[octiceps]

Ah, nah. I'm building my own. But building your own is almost all just plug and play. No solder or anything of the sort. I'd have gone into my system if it was a desktop. But laptops are much more of a chore with a billion tiny screws and weird heat pipes in the way, etc. Too much hassle for me. Laptop layouts are super confusing. I've been studying building a desktop for like a year now. Just been very, very patient.

I'm probably gonna use a Coolermaster Mastercase 3. It looks stupid simply to build in with great airflow.

Oh I assumed you didn't like to get hands-on at all considering the AW M17x R4 is ridiculously easy as far as laptops go, literally just a few screws to get the bottom cover and heatsinks off.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Speaking of cases, I want the Lian-Li PC-O10 for a second build (not sure what I'd do with it though).  An expert builder I know ranks it the second best all around case he has ever used (functionality/ease of use, build quality, cable management, looks/aesthetics) with the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Tempered Glass being his #1.
 
http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-o10/
 
Cases that look that good, are built that good, and have such good functionality/ease of use are extremely rare so I might buy one eventually just to have it.

 

[illram]

There are a handful of ITX cases with good air flow, they're just on the large side of the "small form factor" (SFF) niche. The Thermaltake V1 is probably my favorite and it is currently on sale. The Bitfenix Prodigy case has good reviews but it is basically a Micro ATX case by volume, not ITX, even though it is marketed as such, so it gets poo-pooed in the SFF community. If you go that large there are other options like the TJ08-E, which is old but still a great micro ATX case. Fractal Design also makes some good cases. I am a bit of an SFF fan, so I am biased and think there are very limited reasons to bother with a full ATX motherboard these days.
 
I love Lian Li's case designs (I have a Q11 in my living room right now with an old i5-2400 and 970) but there is always one or two annoying things wrong with their cases internally. My Q11, for instance, starves the CPU and GPU coolers for air due to lack of adequate ventilation. But they are very pretty.
 
I am currently awaiting shipping on a custom kickstarter case, the Dan-A4. It's about as small as you can go with a case that can still fit a full size GPU, e.g. a Titan X or whatever is upcoming with the Ti. 
 
As for consoles, I do play on both consoles (Xbox One) and PC. The console multiplayer crows tends to be larger for the multiplayer games I play, these days mostly COD, but basically everything else I play is on PC.

 

[Rhamnetin]

  There are a handful of ITX cases with good air flow, they're just on the large side of the "small form factor" (SFF) niche. The Thermaltake V1 is probably my favorite and it is currently on sale. The Bitfenix Prodigy case has good reviews but it is basically a Micro ATX case by volume, not ITX, even though it is marketed as such, so it gets poo-pooed in the SFF community. If you go that large there are other options like the TJ08-E, which is old but still a great micro ATX case. Fractal Design also makes some good cases. I am a bit of an SFF fan, so I am biased and think there are very limited reasons to bother with a full ATX motherboard these days.
 
I love Lian Li's case designs (I have a Q11 in my living room right now with an old i5-2400 and 970) but there is always one or two annoying things wrong with their cases internally. My Q11, for instance, starves the CPU and GPU coolers for air due to lack of adequate ventilation. But they are very pretty.
 
I am currently awaiting shipping on a custom kickstarter case, the Dan-A4. It's about as small as you can go with a case that can still fit a full size GPU, e.g. a Titan X or whatever is upcoming with the Ti. 
 
As for consoles, I do play on both consoles (Xbox One) and PC. The console multiplayer crows tends to be larger for the multiplayer games I play, these days mostly COD, but basically everything else I play is on PC.

 
I know there are ITX cases with good airflow (like that Corsair Obsidian 250D I showed), but it seems none of the aluminum + tempered glass ones have good airflow.
 
The Lian-Li PC-V2120, PC-X2000FN, and PC-O10 seem to have excellent interior designs, although I have no personal experience with any.  But I'm glad they finally have some competition and aren't the only ones making more mainstream high quality cases now, thanks to Phanteks and In Win (although In Win really needs to improve their internal designs).

 

[artofmanliness]

Guys! PS4 Slim 1TB here in UAE is only 980AED. If any of you have a chance to go here, buy 1. It's really cheap. And that's brand new.

 

[moosefet]

my dad was a programmer so I grew up playing on a PC and have always found console games to be lacking a certain depth that I get out of PC games. There are some console games I do enjoy a lot but I'm never totally satisfied as I can be with some PC games.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I am currently awaiting shipping on a custom kickstarter case, the Dan-A4. It's about as small as you can go with a case that can still fit a full size GPU, e.g. a Titan X or whatever is upcoming with the Ti. 

I was REALLY wanting that case myself, but the availability is so random. I would love it though. Just stick a nice i5/i7 with a 1080ti and call it a day. That or the Caselabs Bulletcase BH2 or BH4. But that too has sporadic availability.

 

[Rhamnetin]

  my dad was a programmer so I grew up playing on a PC and have always found console games to be lacking a certain depth that I get out of PC games. There are some console games I do enjoy a lot but I'm never totally satisfied as I can be with some PC games.

 
Yeah there's a lot of truth to that, and this dates back as far as the 1980s (PC had RPGs and strategy games back then). Lots of PC games have been designed around certain principles that add authenticity and depth, such as:
 

1. If it looks like you can get someplace, you can indeed go there.
2. More than one way to approach everything, more than one way to play the game.
3. Loads of physics interactions/effects, which significantly alter gameplay.
4. Meaningful exploration.
5. No overly detailed quest instructions.  You're told what to do, but not at all how to do it.  Figure it out on your own because there are usually multiple ways to tackle a quest.

 
These are broad concepts I picked up in all kinds of PC games, that are very rarely used in console games.
 
On a side note, I want to show a before/after for my PC.  My after is shown in post #306.  Before is shown below.  Quite the aesthetic upgrade!
 

Spoiler: Warning: Ugly PC below!

 

 

[illram]

I was REALLY wanting that case myself, but the availability is so random. I would love it though. Just stick a nice i5/i7 with a 1080ti and call it a day. That or the Caselabs Bulletcase BH2 or BH4. But that too has sporadic availability.

 
The A4 should be released again via European resellers around February, if all goes according to plan. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Yeah there's a lot of truth to that, and this dates back as far as the 1980s (PC had RPGs and strategy games back then). Lots of PC games have been designed around certain principles that add authenticity and depth, such as:
 

1. If it looks like you can get someplace, you can indeed go there.
2. More than one way to approach everything, more than one way to play the game.
3. Loads of physics interactions/effects, which significantly alter gameplay.
4. Meaningful exploration.
5. No overly detailed quest instructions.  You're told what to do, but not at all how to do it.  Figure it out on your own because there are usually multiple ways to tackle a quest.

 
These are broad concepts I picked up in all kinds of PC games, that are very rarely used in console games.

 
I think those concepts are common enough in console games too, even if they're not as common.

 

[Yethal]

I built my current PC in a mini-ITX case (Lian-Li TU100) and I'm really happy with the size (the entire PC is about as big as my cat). The case can easily fit AIO water cooling and it has enough airflow to keep my CPU below 30 degrees Celsius on idle and below 50 on heavy load.If you need a small, easily-transportable case check it out.

 

[Rhamnetin]

I built my current PC in a mini-ITX case (Lian-Li TU100) and I'm really happy with the size (the entire PC is about as big as my cat). The case can easily fit AIO water cooling and it has enough airflow to keep my CPU below 30 degrees Celsius on idle and below 50 on heavy load.If you need a small, easily-transportable case check it out.

 
I was considering using that case for my brother's PC as well.  It's cute with that little handle on it.

 

[WNBC]

Console guy here (PS4).  Grew up with the Intellivision, Atari, 8-bit Nintendo, etc.  Most of my friends stuck with consoles so I did as well.  I do hear a lot of good things about PC games, but nowadays with kids I'm all about convenience.  Maybe if Destiny is brought to PC then I'll give it a shot  I'll have to read up on how VR is doing in the PC world.  A couple of my friends are already using it with PS4.

 

[Yethal]

I was considering using that case for my brother's PC as well.  It's cute with that little handle on it.

Cable management is a pain and parts must be carefully chosen so they fit inside but if small footprint is desired then this is a strong contender. Here's another comparison, this time with a fullsize atx PC.

As you can see, it's really tiny.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Console guy here (PS4).  Grew up with the Intellivision, Atari, 8-bit Nintendo, etc.  Most of my friends stuck with consoles so I did as well.  I do hear a lot of good things about PC games, but nowadays with kids I'm all about convenience.  Maybe if Destiny is brought to PC then I'll give it a shot  I'll have to read up on how VR is doing in the PC world.  A couple of my friends are already using it with PS4.

 
Did you ever have any of the older PlayStation consoles? I had PS1, PS3, and Vita. The very limited backward compatibility of PS4 is disappointing. They have stated for years that they plan on making all PlayStation releases (new and old) playable in digital format on PS4 and Vita, but who knows when that will happen... I'm especially disgruntled about many downloadable PS3 games not being playable on PS4.