"The main draw of this form factor is LAN parties", or saving desk/floor space, or having a compact setup for its own sake, or for use as a HTPC, or any other reason why "hey, I don't need this huge honking box" might make sense.
Normally when people think "I don't need this huge honking (product category)" they're looking to both downsize in product dimensions and cost.
MiniITX formfactors (especially form factors with integrated custom loops and from boutique builders) cost quite a bit more than even MicroATX form factors. You can get pretty decent to good cases for MicroATX at about ~$40. It takes about ~$80 to get pretty decent MiniITX cases, not to mention the additional cost associated with SFX power supplies over ATX power supplies.
You're paying for the compactness. MicroATX is reasonably small and probably the most affordable form factor to build in.
And those cheap 'mATX/ITX' cases will still be absurdly enormous (well above 20L, often as large as an ATX case), or limited in capability (e.g. Node 202).
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willis936 - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
Who is this for? The main draw of this form factor is LAN parties but I wouldn’t carry around an open loop cooler.Icehawk - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
Folks like me who are tired of large cases (even matx is big) but only have a video card and a few SSDs. My case is almost all empty volume.Valantar - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
This."The main draw of this form factor is LAN parties", or saving desk/floor space, or having a compact setup for its own sake, or for use as a HTPC, or any other reason why "hey, I don't need this huge honking box" might make sense.
JoeyJoJo123 - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
Normally when people think "I don't need this huge honking (product category)" they're looking to both downsize in product dimensions and cost.MiniITX formfactors (especially form factors with integrated custom loops and from boutique builders) cost quite a bit more than even MicroATX form factors. You can get pretty decent to good cases for MicroATX at about ~$40. It takes about ~$80 to get pretty decent MiniITX cases, not to mention the additional cost associated with SFX power supplies over ATX power supplies.
You're paying for the compactness. MicroATX is reasonably small and probably the most affordable form factor to build in.
edzieba - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link
And those cheap 'mATX/ITX' cases will still be absurdly enormous (well above 20L, often as large as an ATX case), or limited in capability (e.g. Node 202).vanilla_gorilla - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link
>Normally when people think "I don't need this huge honking (product category)" they're looking to both downsize in product dimensions and cost.I'm not sure if this is true or relevant. This isn't a mass market product.