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

By Thomas Soderstrom
published

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 SG06B

We’ve mentioned that the SG06B is a little flimsy, but it’s still well-designed and accurately manufactured. Unfortunately, a well-made cheaper case still comes with stick-on feet.

SilverStone also adds an Ultra ATA (rather than SATA) notebook drive interface adapter.

A 3.5” hard drive bolts directly to its cage without the benefit of noise-dampening grommets, but that’s not surprising in a budget case. Sliding tabs engage the optical drive tray above it.

Builders get easy access to the optical drive tray once the hard drive cage is removed. Flipping it over reveals a 2.5” drive bay.

There’s a trick to inserting a card as large as Gigabyte’s overclocked GeForce GTX 560 Ti in the SG06 chassis, and that trick is in the order of assembly. First, the card must be installed with all drive hardware removed. Next, the uninstalled hard drive (and cage) must be connected to its power and data cables and placed in its approximate position, since its interface is blocked by the card. The graphics card’s power cables then must be installed before dropping the optical drive tray into position.

Once the optical drive bay is secured, the hard drive can be lifted into position, its mounting tabs slid into the optical drive tray’s slots, and its screws attached to the upper rail.

Even though many components fit tightly, we found that our gaming system performed acceptably within the SG06B. Our tests will show how well it functions compared to other solutions.

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