3.3L small form factor case SFF

Mykola Lytvynchuk
3 min readJan 10, 2021

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When I finished the 4.7L build, I was extremely satisfied with the result. That case was designed with the option to install a discrete GPU. But I used AMD Ryzen 3200g APU, so some volume was left unused. Keeping this fact in mind, I decided that it is never too small for a PC case. So I found an ITX case that is smaller by 1.4L -> 3.3L case from CustomMod.

To see the size difference between the cases, I also added two bigger ITX models: 11.5L SilverStone SG-13 and 27L NZXT H200. But the most interesting comparison is the Sony PS4.

As we can see, SL 2 is much smaller than other cases, including PS4. But what about performance? I decided to upgrade the CPU from Ryzen 3 3200g to Ryzen 5 3400g and RAM to 3333MHz. M2 SSD is used to save space.

All components fitted well into the small case body.

Let’s move to the synthetic tests. 30 minutes OCCT test couldn’t force CPU temperature to the maximum. At the peak, it was 91C. Noctua NH-L9i cooler worked well during the test and the noise level was 55db at max. Geekbench and Cinebench results are attached too.

I didn’t try to overclock the CPU and GPU because the current results are pretty good for a tiny case. It is not worth squeezing more performance and harm temperature and the noise level.

Last but not least point is gamming. I checked the most hyped game right now -> Cyberpunk 2077. The average fps is around 20 for default settings and 1080p resolution, which is not bad but barely playable.

CS GO was handled easily with 70fps at 1080p resolution. The frametime line was straight and I didn’t experience any freezes. So this case and APU are a good choice for not demanding games.

In general, this build will work great for all types of not heavy loads and will look cool at any place in the home, especially near the monitor.

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