Searching for short video cards for ITX gaming build

[Yuriman]

My sister is asking for a gaming build, and likes the idea of an ITX case like I have. The case's manual says "supports video cards up to 230mm" but I have a 241mm card in mine and I'd like to say I have another ~1cm of clearance to the back of the case, possibly more if the power connectors come out of the top of the card rather than the back.

240mm ~ 9.5in

After poking around on Newegg, it looks like a GTX760, 960 or R270X is around as fast as I can get within those dimensions. Does anyone know of any faster cards that would be within my specifications?

Also, of the 760/960/270, does anyone have any recommendations for particularly quiet cards? Or, cards with a blower design?

 

[ShintaiDK]

GTX970 is also in short versions.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-706-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-912-_-Product

Down to 6.7" it seems.

 

[VirtualLarry]

GTX970 is also in short versions.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-706-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-912-_-Product

Down to 6.7" it seems.

From what I've read, the "short" GTX970 cards are LOUD, relative to their brethren with bigger heatsinks and more fans.

 

[Termie]

The blower cards are typically going to be 9.5" or larger, and are all Nvidia. They'll probably be too long. Be careful about assuming they'll fit - you always need a bit of extra space to drop the card into the case and fit it in the slot.

The Asus GTX 970 Mini is part blower, part open-air, and would probably be your best bet for an ITX system.

If you go with a 960 or 270X, you could get away with an open-air card without a problem. Zotac or EVGA's ultra-short model for the 960 would work, for the 270X you want Sapphire at 8.8". They'll be quieter and shouldn't get close to overheating even in an ITX case. With the 970, I'd stick with the Asus Mini blower.

 

[96Firebird]

So how short does the card need to be? In your OP, you say 230mm, but works with 241mm, and may also work with ~250mm depending on where the connectors are... Is she using the same case as you?

If you are allowed 250mm, it really opens your options up. The EVGA 970s with the ACX coolers are 242mm long, with connectors on the side. Looks like the MSI Gaming is too long, and I'm not even going to check the Gigabyte G1 because I know that is too long.

What case is this going in?

 

[Techhog]

The only ones to really consider are the GTX 970 and the R9 285, and the 970 is clearly the better choice there if you don't mind... you know...

 

[SteveGrabowski]

From what I've read, the "short" GTX970 cards are LOUD, relative to their brethren with bigger heatsinks and more fans.

Here is a review showing how loud the Gigabyte ITX 970 is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taQ2Bp0ljWk

 

[kasakka]

Note that manufacturers (well, at least Gigabyte) report their card size as the full card including any protruding backplates as well as connectors. As connectors are always outside the case you can substract at least that much from the size. For example I have a behemoth Gigabyte GTX 970 Windforce 3X OC (310mm according to specs) yet it fits just fine in my case which supposedly only takes 290mm cards.

 

[lehtv]

Yuriman, a Zotac GTX 970 should fit quite easily. I can't find the length spec on the official site but it's definitely shorter than EVGA GTX 970 ACX which is 9.5"

EDIT: Here's a quick 1:1 comparison I made with my epic Paint sk1llz, based on newegg's photos:

Here is a review showing how loud the Gigabyte ITX 970 is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taQ2Bp0ljWk

Doesn't actually sound too bad. Although the interviewer says "that's pretty loud", he's running the fan at 100% (3m 28s). You don't need to run it at 100%, and even so it doesn't sound too loud to really matter with closed cup headphones.

 

[Yuriman]

I'm probably going to use the same case, yes. Here it is Newegg ($40):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811353044

Next to a midtower:

Inside:

My system installed, with a 241mm (9.45") HD7850:

~

I'm pleasantly surprised at some of the 970 options, but I suppose since it has a 145w TDP, I shouldn't be. She may opt for the 960 for price concerns, but I'm thinking that Zotac card may be it.

This is probably going to be paired with a Haswell i3, H97 board, and Antec 380w PSU.

 

[Techhog]

Yuriman, a Zotac GTX 970 should fit quite easily. I can't find the length spec on the official site but it's definitely shorter than EVGA GTX 970 ACX which is 9.5"

EDIT: Here's a quick 1:1 comparison I made with my epic Paint sk1llz, based on newegg's photos:

Doesn't actually sound too bad. Although the interviewer says "that's pretty loud", he's running the fan at 100% (3m 28s). You don't need to run it at 100%, and even so it doesn't sound too loud to really matter with closed cup headphones.

He also said that it was hitting 80C...

 

[Techhog]

I'm pleasantly surprised at some of the 970 options, but I suppose since it has a 145w TDP, I shouldn't be. She may opt for the 960 for price concerns, but I'm thinking that Zotac card may be it.

This is probably going to be paired with a Haswell i3, H97 board, and Antec 380w PSU.

If price is a concern, the R9 285 also has a short version: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202128 which might be better for her than the 960 depending on what games she plays. 970 is the best choice, obviously.

 

[lehtv]

He also said that it was hitting 80C...

5m 18s

You aren't going to want to be overclocking it and you won't likely want to use it with the fan on full given that by doing so you only get a 2 fps advantage.

 

[Techhog]

5m 18s

Ah, okay.

 

[Yuriman]

If price is a concern, the R9 285 also has a short version: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202128 which might be better for her than the 960 depending on what games she plays. 970 is the best choice, obviously.

I'll need to look at some reviews. I'm just a bit concerned with having a 190w card with a half-length cooler, when the 970 at 145w is as noisy and warm as it is.

 

[lehtv]

I'll need to look at some reviews. I'm just a bit concerned with having a 190w card with a half-length cooler, when the 970 at 145w is as noisy and warm as it is.

Well technically the TDP may be 145W but in practice GTX 970 uses somewhere around 180W and 200W peak watts during heavy gaming.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_970_Gaming/25.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Palit/GeForce_GTX_970_JetStream/23.html
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_970_STRIX_OC/23.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/GTX_970_SC_ACX_Cooler/23.html

So if you're concerned about the whole waste heat thing, I think GTX 960 is the way to go.

 

[Daedalus685]

I bought my brother the zotac 970 pictured above for Christmas.

It is quite quiet during gaming and so far it has remained quite cool (when I installed it and tested it it was peaking in the low 70s during short gaming and was not audible , especially compared to his old 6950). This is admittedly in a large case though. I have nothing bad to say about it at all, and i was very pleasantly surprised how well its cooling system worked. It is no louder than the first gen EVGA ACX card I have. It is running at stock though, and I never tried to see what banshee noises come out at 100% fan speed.

Though up here in Canada 970s have gone up in price consistently over the last few months (or rather our dollar has gone down). Not exactly sure what the price picture looks like down south.

 

[Termie]

Sorry, but given the lack of proper venting in that DIYPC case, I wouldn't bother with a 970 or an R9 285. Maybe a 960, but honestly, you should use a better-designed case. That case has neither a meshed side panel nor a meshed front panel. Basically, that rules out running even a midrange video card in it. The 7850 you have uses way less power than anything you've listed, except perhaps a 960.

Some suggestions for you to consider: the Coolermaster Elite 130 or the Fractal Node 304. If you want it really small, go with the Coolermaster Elite 110, which requires ultra-short video cards.

 

[HeXen]

I haven't heard very good things about the short cards but I guess you have to compromise something or they would all be short.

 

[Yuriman]

Sorry, but given the lack of proper venting in that DIYPC case, I wouldn't bother with a 970 or an R9 285. Maybe a 960, but honestly, you should use a better-designed case. That case has neither a meshed side panel nor a meshed front panel. Basically, that rules out running even a midrange video card in it. The 7850 you have uses way less power than anything you've listed, except perhaps a 960.

Some suggestions for you to consider: the Coolermaster Elite 130 or the Fractal Node 304. If you want it really small, go with the Coolermaster Elite 110, which requires ultra-short video cards.

You're thinking like I am, but I'm in favor of keeping the size down and compromising some performance for aesthetics/size, given her living conditions (military). An Elite 130 is almost twice as large. It's the case I used for my brother's most recent build.

This case isn't so bad. One of the sides is mesh (ITX mounts on the opposite side) and the power supply vents to the back of the card, providing a constant supply of moving air. My 7850 only hits ~70c in the worst real-world loads, and is still quiet, and a 960 draws around 10-15w less in the same scenarios.

EDIT: I may well try the Zotac 970, but a dual-fan 960 is sounding like a good option too.

 

[Termie]

You're thinking like I am, but I'm in favor of keeping the size down and compromising some performance for aesthetics/size, given her living conditions (military). An Elite 130 is almost twice as large. It's the case I used for my brother's most recent build.

This case isn't so bad. One of the sides is mesh (ITX mounts on the opposite side) and the power supply vents to the back of the card, providing a constant supply of moving air. My 7850 only hits ~70c in the worst real-world loads, and is still quiet, and a 960 draws around 10-15w less in the same scenarios.

EDIT: I may well try the Zotac 970, but a dual-fan 960 is sounding like a good option too.

Go with the 960. You'd really be pushing your luck with a 970.It's well known that nvidia's TDP numbers on the GTX 900 line are inaccurate and underestimate real-world power use. In your chosen case, that will lead to problems.

 

[Yuriman]

Thanks all.

 

[Termie]

By the way, I should add that your case is extremely good looking, especially for the price. But it's marketed (and seemingly designed) for HTPC uses, not high-end gaming uses. So it comes with compromises. As long as you keep them in mind, you'll be fine using it in a second build.

My Silverstone SG08 has an identical layout to your case (other than being oriented with the motherboard parallel to the ground, rather than perpendicular), and it works fine with a 780 Ti in it. The difference is that it has a big meshed side panel where the video card sits, and I'm using a blower-style model.

 

[Quad5Ny]

TDP for all 970's I've seen is 250W and the (Reference) Power Target is 151.2W. Those numbers come directly from the BIOS, I'm not sure where NVIDIA pulls the 144W number from (maybe from the same place they get 4GB from).

Another option you have is to do a BIOS undervolt on the GPU (its very easy but requires you to know your max overclock first).

 

[Techhog]

TDP for all 970's I've seen is 250W and the (Reference) Power Target is 151.2W. Those numbers come directly from the BIOS, I'm not sure where NVIDIA pulls the 144W number from (maybe from the same place they get 4GB from).

Another option you have is to do a BIOS undervolt on the GPU (its very easy but requires you to know your max overclock first).

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the "250W TDP" you're reading is based on the max power that can be supplied by the PCI-e slot and power connectors and has nothing to do with the real world power draw of the card at reference settings.