Best case for an i9-7980XE on an ATX motherboard? Small/great cooling

[macs_forever]

What is the best ATX case for an i9-7980XE? What I mean by the best:

• Small
• Light
• Portable
• Extremely well cooling
• preferably aluminum

I'm also interested in what people think about the best way to cool a i9-7980XE

 

[iuppiterzeus]

I use a fractal design node 304 which meets most of your best-points (small, pretty light, portable) and can fit a tower cooler (not typical with this size) but it is small so you need small hands or good planning, especially if you plan to use the internal drive mounts. It still is one of the smallest cases that can fit normal sized components (that's also why I chose it for my build).
The build quality is not the greatest but not bad or something (not sure about your desires).

The best way to cool any CPU is phase-change but that will definitely not fit in that case. If the case is not a point of that equation I would still recommend a custom water loop or big AIO because they are powerful and silent. Although from a reliability standpoint nothing can top out air cooling. Noctua and be quiet! have some very high performance air coolers.

 

[macs_forever]

I use a fractal design node 304 which meets most of your best-points (small, pretty light, portable) and can fit a tower cooler (not typical with this size) but it is small so you need small hands or good planning, especially if you plan to use the internal drive mounts. It still is one of the smallest cases that can fit normal sized components (that's also why I chose it for my build).
The build quality is not the greatest but not bad or something (not sure about your desires).

The best way to cool any CPU is phase-change but that will definitely not fit in that case. If the case is not a point of that equation I would still recommend a custom water loop or big AIO because they are powerful and silent. Although from a reliability standpoint nothing can top out air cooling. Noctua and be quiet! have some very high performance air coolers.

That doesn't fit a full ATX motherboard...

 

[macs_forever]

I use a fractal design node 304 which meets most of your best-points (small, pretty light, portable) and can fit a tower cooler (not typical with this size) but it is small so you need small hands or good planning, especially if you plan to use the internal drive mounts. It still is one of the smallest cases that can fit normal sized components (that's also why I chose it for my build).
The build quality is not the greatest but not bad or something (not sure about your desires).

The best way to cool any CPU is phase-change but that will definitely not fit in that case. If the case is not a point of that equation I would still recommend a custom water loop or big AIO because they are powerful and silent. Although from a reliability standpoint nothing can top out air cooling. Noctua and be quiet! have some very high performance air coolers.

BTW, My favorite case for the M-ITX so far is the Lian Li PC-TU100. However, it is NOT plug and play. Requires a lot of mods to support anything larger than a 65watt CPU. The 2 bottom drive bays are replaced with fans. I managed to put a Core i7-6700K with a GTX1060 in one without burning it up. It's a fun little rig. VERY tight on space.

 

[macs_forever]

So Far, the Fractal Design Define S is my choice. Smallest case with ample cooling options.