ATX vs. ITX

    For those of us who still buy desktops or (more likely) build our own gaming desktop PCs, do you have any opinion on ATX vs. ITX? It's been a while since I built my last gaming specific rig so curious to hear what system builders at the core think.


    edit: The real question is from a gaming perspective is there any reason you'd be into ITX (er really Mini ITX)?

    My assumption is that if you are building a powerful rig you are basically going ATX. An ITX system might be for a low cost home theater system or something like that, but you're not exactly going to build an ITX based rig to become a progamer and stuff. Eh?

    I just built an ATX system, I have no idea why, to be honest. I don't do SLI, and I don't use any PCIe (except one x16) cards. I suppose we'll see how good multi-GPU gets with DX12 and Vulkan, otherwise I would think about doing an ITX build.

    Do you mean Micro ATX or standard ATX?

    Standard ATX is great because you have lots of room for upgrades and they also tend to be cheaper and have more features than their micro-atx and mini-itx counterparts. Micro-ATX just sort of fits in the middle, its good for a build that is either smaller because you can't fit a bigger tower, or you need something that is more portable without sacrificing features and performance.

    I just built a new rig a few months ago and looked into that but i quickly came to the realization that itx is smaller but with less features and more expensive so I went with standard ATX since I don't plan on hauling my computer around that often and I wanted to recycle my old dell xps tower.

    So, basicaly when you go mini-itx, you go all in, as in you're limited to specialized smaller cases, smaller power supplies, you get the picture. It of course also has less RAM slots, less USB's, etc. If portability is a important form factor for you and don't mind the features sacrifice, then mITX might be good investment but be mindful of the sacrifices.

    I'd go standard unless you want to hide the PC somewhere, although you can fit a crap load of components in very small spaces these days heat and noise are always an issue for gaming PC's, Allow for airflow and your pc can be very quiet. Buying parts for a really small MOBO/Case can also add to the stress, and having to actually build it with organized cables, I've seen a few linus tech tips videos on youtube of him making a really small setup, what a nightmare.

    @ HP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-ITX

    I've got a µATX motherboard and case to be able to put my computer inside my suitcase with my 24" monitor and clothes and stuff (yes, i am crazy).

    It wasn't particularly expensive or anything : ~100€ for the Asus P8Z77-M and ~90€ for the Lian Li PC-A04 - Silver (it was 4 years ago). The huge Noctua NH-C12P SE14 fits inside, with my huge GTX 670 from Gigabyte (Ultra Durable 2 or something like that) and the i5-3570K is overclocked at 4.3 Ghz.

    The temps are fine, not exceptional but it's ok.

    I'd love to make a mini-ITX gaming PC but i'm afraid it's hard to make it work, there are great designs though but i don't know about the noise and dust filtering. Instead, i built myself a mini-ITX server/NAS ^^

    If I can, I go for the smallest build possible. If you just "build a computer and leave it", why not go Mini-ITX? It's not going to take up as much space, and is portable when you need it to be. The cost isn't that much greater either, maybe £20 extra compared to MicroATX or ATX counterparts.

    As for extras, it always depends what chipset you go for. Ofc there will be less available on a Mini-ITX Z110 compared to an ATX Z110, but then how much of it will you take advantage of?

    With the newer CPUs, they're so efficient you don't need ridiculous or oversized cooling, and for the really cramped cases, closed loop water cooling can be used to offset the height restrictions in some cases for a radiator elsewhere.

    Let me just leave you all with this beauty I'm waiting to be released: DAN A4-SFX

    It always depends on the needs?

    Standard cases are of course easier to build, maintain, present less challenges. In terms of workstation, my dream machine would be built in the desk.

    That being said, having recently bought a TV and started connecting my gaming laptop to it to play pad-friendly games, I got interested more and more with small builds and tooled with the idea of getting that sort of machine for SteamBox use. You can get power out of there, and if you know how to put together a machine and you have a DIY tick, that sort of build presents you with an interesting challenge ;)

    I keep my workstation behind a wall with cables to the display and peripherals running in the floor up to the desk. That makes for one nice noiseless working environment

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