Let me know when the ATX version is out.
They just finished selling out their
Atlas II run - these cases are built in batches, and the company hit a rough patch due every imaginable thing going wrong (pandemic, hurricane, etc.).
They have been responsive over email though, for those interested, and have a Discord up. In the last six months they've gone from 'we're getting out of the business' to 'we'll see!', given the amount of interest.
On a side note, I showed the title shot to one of the clerks at Microcenter while checking out earlier today, and he instantly knew who Yuel Beast was.
I'm wondering what kind of ITX system I could build now and how to justify needing a second computer to myself.
Aside from my i7 Laptop, work computer, ipad, etc.
Well, my wife's is an ITX, i5 9400 with 1050Ti, and runs like a dream in a Fractal Design Nano.
My 'Linux desktop' which I'm putting together now will be an R7 5700G, in a
Cryorig Taku - the case has basically zero provision for advanced CPU cooling, so the 8700k that's thermally limited and 1660 Super that are in there now will be getting swapped to something else, while the AMD setup will be running onboard graphics and a 10Gbit NIC.
(side note: there is exactly
one AM4 ITX board that has Thunderbolt, the
ASRock X570 PHANTOM GAMING-ITX/TB3, and it would not work with the 5700G, or
any CPU / memory combo that Microcenter had on hand - they charge $30 for ~30 minute BIOS upgrades by the way! - so the ASRock is going back to Newegg; I've had good luck with them in the past, but I'm going with ASUS for this setup as it really does just need to
work)
8700K parts will be going in a Hyte Revolt 3 - if the case isn't a disaster. Has provisions for a 280mm AIO, and I have a spare ~5yr old H115i with new Arctic fans to give it a shot in. This build will be waiting until I whittle down the case review log, before Brent yells at me...
All in all, ITX is what you make of it. Part of the draw for me is understanding that modern computing does not require the 'biggest' and 'baddest' for most computing needs, including gaming and content creation workloads. You almost never need more than two memory slots, for example, one to two M.2 slots is plenty, and a single x16 PCIe slot is also plenty for a high-performance GPU, NIC, or SAS controller as the case may be.
In general, if you don't need an external card at all, you can go real small, while possibly keeping all the features you need.
On the other hand, ITX can still go big, and when it comes to more adventurous layouts like the Yuel Beast Motif Monument, or NZXT H1 v2 (non-self-combusting-edition), and a slew of others, one can get massive amounts of performance into a small package!
The one thing that seems to get my attention the most is my external 12gb HD. That makes the most annoying type/level of noise in my system and it really isnt all that bad. I could always put it in the case.
NAS. This is the main reason that I use 10Gbit networking, and just picked up a switch with 10Gbit and 2.5Gbit ports - to be able to throw high-capacity spinners at a box
somewhere else. I did unfortunately wind up putting a pair of 8TB drives in my desktop, and I'm... contemplating picking up some large SATA SSDs to replace them, just due to the shear noise and all of the initialization delays (booting, opening File Explorer) that they bring.
As for dust: I've historically been a 'positive pressure, filter all intakes' builder, and I don't really like straying from that where possible. For case reviews, I did wind up getting a handheld blower instead of buying crates of canned air, but what I'd really like to pick up is one of those vacuums that grounds out static electricity buildup. Also lots and lots and lots of Zeiss wipes!
