I'm considering a mini tower

K

konsole

Member
I want to get a new case and motherboard soon and am considering a switch from ATX board and mid tower, to mATX board and mini tower. The smaller case isnt really that important but considering that I want to upgrade the board soon I thought it would be nice to get the smaller case and smaller board. My setup is pretty basic...

1 internal Sata hard drive
1 internal DVD drive
1 PCI-E video card
and then the board, cpu, memory and ATX psu

I know that mATX boards dont have alot of expansion slots but I dont need more then the 1 PCI-E slot and I don't plan on needing anymore slots anytime soon (as long as the mATX board has onboard audio and LAN). So I considered the smaller case and board because my setup doesnt require much space.

My questions for you guys are...

1. would a Radeon 4870 video card fit into a mATX case (card is 10 in. long)?
2. do mATX cases have an option to mount the hard drive vertically?
3. do all mATX cases require a mATX psu or can I move over my ATX psu?
 
Based on MY mATX case:

1. There is 10" worth of space at the PCI slots, but I don't know if that card would fit in.
2. Mine doesn't, fits in a CD Drive slot (goes CD, HDD, floppy - thats the only spaces it has).
3. It won't fit in the correct place, but you may be able to mount it elsewhere in the case.

Having a mATX case is great though - small, out of the way and hidden.

Maybe some one can take a photo of the inside of their case (I can't - no camera, sorry)

Hope that helps, Doug.
 
Hm, it really depends on what type of matx case you're looking at. My matx case, the Elite 340, is actually quite roomy. It takes full size video cards, powersupplies, and heatsinks. It, however, sacrifices hard drive mounting space. I can only mount 2 hard drives.

Are you looking at the REALLY small matx cases, or just the mini towers?
 
I use to have a floppy drive but I took it out and may never replace it. I guess my interest is in the mini towers but the smallest I can find the better while still fitting all my hardware and having atleast 2 vents for fans one drawing in cool air and one blowing out the hot air (not including the psu fan vent).

I'm willing to try just about any type of case since the motherboard is the main size consideration and I plan on getting a new one.
 
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