Disadvantages of small form factor PCs?

[wpirobotbuilder]

I'm thinking about building my first PC in the near future, and I would really like it to be a small one (small matx or mini-itx case). I have no need for overkill performance or a fancy rig, it'd have something like a 3570K, an SSD boot drive, a large storage drive (or two), and a medium range graphics card (GTX 660 or 660 Ti). However, I'd like to ask if anyone's encountered problems with a small build that are worth noting before attempting to build one.

Thanks!

[Guest]

They can be a bit fidly sometimes to build in, especially if you're a first timer however you'll get used to it pretty quickly. Heat in them can also be an issue however things like the Bitfenix Prodigy has excellent exhaust both out the top and side and has a large 200mm? fan in the front for intake. Linus recently did a build in one for NCIXCom you may want to lookup. The boards also only come with one PCI slot which limits sound cards to be external.

[Helltech]

Pretty much the only disadvantages are the obvious ones. Hard to build in, hard to find fitting components, lack of cable managements, lack of airflow.

[mgsstar]

Yea you would have a lack of pci-e slots so if you want to put your sound card or raid card in, you wouldn't be able to because it only has 1 pci-e slot. Small form factor pcs can be sometimes hard to build in like the 2 people above said. If you want your pc to be more expandable, you should get an atx case so you could put your sound card, raid card, or another gpu if you plan to buy those.

[Benbass]

Pretty much the only disadvantages are the obvious ones. Hard to build in' date=' hard to find fitting components,[b'] lack of cable managements, lack of airflow.

This. The two are linked in some ways but with the recent small cases, it should not be a problem.

[leo]

Fractal did a good case more m-atx ( arc mini )

but Overall m-atx ask to be moded in my opinion

Or another option would be to take a small atx case ( exemple ; node 605, arc midi )

[Drunk Muffin]

Pretty much the only disadvantages are the obvious ones. Hard to build in' date=' hard to find fitting components, lack of cable managements, lack of airflow. [/quote']

Yup, And the lack of expandability and features. Although some of the newest small form factor boards are alot better now in their feature set than they were before.

DRKM

[amas]

I can't install a sound card in my ITX build and my gargantuan hands made it difficult to make any minute changes to the machine when everything is screwed in. Have fun!

Pretty much the only disadvantages are the obvious ones. Hard to build in' date=' hard to find fitting components, lack of cable managements, lack of airflow. [/quote']

I could agree with everything but the lack of airflow. I built an itx build for a friend a couple days ago w/ a gtx 680 in it and I don't remember the temps ever going over 75c full load. Was somewhat quiet too.

[Pip_Buoy]

As long as you pick a good case (my favourite being the Bitfenix Prodigy) you will have no problem fitting the components, however cable management is much more important in a small case.

Then other disadvantage is the lack of expansion slots, this just means less expandability, you may want to to invest more in a card like a 670 (or 680 I don't know your price range) that way you should be fine for at least a few years. Also due to this deficit you should also look at getting a motherboard with built in wifi, unless you either don't mind using a dongle or aren't using a graphics card.

[BathroomSecurity]

There aren't really any significant disadvantages of a small form factor PC. The only trouble you may run into is during the building stage where you have to try and fit stuff in and do cable management. On a day to day basis, there aren't many disadvantages.

[Huntsman]

I've had my HTPC built into a SG02. It has a Pentium G630 and a Gemini M4 in it yet the thing runs at 65c on load due to the lack of proper ventilation. Also like the others have mentioned, it is a challenge to build in and the choices of mini-itx boards are little, recommend a micro-atx instead.

[vanwazltoff]

seems like there is trade offs in every itx case, with quite a few cases heat sinks are a problem, with others its graphics card lengths, with others its the amount of pci-e slots, some its hard drives, some its airflow, some its power supply length, some its either or like a prodigy, if you want a graphics card you loose hard drives and it you want a 240mm rad you lose your optical. with the node 304 either a long power supply or a long graphics card. most have problems with cable management in some way.

no problems with m-atx though, they typically have descent airflow and pretty much match a midtower/atx build in every way minus a hard drive bay or 2 and an optical bay or 2 but in a slightly smaller package. for m-atx cases i would either get a fractal arc mini or a fractal define mini, they are both awesome little cases, on the cheap side there is the fractal core 1000. i really like fractal cases

​i have a fractal node 304 itx case with a gtx 670, i5-3570k @ 4.6ghz, 8gb ram, AIO liquid cooler [you can easily get a kraken x40 in it], ssd, 2tb mechanical, asus p8z77-i deluxe/wd, 500w 80+ bronze power supply. my limitation was power supply length but everything else from my midtower minus the atx mobo of course went in really easily with room to spare and my temps are even better than most of my previous midtower builds

[vanwazltoff]

I've had my HTPC built into a SG02. It has a Pentium G630 and a Gemini M4 in it yet the thing runs at 65c on load due to the lack of proper ventilation. Also like the others have mentioned, it is a challenge to build in and the choices of mini-itx boards are little, recommend a micro-atx instead.

ive had midtower cases and they are hard to move around for lan parties, you can always put them on your desk, they are a lot heavier, you typically get way more than you will need. i would recommend m-atx, it has everything a midtower has but less wasted space. itx is a challenge and you have to know your limitations but they are very portable and can be put anywhere, easy to transport. they take a lot of extra planning but after you plan everything and choose your parts according to your limitations you can build something that is ridiculously powerful in a tiny package. with the right case you can have an i7 and a gtx 680 with liquid cooling

[tacticalpanic]

I'm thinking about building my first PC in the near future' date=' and I would really like it to be a small one (small matx or mini-itx case). I have no need for overkill performance or a fancy rig, it'd have something like a 3570K, an SSD boot drive, a large storage drive (or two), and a medium range graphics card (GTX 660 or 660 Ti). However, I'd like to ask if anyone's encountered problems with a small build that are worth noting before attempting to build one. Thanks![/quote']

the system you have listed would have no issues what so ever running on a ITX board , depending on the case you may run into problems with cable management but that just comes with the territory of small form factor.

just pay real attention to the specifications listed for the case you want to buy , it will tell you what size of power supply can be fitted for example.