Lazer3D's LZ7 Mini-ITX Chassis is now available to purchase in the UK
- Thread starter WYP
- Start date
Funny thing is, it never USED to cost more. It USED to be a decent option for people who didn't need a full size board. It USED to be CHEAPER to buy ITX compared to full sized boards, and was a great option for people who wanted less board for less money. Then it became "hip" and "trendy" and little builds were "cute" (gag), and Asus came out with that overpriced Impact series, and it was all downhill from there.
The reason many of these ITX cases are expensive is because they cater to SFF enthusiasts who are willing to pay more, just like 'gamers' are willing to pay more for RGB etc, and because many of them are from very small businesses (no pun intended) and so cost much more to manufacture and distribute per unit than boring mid-tower ATX case #3080 from the usual lot. I wish M-ATX would take off more, because lets face it 90% of people have absolutely no use for more than 2 PCIe slots these days.
AlienALX
Well-known member
As we covered very slightly in another thread smaller PCs are all well and good, until you go to fit cooling into them. If you want tiny and air cooled? fair enough, I want performance. And you just can not get it out of an ITX based PC. The boards can only take so many VRMs, space is at a premium and nobody except Asus ever really tackled those enormous shortcomings. I'm talking about the Impact, of course, but look at what it cost !
We are going back to the days of sheer brute force power. And with that needs to come cooling, and ITX just can't handle it. The very small handful of AM4 boards either throttle like a pig or are missing a crap ton of features. Yeah sure, with decent audio onboard you need less PCIE slots but PCs are about to go "all out" PCIE with hard drives slowly starting to eat into your lane bandwidth. How are you going to have more than two M.2 PCIE based SSDs on a ITX board?
And Bart, you are right. ITX used to be cheaper because let's face it there's a third of the fibreglass, a third of the cooling and so on. Why the chuff should that cost more? sadly it does. Yeah I know a lot of R&D probably went into this case but it's the size of a shoe box yet costs more than a full sized, glass covered Inwin.
It just makes no sense at all. Plus, how are you going to get Titan X power into a case so small? you're limited to a 1080 at best.
Not for me. Just not for me. I really don't need that extra few cubic feet of air space my PC takes up.
We are going back to the days of sheer brute force power. And with that needs to come cooling, and ITX just can't handle it. The very small handful of AM4 boards either throttle like a pig or are missing a crap ton of features. Yeah sure, with decent audio onboard you need less PCIE slots but PCs are about to go "all out" PCIE with hard drives slowly starting to eat into your lane bandwidth. How are you going to have more than two M.2 PCIE based SSDs on a ITX board?
And Bart, you are right. ITX used to be cheaper because let's face it there's a third of the fibreglass, a third of the cooling and so on. Why the chuff should that cost more? sadly it does. Yeah I know a lot of R&D probably went into this case but it's the size of a shoe box yet costs more than a full sized, glass covered Inwin.
It just makes no sense at all. Plus, how are you going to get Titan X power into a case so small? you're limited to a 1080 at best.
Not for me. Just not for me. I really don't need that extra few cubic feet of air space my PC takes up.
WYP
News Guru
Just remember that these cases are custom made by a small-scale boutique manufacturer. IE, not mass produced and therefore needs a price premium.
The problem is that ITX is now about pushing as much hardware into as small a place as possible for many people, which often means premium.
If you want to make a cheap system ATX or MATX is usually the way to go, as the boards and cases are readily available and your chassis will then have more upgrade potential.
The problem is that ITX is now about pushing as much hardware into as small a place as possible for many people, which often means premium.
If you want to make a cheap system ATX or MATX is usually the way to go, as the boards and cases are readily available and your chassis will then have more upgrade potential.
Dawelio
Active member
Personally, I disagree with most of you all and am the complete opposite. I don't like ATX or big systems, I am all for ITX really. And yes, I have paid $250 for a small case, which is being delivered in January of 2018, it's the Dan Case A4 SFX. In that case, you can even fit an ASUS 1080 Strix or even an EVGA 1080Ti FTW3 GPU.
This case in particular hasn't gotten the "flexibility" of the Dan Case, hence why so limited in GPUs etc. However, due to the smart layout of the Dan Case, you can fit almost any GPU inside of it, even a 10 core CPU and an Titan X if you'd like.
Although, at the end of the day, each is to their own and I am all, 100% for ITX
This case in particular hasn't gotten the "flexibility" of the Dan Case, hence why so limited in GPUs etc. However, due to the smart layout of the Dan Case, you can fit almost any GPU inside of it, even a 10 core CPU and an Titan X if you'd like.
Although, at the end of the day, each is to their own and I am all, 100% for ITX
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
You can fit a 1080ti in ITX if you wanted. I'd only get the FE. The 1080 FE however is the perfect card for ITX unless you go water. I don't see why people hate ITX so much. You get the same performance in a smaller package. I used to use ATX. I won't anymore. So much unused space and they weigh so much for no reason. I moved to ITX and love it. I don't have any extra crap that needs room like RGB strips or 10 hard drives. Just got the essentials. Why use more? I ain't trying to impress anybody with fancy lights or showing them I have 20TB of storage. I impress them with what goes on screen (the few who care enough to look that is). Got my AIO in there, that's the only extra big thing I need outside of my hardware. Do not see a reason to hate on them. Great things come in small sizes after all!
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ImprovizoR
Active member
It's so cute though.
AlienALX
Well-known member
The 1080Ti FE makes an awful racket on the stock cooler, unless you want it throttling like crazy. At which point a 1080 would probably be a good idea.
I don't hate ITX, I just feel that it has a purpose and that purpose is not performance. I would quite happily have a tiny rig on my desk if space was limited but I would want my performance PC hidden away somewhere.
I need more storage than ITX can provide. Again, I would want at least a NAS or small server tucked away somewhere. I listen to an awful lot of music, and in WAV form it soon eats up your storage space.
I also feel it's over priced. Maybe this case being small in numbers would cost a lot to produce, but the cases you can get for this sort of money are light years beyond a plain basic box.
I don't hate ITX, I just feel that it has a purpose and that purpose is not performance. I would quite happily have a tiny rig on my desk if space was limited but I would want my performance PC hidden away somewhere.
I need more storage than ITX can provide. Again, I would want at least a NAS or small server tucked away somewhere. I listen to an awful lot of music, and in WAV form it soon eats up your storage space.
I also feel it's over priced. Maybe this case being small in numbers would cost a lot to produce, but the cases you can get for this sort of money are light years beyond a plain basic box.
Korreborg
Member
It can be awesome. But this one looks stunning in my eyes, but due to bad airflow, the fans hit 1600rpm to keep it cool :sad:
So i just picked up a Fractal Design Meshify today. I have been happy with mITX for 3-4 years, but with a ton of watercooling, its not working as intended.
So i just picked up a Fractal Design Meshify today. I have been happy with mITX for 3-4 years, but with a ton of watercooling, its not working as intended.
Dawelio
Active member
Well everyone is entitled to their own opinion and this is yours, even though I don't really see how an smaller ITX board, with the same hardware configuration as an ATX board, is not what you say your feeling is "performance"?...
Personally I have an 6/12 CPU, 32GB ram, 1TB Samsung 960 EVO SSD and an 1080 Strix in my ITX system.
Well more powerful than most ATX systems on the market and can't really see how this isn't performance? And specially in comparison to big systems, which NBD also mentioned, just takes up uneccessary space, at atleast twice the size?
Korreborg
Member
ITX can be awesome, and as i said, i have loved it for the past 3-4 years.
BUT, 780ti and then the 1080ti = there is a need for a FE, to make up for bad airflow in a lot of cases. And the FE cards is somewhat noisy.
I would still like to have a mITX system, but then i have to build my own case, as the ones on the market isn't ideal for custom loops.
BUT, 780ti and then the 1080ti = there is a need for a FE, to make up for bad airflow in a lot of cases. And the FE cards is somewhat noisy.
I would still like to have a mITX system, but then i have to build my own case, as the ones on the market isn't ideal for custom loops.
Dawelio
Active member
mITX systems are more aimed at people who have limited spaces and/or don't want anything huge. And therefore they aren't really designed to take on full custom loops.
I know the NCASE M1 can take a 240 rad though with full size fans.
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
It's a custom water loop. He has the reservoir mounted to the rad horizontally.
