mATX vs ATX for quiet gaming PC

altich88

altich88

altich88

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Joined
28 Oct 2008
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233
Hi all,

I'm planning my next upgrade and I'm having trouble deciding whether to go mATX or ATX. My current build is a standard clocked i5 750, single 4890 GPU build in an Antec p183 and I've been very happy with it regarding the performance and noise. I certainly don't need the option of SLI/CF or overclocking, so feature-wise mATX would be fine for me. The only reason I would stick with ATX would be because some people say that the larger case means it would be cooler and quieter.

The only issue is that I'm worried about how much noisier/hotter an mATX build would be as this is a primary factor for me. I would be very interested to hear from people who have had mATX cases and could compare them to ATX in terms of how much noise they make.

Would an identical build be quieter in an ATX case compared to a similar mATX case? If I did go mATX I would probably be looking at something specifically designed for low noise, like the mini P180.

Thanks
 
How quiet do you need it to be? You can get fanless PSUs up to 550W and there's the Nofan CR95 CPU cooler. You should consider the Silverstone FT03 case, because the motherboard is rotated so hot air from the GPU does not rise to the CPU. You might also consider the FT05, though it's a full ATX, and cable management is an issue.

In the FT03 your GPU will go in the PCIe3 x8 slot. The FT05 has the advantage that the PSU is not underneath the CPU, so the hot air streams rise separately.

But if size is your thing, consider ITX.
 
I have an mITX system which is pretty much completely silent at idle. By far the noisiest component is a mechanical harddrive if spun up. At load the video card is the main contributor to noise, but it is really not bad.

mATX is by no means small, nor is any of the mITX cases that take full size video cards in my opinion.
 
Thanks for the advice so far guys.

Quartz said:
How quiet do you need it to be?
Click to expand...

Just as quiet as a quiet ATX build really. Doesn't have to be silent, just very quiet. I guess I'm just looking for reassurance that an mATX build isn't necessarily louder than an equivalent ATX build just because it's smaller.

As for saving space, I'm just after something a few inches smaller in depth and height so it will sit easier under my desk.
 
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