I've gone for a Mini-ITX build myself, making use of Corsair's 250D case. It's probably a little big for a Mini-ITX case, but it's damn excellent. I've put in a H100 water cooler for the CPU as well, keeping it on the minimum so it's very quiet. Plus you could put in a huge fan in the front and have it spin more slowly - it'll still shift plenty of air, but quietly.

Its nigh on the perfect case i have been looking for, for ages.
Its the right size (WxHxD) has the full size 5.25" bay and usb ports and switches are top front.
Strp it down and spray it in the colour i want and i can move my existing ITX build into it.

I'm using a Fractal Node 304 which is awesome and this 500 looks to follow suit. I'm sure you could squeeze in a gtx970 in there without too much fuss, assuming the power connectors don't get in the way. (a Seasonic semi modular psu seems to deal with that issue nicely in the Node 304)

imshimaru
I'm using a Fractal Node 304 which is awesome and this 500 looks to follow suit. I'm sure you could squeeze in a gtx970 in there without too much fuss, assuming the power connectors don't get in the way. (a Seasonic semi modular psu seems to deal with that issue nicely in the Node 304)

A fully modular Silverstone Strider with a short cable set may be an even better choice.

The article mentioned a couple of times that this case and similar cases have a small footprint. That's incorrect, cube cases typically have a much larger footprint than a tower. Compare this to the same company's Core 1000 medium tower model for example. This takes up 950cm² of desk or floor space while the Core 1000 uses 735cm², that's a 30% larger footprint.

That's a Micro ATX tower, a Mini-ITX tower can be less than half the footprint.