MicroATX questions

[Rhezuss]

Hi everyone,

My current computer still is on AGP, with ok hardware to do the job, which is mostly gaming and AutoCAD 2002.

My next upgrade (in several months) will surely be PCI-E and obviously for gaming and CAD. I was looking at MicroATX cases, for their sizes and partical general uses. It happens few times (3-4 times a year) that we do some LAN in a friends appartment. I'm looking at mATX for the fact that it is less painful to transport.

My question: Is microATX format poor, good or great for gaming and what about heat in those less spacious cases?

P.S.: I'm looking at the ASPIRE X-QPack case.

 

[mwmorph]

mATX works fine. I have one all you need is keep a ye on the cooling and make sure it's good. Ger a NV or ATI silencer with Direct Heat Exhaust Syatem to blow the hot air out of your case and yuo should be fine. expansion will be limited though if you need like 3 pci cards and 6 slots of ram.

 

[BloodTravis]

As long as you dont plan on upgrading there is not that much space..
But if you do i'd recomend a shuttle they have outstanding cooling systems... (ICE)

 

[m3rcury]

They are fine, as long as you have good airflow. I have the Inwin V500T, and there's a hole in the side panel right over the cpu fan, so the air going to the cpu is 80% from out side the case. The psu has a 12cm fan which pushed the hot air directly out. And there's another hole in the panel where the agp/pci slots are. So if you angle your fans correctly, you should do as well as a regular atx case.

 

[Baenwort]

I second getting the ATI or NV Silencer. I've got a Antec Aria that I built when they first came out. Works well with the mods I've done(ATI Silencer, removing flow restricting mesh, and replacing the 120mm fan in the PSU with a Pabst) but some of the newer mATX cases are better. One thing I'd recommend is stay away from Shuttle and the other built in MB cases and get a slightly larger one like the Antec Aria or Silverstone SST-SG01 or Aspire Q-pack. If you have a Fry's or other great computer store near you Definitely go handle the cases your self.

 

[Ivan05]

I have an MSI K8NGM2-FID in an Aspire X-QPack. Running an A64 x2 +4800 and eVGA 7800GT. No issues. Runs fine, lasts a long time. I did replace the stock PSU with an Enermax Noisetaker.

Check out this thread for more info on the MSI mATX board.