Close Encounters of the Small Kind

Final Thoughts

I've been using computers for over twenty years now, and I've been building my own systems since the glory days of the 386 and AT/Baby AT cases. After the nightmares of getting older baby AT systems working, ATX was a breath of fresh air. Many of the compatibility issues disappeared. Things have now matured to the point where pretty much anyone with a decent head on their shoulders could figure out how to build a computer from scratch. (If your VCR or stereo is blinking "12:00" at you, this probably doesn't apply.)

After a lifetime of using boring beige cases, I moved on to black. (Yeah, I'm a "rebel" like that.) Now, I'm to the point where I'm furnishing my own apartment and I'm starting to worry about making things look nice. (When I say "I", I'm really talking about my wife as well as myself.) I think a nice SFF or two (or four?) looks a lot better sitting in a room than the bulky tower cases. You may or may not agree with that sentiment, but if you're willing to spend the extra $50 price premium for a SFF case, I think that you will be pleased with the change. There are a few caveats, of course.

While benchmarks were not a part of this article, there are some areas in which SFFs still can't match ATX configurations. For starters, all the high-end performance options become difficult, if not impossible, to incorporate into a SFF box. Two hard drives in RAID 0 is still possible for a small performance boost, but you'll have to sacrifice either a floppy bay or 5.25" bay for one of the drives. Larger 2-slot graphics cards are not going to fit well (if at all) in these diminutive cases, and features such as SLI are simply not possible without a major redesign of the case internals - someone out there is probably already working on such a design, of course. The limited expansion options extend to other areas as well. Most, if not all, SFF motherboards only include two RAM slots, limiting you to 2 GB for DDR and 4 GB if you can manage to find 2 GB DDR2 DIMMs. SCSI drives are also out unless you really want to push the limits of the design. None of these things are a deal breaker, however. Discounting SLI graphics, a properly built SFF can offer very close to the same performance as a typical ATX system. If you really need more performance than that, you're probably already running a dual processor workstation or server.

The other area in which SFF systems tend to fall short of their big brothers is in enthusiast options such as overclocking. Some of the systems include overclocking settings in the BIOS while others entirely eliminate it. Even when they include the options, though, a larger case provides for better cooling, which can lead to better overclocking - a Thermalright XP-120 HSF is not going to fit into any of these cases, if you hadn't noticed. Extreme overclocking devices including water cooling and peltier coolers are also out - unless you want to heavily modify the case. As before, none of these shortcomings are really deal breakers.

As for the two units that I've been using, how do they stack up? If it were me, which one would I want? In terms of features, the ASUS clearly wins out, but the Shuttle system is roughly half the size of the ASUS. To keep things in perspective, the Antec SLK3700-BQE case that was replaced is still about twice the size of the ASUS box. If you won't use many of the extras like the radio tuner and wireless networking, there's little point in having them. Conversely, if you want wireless networking, a flash card reader, and a floppy drive along with the standard DVD and HDD, the shuttle would be unable to fit your needs. Since my printer basically requires an LPT port, the Shuttle wouldn't be able to qualify on its own, unfortunately. (Add-in LPT cards are available, but I prefer a system that includes native support over an add-in card.) There is also a punchout location for an LPT port on the rear of the Shuttle, and you can purchase an adapter that should fit for $9 from Shuttle, but we would like to see the cable included by default considering the cost of the case.

That is the crux of the problem in searching for an ideal SFF case: there are very few SFFs that allow you to have everything that you could possibly want. ATX cases can accommodate a virtually limitless number of upgrades and extras, but SFF designs always make some compromises for the sake of size. Fitting in a large graphics card like a 6800 Ultra is simply not possible on most of the models, and even where it can physically fit, you still may not have enough power to run it stably. The sanity of using such a card in a confined space is up for debate as well - the heat output may exceed the case's ability to dissipate that heat, or at the very least, it would lead to higher noise levels.

If you can live with the above limitations, small form factor designs are really great. They tend to show much better design goals than ATX cases, with aesthetically pleasing looks and less noise pollution. They do cost a bit more and offer fewer expansion options, but when you consider how much money is often spent on non-essentials in the home - like furniture that matches the décor better - the cost is really a pretty minor factor. Laptops are another alternative to ATX cases that many consider, but unlike SFFs, the performance of even the best laptops still trails behind that of a similarly priced desktop by a large margin.

We're working on a large roundup of SFF cases that should be finished some time later this month, so if this initial look into the SFF world - from my biased perspective - has piqued your interest, stay tuned!