My old i5-2500K based build was like that for many, many years. It sat on my desk on top of an anti-static bag (that the motherboard came in). The new graphics card I had, which was a gtx 480 maybe, wouldn't fit in the old case I had.

It took me at least 5 years to get a new case, much to my wife's annoyance.

It was fine. Swapping SSDs was easy. >.<