Mini ITX pros and cons

drm8627 · Jul 14, 2014

i really like the form factor of some of the mini itx cases, such as the corsair obsidian, some of the inwin cases, and the bitfenix phenom. I recently built a computer and stuck it in the living room, and it sticks out like a sore thumb, and I might be considering switching to a mini itx build.
Is the hardware on a mini itx inferior, and if i got a fan with good enough pressure would that outweigh the ventilation issues i commonly read about with these cases.
I saw them around when i was building my rig, just never really thought about using it.
I think something like that would look better in the living room than my cougar af2 case ( which i think look sgreat, it just really doesnt blend in very well at all )
My build is 750K cpu
6950 2gb powercolor gpu
2x4gb of 2400 ripsaw x gskil ram
xfx 550 watt psu
( i had an asrock fm2a75m pro4+m, but the dual channel didnt work, so i rma it and now im still waiting)
i dont plan on overclocking, but i do play a lot of mmos, like warframe, amd planetside 2 for hours on end and i dont want to worry about burning any of my components up, or even the motherboard, especially from lack of ventilation.
Just curious as to the experience you guys have had with the itx stuff, i have no experience with it whatsoever, always been a atx guy.

just wondering what the pros and cons of this is compared to atx.

thoughts, opinions, advice

all is appreciated

thanks

hammong · Jul 14, 2014

Pro: Small
Con: Small. One PCIe slot.

Honestly, the hardware quality on a good ITX board is just as good or the same as the same manufacturer's ATX and mATX offerings in most cases. It really does come down to case size and/or portability.

I've got an ASRock Z87E-ITX that I love in my HTPC. It's the first ASRock board I've owned, and it's impressed me enough that I'd consider the brand in future. It's got rock solid 802.11ac wireless, 6 SATA 6.0 ports, etc. Couldn't really ask for more in a 7x7" board.

I also have a ASUS Maximus VI Impact that I built my wife's PC on, and it's also an awesome board - albeit with more features and a little more bulk.

Greg

pcfoo · Jul 14, 2014

It's not for you if you want SLI/CFX that is not available in 2-slot SLI/CFX cards (i.e. 690 / 7990 / R9 295X2) as most ITX cases are limited to 2x PCI expansion slots, or need dedicated sound card ontop of GPU, as you can only have 1x PCIe 16x.

You are also a tad RAM limited, as ITX boards usually have only 2x dimm slots - tho I don't think 2x8GB will be a bottleneck in the vast majority of games anytime soon.

Performance wise - especially if extreme overclocking is not a desirable trait - most decent ITX boards are as good as ATX.
High-end ITX boards overclock just as well as mid-range ATX in the ball park (so you do have to pay a bit more for an ITX board that does that reliably), but for stock speeds any ITX will do.

The vast majority of users will be happy with a ITX, as cases can support a single dual-width GPU, boards can maintain a mild OC just fine, and 1-2 SSDs and 1-2 HDDs are also accommodated just fine, while 16GB of RAM are still above what the average user can come close to utilizing without just "looking for it".

PCSarge · Jul 14, 2014

i run ITX. no different than ATX just less PCI-E slots thats all. most of themwill take up to 32GB of ram, if you can find a kit of 2x 16GB sticks.

ive run 5GHZ on an ITX board with no issues. just depends how good you are at tweaking an OC

keikei · Jul 14, 2014

The size factor is a double-edge sword like some members have mentioned. You have to be very particular with each component. Make sure it fits. Concerning the case, i would study it inside/out. Watch reviews on youtube. That way, you wont be surprised when building. Bascially, you'll need to do your homework.

pcfoo · Jul 14, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by PCSarge

most of themwill take up to 32GB of ram, if you can find a kit of 2x 16GB sticks.

IIRC, the chipsets might support 32GB total, but the memory controllers on all of the "desktop" chipsets atm don't really support anything but un-registered DDR3 RAM, i.e. UDIMMs.
And DDR3 UDIMMs sticks are maxed out @ 8GB ea.

Long story short, for all practical purposes, you cannot get more than 16GB of RAM with 2-slot boards s1155/1150 (even with Xeon E3s) or AMD FX CPUs & APUs.

Booty Warrior · Jul 14, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by keikei

The size factor is a double-edge sword like some members have mentioned. You have to be very particular with each component. Make sure it fits. Concerning the case, i would study it inside/out. Watch reviews on youtube. That way, you wont be surprised when building. Bascially, you'll need to do your homework.

Yep. Making sure everything fits, and that you can route your cables and maintain appropriate air-flow are the biggest issues to consider when going ITX.

That said, there aren't many limits on ITX builds these days. There are several high-end boards in the form factor, and most cases can fit full sized graphics cards. Unless you need several PCIE expansion slots, there's no reason not to give it a go.

drm8627 · Jul 15, 2014

Wow thanks for the replies. Great community!

mdocod · Jul 15, 2014

Something to take note of is the actual size of some of the "nice" ITX cases. Many of them are actually not much smaller than a mATX case, and in some cases, there are mATX cases that are smaller than ITX cases.

In order to get a "truly" compact IX build, we usually have to sacrifice a number of things:
1. Inboard PSU (replaced with an external power "brick" and "pico" type PSU.
2. ODD
3. discrete GPU
4. 3.5" drives

See Antec ISK 110 VESA as an example

drm8627 · Jul 15, 2014

yeah that case is nice, but i was looking for something i can put a discrete cpu into, and im not sure how much wattage those external psus can push.
like i say i like the corsair obsidian and the bitfenix phenom. I basically want to be able to convince myself its a console, while still having some heavy duty computing power ( for gaming any anything else my adhd mind ever decides to do. Do the mini itx boards usually support dual channel memory, and how are the vrms set up on most, and what would be the very best fm2+ mini its board youd recommend for gaming and overclocking. And do you have any mini itx cases youd recommend that would look pretty badass as a console, that would still let me play heavy duty video games, and not have to worry about temps, ( i sold a lot of my stuff to build this computer, so if it fried, im pretty much screwed). And any suggested psus that would be able to push 32 gb of dual channel ram, a POSSIBLY slightly overclocked 750k cpu, and a stock powercolor 2gb 6950. id definitely sacrifice overclocking for stability, reliabiity , and longevity of my system. Like i said my system runs everything i want it to without any trouble whatsoever. i ran warframe in 1080p at max settings with average 30-40 fps, which is fine by me, and ran planetside 2 to my satisfaction and a few other games. anyway, with a case like that, its be a lot more portable too.

Any fans you guys recommend for a mini itx case, that arent TOO LOUD, but have decent air pressure and cfm to push and pull through the tight crevices of a mini itx case

( btw my question mark is broken on my laptop, and my desktop is out of commission until i get a new mobo)

Mini ITX pros and cons

drm8627

hammong

pcfoo

PCSarge

keikei

pcfoo

Booty Warrior

drm8627

mdocod

drm8627

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