For the past couple of years I've been running my first truly SFF build in a Metalfish S3 case. While overall I was extremely pleased with the result, there were a few "surprises" in my parts choices that were not as ideal as they could have been. Since then, I've been slowly correcting those issues, which ultimately led me here: a mostly new build in a brand new case!

The case is a Feiyoupu T80 from Taobao (here's a link to my recommended agent if you're not comfortable ordering for yourself). The dimensions are almost identical to the Metalfish S3, but slightly wider--and let me tell you, the extra width makes all the difference. Not only does it open the door to more compatible parts, but both cooling and noise are a vast improvement with the extra room to breathe.

Also, the layout is a joy to work in by comparison. While I'd say the S3 has better cable management, the T80 is far easier to get into and access. Instead of side panels screwing on, they actually slide in on rails and are held in place by the magnetic top plate. You could screw in the top if you wanted, but the magnets are very strong and definitely won't lose their grip by accident.

My only real complaint with the T80 is that there's no front USB to speak of. I've got to imagine a Type-C port would've fit nicely below the power button without breaking the aesthetic, but oh well. And speaking of aesthetic, for some reason Feiyoupu decided to make the power LED green (on a white, black, and red color scheme...). I asked if they might be able to swap it out for white, but no luck, so I just left it unplugged. The RGB functions as a power LED anyhow, and you can even see it through the power button.

I'm honestly astonished at how little compromise is left in this build. ~5 liters really is enough for everything you need IF you have the patience to sort out the perfect parts and tweak the UEFI settings for the ideal balance of noise vs performance. As it stands, I do have TurboBoost disabled on the CPU and hyperthreading disabled on the first two cores. This gives me solid 4.1 GHz performance at a mere ~75C under load. The GPU I've limited to 150w TGP for acoustics (only costs ~3 FPS on average vs stock 200w TGP). Despite the cutbacks, gaming at 4K60 is no problem, and the PC is quiet even when sitting right next to it. It's definitely a keeper!