Framework desktop compatible cases?

Hello! I’m looking to try to find some cases for my framework desktop MB (which will ship soon this quarter)

I am mainly looking for the cooler dimensions/height (with the 120mm fan) so I have somewhere to start looking.

A case that peaks my interest is the Sparrow-MQ4, which says to have 70mm cooler height. If this case is not compatible, I would love a case like it, thick CNCed aluminum is what I’m after. Another reference to thick cases is Xikii, which also peak my interest, but they don’t have APU cases.

Under 5L is my goal, but if its 5.5L, that’s fine. Thank you

edit: would like to know the cooler height with and without the fan

Have a look at the store at the Desktop page Framework lists the following heat sink specs:

123.75 x 123.15 x 54.58mm

It is not made clear what that includes but from the images I would assume that it is only the bare heat sink without fan and without mounting bracket.

But something doesn’t add up here. The Framework case is only 96 mm thick, while the MQ4 is 100 mm. Why does the latter support only 70 mm cooler height? Is it because of the optional SATA drive mount?

1 Like

Thank you for listing that, it helps a lot

With it being 55mm, I can at minimum have a 15mm thick fan on it. But hopefully the 70mm limit is wrong and I can still put a full 25mm fan on it. Hopefully its just that optional drive mount that takes away some of the height

I’ll hopefully remember to give updates here, thank you again!

1 Like

Just be aware that you might also need to mod the mounting as the official mounting bracket needs a bit of space above the fan. I am sure however that one could get the fan mounted in an alternative way if space is tight.

1 Like

hard to say.
The 70mm is for me for a normal MB with a Bracketed CPU with shim… that is ~8,5mm (?) height. so it is 78,8 mm height from the MB.
In case of Framework the height are all from the MB. In the spec say: 75.88 FAN HEIGHT and a max of 83.2 mm with the FAN DUCT…
On some picture the MB is mount on U2 rack that is only 88,9 mm height …

So… it may need to remove the fan duct to fit…

Note: I did not see this case before, but look nice!

1 Like