GPU M-ITX Graphics Card Lengths

[K888D]

Rather than hijacking @Hahutzy XS case thread with graphics card lengths, I thought it may be better to discuss them in their own thread.

@iFreilicht was talking about the lengths of different cards, the EVGA ITX cards are stated as 173mm on their product page, but from my own personal experience I found that the card is actually longer than that.

The length is actually around 183mm, which is 10mm greater than advertised (as you can see from my uber precise tape measure ). The cooling shroud extends beyond the PCB, I measure the PCB to be 175mm long from the flat section of the I/O plate.

​

I have also just noticed that EVGA are releasing 2 new GTX 950 ITX models based on the new lower power version without a PCIe power connector, it looks like the new cards also use this same cooling shroud so will measure 183mm in length.

Are the EVGA models the longest length ITX cards currently available?

What would you consider the minimum Graphics card clearance should be if you were designing a gaming case specifically for Mini-ITX cards only?

If for example an extra 5mm of case depth added 0.2 litres of volume to the case, you have to draw the line somewhere.

 

[Hahutzy]

My experience is that the quoted length usually disregards the thickness of the PCIE bracket. So it's safe to assume even cards that honest to their spec should have ~2mm leeway.

There's no one answer to the question of how long to design your case. It's a design balance between compatibility and compactness.

On the vertical side, you want at least 30mm above the angled part of PCIE bracket, which is to accommodate cards with a single 120mm fan, and has the ATX connector at the top.

 

[QinX]

And M-ITX GPU should be as it says M-ITX in size. so the entire card should not be allowed to protrude beyond the motherboard PCB.

 

[K888D]

And M-ITX GPU should be as it says M-ITX in size. so the entire card should not be allowed to protrude beyond the motherboard PCB.

I totally agree, and I wish that the card manufacturers did as well!

However, a large proportion of the cards available unfortunately are oversized by a couple of cm in either length or height, designing a case that does not cater for anything beyond 170mm clearance severely limits the choice of card and potentially people who will want to own it.

 

[CC Ricers]

A big offender with not keeping the ITX size was the Zotac GTX 970. The cooler makes the entire card over 30mm longer than the PCB and heatsink (not including the copper pipes which also protrude a bit more). It was pretty nice to see what could be done with modding the card to fit inside a S4 mini. I'd rather have a "mini" cooler that is a bit oversized on the other dimension, like shown here next to a longer, 2-fan card. Otherwise, we'd have to keep removing the stock cooler and replacing it with a slim 120mm fan that would run continuously.

 

[yoyo55]

I'm hoping that with Pascal coming out soon the top tier cards will be released in ITX Size

 

[iFreilicht]

Thanks for measuring that, very good information to have!

It's funny that this card is so long. The GALAX/KFA² 970 I've got is the shortest double fan non-LP GPU I know of, is advertised at 204mm length and because GALAX/KFA² actually measured the overall dimensions including the bracket flanges, it is actually 181mm long.

Are the EVGA models the longest length ITX cards currently available?

What would you consider the minimum Graphics card clearance should be if you were designing a gaming case specifically for Mini-ITX cards only?

If for example an extra 5mm of case depth added 0.2 litres of volume to the case, you have to draw the line somewhere.

As others pointed out, the longest length ITX cards are 170mm long, everything above that isn't really mITX. I guess you could stretch it to a bit more as you need a bit of space for the ATX24pin connectors lock, too.
Interestingly enough, the price comparison site I use has a "special properties" field you can filter by which includes the entry "Mini-ITX Format (up to 185mm)". No idea where they got that number from.

The longest card I know of that was initially regarded as an ITX card was the Zotac 970 at 204mm, which I think we can all agree on, is not an ITX card by any stretch.

The minimum clearance would be 175mm to me. That way, truly-ITX cards will fit nicely, no problems at all. The maximum clearance is where it gets much more interesting.

To me, the maximum clearance is where the return rate of increasing the volume gets lower. It seems like that point is at exactly 183mm.
After now 1.5h of research and Excel magic, I came up with a bit of proof as well:

What you can see here is the number of cards you can additionally support per millimeter (aka the return rate) for every step my data could provide. I didn't have time to write a crawler that would scan every product page which would've given me data points for every millimeter, so I just used the steps the site provided. The data also isn't corrected for any wrong cards, so the EVGA cards are in there as 172mm, not 183mm and the GALAX 970 is in there as 201mm, not 181mm. EDIT: Data is now corrected for these units.
You can see that there are two main paths to go down.
You can either go very close to 170mm because going up to 180mm doesn't help too much.
Or you can go up to ~185mm and get quite a few extra cards, at least for nVidia. AMD only has the Nano and a few Sapphire cards in the game which are all 160-170mm.

The last graph is just all GPUs, no filters at all, so Qudros and FirePro cards and Matrox are included as well. It just strengthens the already established point that it makes no sense to go below 170mm at all.

After checking the cards in the 185mm range manually, I also saw that they were 183mm at maximum, so 185mm clearance seems like the a good number for the internal space for the card.

Why the fuck did I put so much time and effort into this?!

 

[K888D]

Wow, awesome information, thanks!

I agree that 185mm seems like a sensible clearance for getting the best return per mm.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

I wish the Nvidia cards felt as solid as the AMD Sapphire ones. Not sure if they cool any better but the Sapphire ITX cards feel solid and beefy when you hold them.

 

[ignsvn]

This is a great information, thank you.

Yeah it is sad that GPU manufacturers don't really stick to the ITX standard.

I hope the increasing popularity of SFF platforms will encourage manufacturers to follow the ITX standards.

 

[confusis]

That's the thing though - there isn't a standard for ITX GPUs. Manufacturers just play off the ITX form factor for marketing purposes.

 

[ignsvn]

That's the thing though - there isn't a standard for ITX GPUs. Manufacturers just play off the ITX form factor for marketing purposes.

I see.. that's not a good start indeed. But in any case, business is always about demand. If the demand is there, steady & profitable enough, then manufacturers will most likely play along.

IMO, the current mini cards at the moment is also a way for manufacturers to "test the water".

 

[BirdofPrey]

It IS a bit of a shame that graphics cards don't tend to come in the standard full length and half length sizes.

 

[iFreilicht]

It IS a bit of a shame that graphics cards don't tend to come in the standard full length and half length sizes.

Yeah, they adhere to the standard so little in that regard that even if there was an ITX standard length for GPUs, they probably wouldn't care too much.

I think that the designs will converge to one point or the other over time. If cases are built with highest compatibility in mind and they stick too 185mm maximum clearance, that's where the small cards will be in the end and vice versa. Hopefully this convergence will tend toward 170mm, but I think that dual fan cards will be too tempting for the manufacturers to implement, see Zotac and GALAX.

I wish the Nvidia cards felt as solid as the AMD Sapphire ones. Not sure if they cool any better but the Sapphire ITX cards feel solid and beefy when you hold them.

Why? If it doesn't cool better, you literally get a heavier system which is harder to carry around and more stress on the PCIe slot when traveling. It probably won't matter if your build is stationary, but apart from the feel of quality during that short period where you install the card, you gain nothing and lose a lot.

 

[CC Ricers]

You know what I would really like? For single slot cards to make a comeback in the middle tier of GPUs. My 9800 GT was a beast and also single slot. Did tend to heat up a lot, though. But with lower TDP cards around the corner this should be even possible today. Then you can use slimmer cases with single slot openings for decent graphics cards for 1080p gaming and above. Imagine if you could cut down the size of a case like Dan A4 even more if you had one of those.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

More MXM video cards, STX motherboards, and m.2 drives!

 

[Soul_Est]

--snip--
Why the fuck did I put so much time and effort into this?!

Because you loves us and we love you! :3

 

[confusis]

Woops, forgot to link in this: https://smallformfactor.net/articles/editorial/its-time-for-a-gpu-standard-for-sff

 

[Soul_Est]

Given what happened to this person (https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterra...nally_up_and_running_with_my_new_rig_however/) I'd say that it's time for a change.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

That's a bit ridiculous.....I think computers in general need a form factor change. I was excited for the Asus Avalon concept, I hope something good comes from that.