I was getting the original framework desktop and I heard there was some noise issues. I didn’t feel like dealing with the potential problem because I do audio production. I figured I’d just get the main board and have some options with respect to Case and power supply.
I’m currently looking at the fractal Terra because I like the aesthetic, but I’m also interested in thinner cases and doing some research on my options there as well.
I started another topic recently for motherboard-only purchases, and what you need. Summary of what you don’t get:
Other than that, it is just like any other motherboard. My only other issue was since I decided to design and 3d print my case I have to come up with the front buttons, and make that look good (hadn’t thought of that). Also keep an eye on airflow – the fan on top of the heat sink is meant to pull air from outside the case, so the fan shroud should fit in a case side opening (or top, depending on orientation) so that no inside-case-air gets sucked into the top of the heat sink, just good fresh outside-case air. With that, no other major cooling seems to be necessary.
Good note on the screw pitch issue. I’m so used to traditional mobos with backing plates for the fan, so I didn’t even realize that was a potential problem. I haven’t done a build in a while.
I’m mainly curious about what people are choosing more from an aesthetic standpoint though with this thread. I don’t remember there being many mITX options in the past but now there seem to be quite a few especially in the form factor of the fractal terra.
Ah, I mis-read your title as “what are you getting”, I missed the word “case”. So anyway, to answer that question:
Since I have a 3d printer and wanted a “fun” project, and had a full sized ATX power supply laying around I ended up doing a cubical case design (a bunch of flat panels that are connected together). Lower chamber holds the power supply, and has room for additional HDDs, and upper chamber holds the motherboard. It isn’t really that pretty of a design, but it is functional – will upload to printables.com (to join the many other designs out there) when I finish validating thermals, and make a couple of tweaks. The motherboard is mounted horizontally in the upper chamber, with a hole and grate for the fan intake, with a ring that extends down to mesh with the fan duct. Main thermals I’m worried about, is the heat sink fins are oriented front-to-back, so all air blows to the front and back directions – and in the front, there is one of the SSDs, so slightly concerned about keeping that cool (with hot CPU air blowing on top of it), plus if I have air vents in the front of the case that will be warm air blowing out the front right onto me. May look at doing some additional ducting, to direct air flow accordingly.
I haven’t received my 64GB motherboard yet, but I’m considering installing it in a Jonsbo T6 case.
I already have this case with a 550W Corsair ATX power supply.
As for the fans, I chose a Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 PWM for the motherboard heatsink.
I’ll leave the Noctua NF-A14 PWM currently installed on the front panel and see how it performs in terms of temperature and noise.
I bought an MT7925 WiFi 7 - Bluetooth 5.3 + Triple Band 2.4G/5G/6G card, which seems to perform well under Windows and Linux.
I also have a few Samsung 990 Pro SSDs that I’ve been using for some time.
There you go, all that’s left is to wait for the motherboard which, despite Framework’s promises of delivery in 5 working days, doesn’t seem to be available!
I would have liked to be able to install this motherboard in a COOJ Sparrow-MQ4 case but I fear that the thickness of the radiator + fan will exceed the height of this case.
Probably not what you have in mind, but I’m going to be putting mine in a PowerSpec LL04401 case. I’ve seen some folks online say that it looks like either a knockoff or rebrand of the Silverstone RM400.
I had wanted a Sliger CX4170a, but it would take at least a couple of weeks to get one from them, so I’m going to get that Powerspec case from Micro Center instead.
My 3090 won’t fit in the Rosewill case I was originally planning to use.
I got one of the last Chieftec BT-06B cases on the planet and made a number of modifications, cut holes for fans on the front and side, opened up the fan hole on the top, closed some of the unwanted holes that would’ve let air escape from the wrong place, cut holes into the mobo plate for M.2 slots, cut the U-shaped cover into 3 separate pieces and added extra screw holes and reinforcement to compensate, added extra holes for WiFi antenna mounting, added mesh to the intake vents, probably something else as well. Replaced the trash PSU as well.
The motherboard hasn’t arrived yet so dunno yet how well it will actually work, but it seemed like it was the smallest case that would fit it reasonably and was possible to modify for reasonable cooling.
Answering my own question, I ultimately ended up getting the Mechanic Master c24 (SGPC K39 and K29 were runner ups). I would have went for something even thinner, but I was concerned with running into compatibility issues, and also the caliber of flex PSUs. There doesn’t seem to be many options, and I was hearing about fan noise complaints with the options that are out there. Noise is a huge deal for me, so I went larger for the larger case.
The c24 is relatively small, it has an almost industrial look with the handle affixed which isn’t the style I’m going for, but in its all black and all white variants it’s decent enough.
My use case is such:
Only if I settle on going the 2x 3.5" HDD route, any thoughts about a “Thermaltake Core V1”?
It seems I could squeeze one or two more 3.5" drives in it too if I rig-up some mounts.
If you have – or if you look at it now and think of – good alternatives that fit my use case please pass it along. Thanx!
The Jonsbo N4 seems to be a nice case that would fit 8 drives and is a similar size to the Core V1
I’m pretty sure that the Cooler and Fan would clear the Sparrow-MQ4.
I have the 64gb variant in the Densium APU case which has the same clearance as the MQ4. From my measurements the CPU cooler clearance on the Framework Desktop is ~68mm
This looks fantastic. Very nice case
The Jonsbo N3 & N4 were on my shortlist. But it only supports an SFX PSU. 
I have a spare Corsair ATX RM850e PSU I want to use.
But somewhat similar… Considering the Fractal Design Node 304 or 804.
I already bought the following for my mainboard (Ryzen™ AI Max+ 395 - 128GB) only order.
The case has about 85 mm internal height. I still don’t know if it will fit or not but I will see it hopefully next week or the week after.
If the 120x25 mm fan would not fit into the case then I plan to switch to the NF-A12x15 PWM.
The goal is to have a silent system. I must not hear it in idle and it should be silent enough under load situations. And if needed I could limit the TDP from within Linux (Arch Linux).
