also included in the installation kit is an internal USB 2.0 adapter for ports that are designed to use external USB 3.0 jacks. We find it bothersome that this case, designed to be modern in 2011, still doesn’t support the internal USB 3.0 header introduced last year. But that’s the only thing we really disliked about the Mini-Tank’s design.

Hard drives simply slide into the bay from the left side, and can be oriented with the connectors facing either side. We had to install ours with the cables on the right, for card clearence.

Though the installation was easy, we did have a few small complaints. First of all, having the drives slide in from the left means that the graphics card must be removed before accessing the top two drive bays.

A sliding bar that locks the drives in place is secured by three screws. Because the top screw was within 1/8” of the back of our card, we had to remove it.

The entire drive cage is secured using two larger thumb screws, but the top screw protrudes far enough to block insertion of any card longer than 9.9”. Replacing it with a standard screw allows cards up to 13.5” to be installed, including such monsters as the GeForce GTX 580 and Radeon HD 6990.

Both the front and top 140 mm fans light up with a soft red glow. That is, if such an aggressive color can ever be considered soft.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
61 Comments Comment from the forums
  • iam2thecrowe
    the silverstone sg06b is the only one that looks any good (not great though). the rest are just plain ugly.
    Reply
  • Darkerson
    iam2thecrowethe silverstone sg06b is the only one that looks any good (not great though). the rest are just plain ugly.Opinion = Fact?

    Anyway, I actually like Cubitek's case. Sure, it looks like it would be a pain to make changes to when doing upgrades or whatnot, but nothing is perfect. If it had a handle on top or something, Id probably use it for LAN parties and the such.
    Reply
  • hmp_goose
    Pst: Guys! Ya' flip the plexglass vent on the SG07! http://www.maximumpc.com/article/how-tos/how_build_ultimate_small-form-factor_gaming_pc?page=0,1
    Reply
  • Crashman
    hmp_goosePst: Guys! Ya' flip the plexglass vent on the SG07! http://www.maximumpc.com/article/h c?page=0,1Thanks! But if you're building a new system...better still, use a single-fan GPU cooler and the foam air guide! Imagine this beast with a GTX 580!
    Reply
  • gti88
    Nice article. Very informative.
    Reply
  • Oh wow, lets reinvent a box that holds computer parts, accomplishing the exact same thing all other computer cases before it did, only this version will suck a little bit harder.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    m84092Oh wow, lets reinvent a box that holds computer parts, accomplishing the exact same thing all other computer cases before it did, only this version will suck a little bit harder.So, you're saying you'd have preferred an AT desktop case roundup?
    Reply
  • Onus
    I would like to have seen the PC-Q08 tested with the blower-style cooler. I cannot imagine how that could have been omitted.
    Otherwise, it was an interesting read.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    jtt283I would like to have seen the PC-Q08 tested with the blower-style cooler. I cannot imagine how that could have been omitted. Otherwise, it was an interesting read.The PC-Q08 didn't fail.
    Reply
  • and the advantage of any of these over a "lunchbox" style mATX case is?
    Reply