ATX vs. ITX

[Izuno]

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?

Edited January 19, 2016 by Izuno

[DrywallDreams]

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.

[-HP-]

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.

 

Edited January 19, 2016 by (HP)

[2d-chris]

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

Edited January 19, 2016 by 2d-chris

[Pericolos0]

ATX if you want to build a powerful PC, with a big case, nice airflow and you plan to switch out parts and customize a lot in the future. Lots of room for enthusiast stuff like water cooling radiators too.

mITX for smaller home theater style systems. You can actually build quite a powerful system with mITX these days, there's some interesting case designs that will allow for a full size GFX card.
Physics still rules so heating will always be an issue with smaller cases, and trying to build a nicely cooled quiet mITX gaming machine will be challenging, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

 

The only reasons I can think of for a mini ITX gaming system are:

-smaller home theater machine

-more portable in case you have to move your computer around a lot, like going to LAN parties or whatever.

 

If your computer will be stationary, I'd go ATX, it will save you a lot of headaches

[leplubodeslapin]

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 ^^

Edited January 20, 2016 by leplubodeslapin

[jackophant]

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

[Pericolos0]

@jackophant I'd love to put together an efficient little computer like that one day, but for a powerful gaming machine, I can't imagine that thing not making a ton of noise and blasting a ton of heat, with fans constantly spinning up and down. There doesn't really seem to be any room for closed loop cooling like you say either :p.

To get my computer to be 100% quiet, I had to put closed loop cooling on both my graphics card and CPU, and install about 5 noctua fans. There's no way I could have done that in an ITX case

Of course, if you don't care about noise levels and screaming fans, none of this matters :). A lot of people just game with headphones on anyways

Edited January 20, 2016 by Pericolos0

[blackdog]

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 ;)

[Buddy]

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 

Edited January 30, 2016 by Buddy

[Sprony]

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