What's the Best AMD GPU for mATX case?

Hey fellas!

I'm doing some theory crafting for my new rig and I've settled on a mATX case (don't question me!) and after 30 years of Intel and Windows I would like to give AMD and Linux a try, just to spice things up a little.

So, I have settled on AMD GPU and CPU, and also on mATX case (there's no way I'm going to switch over to a mid-tower, so don't even try to convince me), but I've checked a few GPUs at random and none of them has any mentioning in their specs list of whether or not it would fit into an mATX case. And this is where you come in.

Can you please give a tip on what the best AMD GPUs are that can fit into mATX cases? Of course, just recommending the best GPUs on the market today is not enough. It also needs to fit into my budget, which is ... hmm... let's say 600-ish USD maybe? Yeah, something around $600-650 TOPS, but preferably under $600.

Can ya chaps help me with this piece of info? Of course, as usual with GPUs, the bandwidth, amount of GDDR and frequency / cores are the most important factors, so don't recommend me a GPU with a bandwidth of 64 or other crap like this because I'm not even going to consider anything under 192 bits

Thanks in advance for any help you will be compelled to provide (yes, because I say so) ... But really, thanks for helping me out with this! The GPU is the last component on my list that I haven't figured out yet, and it's all because of the damn mATX. But I wants the mATX. My precious....

I think RX 6700XT is good for you. I saw MSI RX 6700XT Dual fan at Amazon, the price is 500-ish USD.

donipadangsambian said:

I think RX 6700XT is good for you. I saw MSI RX 6700XT Dual fan at Amazon, the price is 500-ish USD.

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It's $618

But thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely check it out. But how can you tell that it fits into mATX ?? I can't see this being mentioned anywhere and I checked its length and it's about 34 cm, and mATX case only allows up to 28 cm long components, so I don't think that it fits.

Under your budget, fits your m-atx case, has great reviews!

WaterProxy said:

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Under your budget, fits your m-atx case, has great reviews!

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yep, found it!

And I know why I got the $618 result (I googled "rx 6700 xt" instead of searching directly on amazon).

Anyway, thanks! It looks like exactly what I'm looking for

tazarbm said:

It also needs to fit into my budget, which is ... hmm... let's say 600-ish USD maybe? Yeah, something arou

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I have a recommendation for finding GPU deals. There’s a subreddit called “buildapcsales” and it features all current deals on PC components. Follow it for a week or two & you’re bound to find a good deal.

However, both the RTX 3070 & the 6700XT are within that price range and are phenomenal GPUs. I believe the 3070 is currently on the $450-550 range.

PHPInjected said:

I have a recommendation for finding GPU deals. There’s a subreddit called “buildapcsales” and it features all current deals on PC components. Follow it for a week or two & you’re bound to find a good deal.

However, both the RTX 3070 & the 6700XT are within that price range and are phenomenal GPUs. I believe the 3070 is currently on the $450-550 range.

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RTX is Nvidia, no? And I'm only interested in AMD.

But thanks for the reddit tip, it will come in handy.

It's worth checking your case manufacturer & model specs to see if they state a maximum graphics card length. I'm in a similar situation to you – mATX board with a fat GPU – and I'm limited to about 255mm with my ThermalTake V1 case (the case specs state: "VGA length limitation: 255mm (Inner chassis), 285mm (Outer chassis)"). The RX 6700 XT is too big for that case, and the RTX 3070 (Nvidia, so not suitable) would be a snug fit.
Edit: I have an AMD Radeon PRO W6600, which isn't quite up there with the top end '22 cards, but it fits with a bit of cable routing and has the advantage of being Hackintosh friendly, if that ends up being a route you take in the future.
Edit 2: and it's also single slot, which is nice.

stompymakepeace said:

It's worth checking your case manufacturer & model specs to see if they state a maximum graphics card length. I'm in a similar situation to you – mATX board with a fat GPU – and I'm limited to about 255mm with my ThermalTake V1 case (the case specs state: "VGA length limitation: 255mm (Inner chassis), 285mm (Outer chassis)"). The RX 6700 XT is too big for that case, and the RTX 3070 (Nvidia, so not suitable) would be a snug fit.

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I checked the specs of the case and it accepts up to 288 mm long GPUs, which is why I couldn't use the RX 6700 XT.

Edit: I have an AMD Radeon PRO W6600, which isn't quite up there with the top end '22 cards, but it fits with a bit of cable routing and has the advantage of being Hackintosh friendly, if that ends up being a route you take in the future.
Edit 2: and it's also single slot, which is nice

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the W6600 looks good overall, but the 128 bits part irks me. I can't say why I specifically want 192 bits because I don't have a specific use for the GPU, but I just feel comfortable knowing that it's 192 / 256 bits.

But otherwise your card looks good

tazarbm said:

the W6600 looks good overall, but the 128 bits part irks me. I can't say why I specifically want 192 bits because I don't have a specific use for the GPU, but I just feel comfortable knowing that it's 192 / 256 bits.

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Yeah, it's by no means modern - I think it's 2021 era or so - but I don't feel like I'm waiting for stuff very long…and I can tack on a second card since it's single-slot.
With the risk of stating the obvious, you could ask on a theorycraft-specific place (edit: or /r/AMD) about what GPUs are worth a damn in real-world usage, and get the field reports that way.

stompymakepeace said:

you could ask on a theorycraft-specific place (edit: or /r/AMD) about what GPUs are worth a damn in real-world usage, and get the field reports that way.

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if I'll be bothered to create a 3th reddit account after getting 2 of them banned within 2 years I will definitely ask in there

Anyway, thanks for chiming in. I already have a few ideas of what to get, I'll decide on the right GPU in the next 8-10 days. Cheers!

stompymakepeace said:

It's worth checking your case manufacturer & model specs to see if they state a maximum graphics card length. I'm in a similar situation to you – mATX board with a fat GPU – and I'm limited to about 255mm with my ThermalTake V1 case (the case specs state: "VGA length limitation: 255mm (Inner chassis), 285mm (Outer chassis)"). The RX 6700 XT is too big for that case, and the RTX 3070 (Nvidia, so not suitable) would be a snug fit.
Edit: I have an AMD Radeon PRO W6600, which isn't quite up there with the top end '22 cards, but it fits with a bit of cable routing and has the advantage of being Hackintosh friendly, if that ends up being a route you take in the future.
Edit 2: and it's also single slot, which is nice.

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hey, man! Sorry to bother you again, but I kind of need your input on something. I've been doing some research and I think that I've settled on the GPU that you recommended. It seems the best option for me at the moment.

I have a few questions that apparently have no answers anywhere, such as...

1. What is Infinity Cache? I mean, I know what AMD says that it does (doubles the bandwidth which means that this 128 bits GPU would realistically have 256 bits with IC, which I'm ok with if it actually does this). But does it really do this? Have you activated / used IC for this GPU, and is there any noticeable difference in speeds?

2. as someone who's used Nvidia his entire life and who is new to AMD I have no idea what AMD's technical specifications for their products mean. May I ask - if you know the answer, obviously - what on Earth are Stream Processors and Compute Units?

I know that Nvidia had something called Cores and which were meant to be a CPU within a GPU or something, but I don't think that I've ever seen Stream Processors and Compute Units in any GPU before. Do you happen to know what these are?

3. How loud is this GPU? Normally it should be pretty silent given its thinness and the fact that it only has 1 fan, but you never know with these new technologies that are full of marketing gimmicks

4. Do you use modular PSU, or a classic one? I'm asking because you said that the cables might be an issue, so I was wondering if they're still an issue with a modular PSU

5. And lastly, what did you pay for this GPU and when? You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, no biggie. It's just to satisfy my curiosity because I want to see how the prices evolve over time and to check the difference in price between your location and mine. By the way, which country did you purchase this GPU from? I'm from Romania, so I'd like to see how the prices here compare to your location.

oh, and also, is the GPU fan enough to keep the GPU cooled, or do I need extra fans installed inside of the case?

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is definitely one of the best GPUs for mATX cases. It offers excellent performance without sacrificing too much space. Plus, it supports most of the latest titles with high settings and framerates.

Hasse112 said:

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is definitely one of the best GPUs for mATX cases. It offers excellent performance without sacrificing too much space. Plus, it supports most of the latest titles with high settings and framerates.

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nobody has one in stock anywhere here in Romania, though. But yeah it looks good (and it's reasonably priced too, but it doesn't exist lol)

It's cool that you wanna join team red, but I aint sure RX 6700 is the best option, value wise.
Look at Intel Arc A770, the performance is very similar to RX 6700 and it costs 1.5-2 times less, but I would watch some comparison videos for the type of games/work you gonna use it for

tazarbm said:

RTX is Nvidia, no? And I'm only interested in AMD.

But thanks for the reddit tip, it will come in handy.

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There is WATTMAN problem for AMD cards. I think you should look at nvidia.

kavo said:

It's cool that you wanna join team red, but I aint sure RX 6700 is the best option, value wise.
Look at Intel Arc A770, the performance is very similar to RX 6700 and it costs 1.5-2 times less, but I would watch some comparison videos for the type of games/work you gonna use it for

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Advberd1 said:

There is WATTMAN problem for AMD cards. I think you should look at nvidia.

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guys, I understand your recommendations. And I agree with them, I've been an Intel / Nvidia user for 30 years, and I know how superior Intel and Nvidia are to AMD. Rest assured that I know this.

But it's time for a change, so I'm biting the bullet and build this computer purely for AMD. If it underperforms at least I'll know for the future to stick to what works, but for now I've made up my mind and AMD shall be

Regarding WATTMAN, I'm going to check it out right now. Thanks for the tip!

tazarbm said:

1. What is Infinity Cache? I mean, I know what AMD says that it does (doubles the bandwidth which means that this 128 bits GPU would realistically have 256 bits with IC, which I'm ok with if it actually does this). But does it really do this? Have you activated / used IC for this GPU, and is there any noticeable difference in speeds?

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I don't actively use it for my workloads (at least, not consciously), but my understanding is that the cache keeps stuff that would otherwise involve polling the VRAM, so that's the fast part. I tend to do most of my work with this card on Hackintosh, so there isn't the granularity of control you'd get from a proper vendor driver / suite…so, can't really comment on real world for Windows.

tazarbm said:

2. as someone who's used Nvidia his entire life and who is new to AMD I have no idea what AMD's technical specifications for their products mean. May I ask - if you know the answer, obviously - what on Earth are Stream Processors and Compute Units?

I know that Nvidia had something called Cores and which were meant to be a CPU within a GPU or something, but I don't think that I've ever seen Stream Processors and Compute Units in any GPU before. Do you happen to know what these are?

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Stream Processors are sorta similar but different to CUDAs, you can't do a straight compare of the number of each and get the 'better' card. CUDAs are more optimised since Nvidia have wider reach and more experience, and it follows that devs will optimise for the most widely-available technology. Compute Units are collections of processing elements / components.

tazarbm said:

3. How loud is this GPU? Normally it should be pretty silent given its thinness and the fact that it only has 1 fan, but you never know with these new technologies that are full of marketing gimmicks

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It's subjective, but I only hear the fan on the card when I run it red in DaVinci Resolve, and then it's just part of the overall white noise. My case (Thermaltake V1) isn't designed to be quiet, it's full of holes and is pretty utilitarian, but I have no complaints about noise.

tazarbm said:

4. Do you use modular PSU, or a classic one? I'm asking because you said that the cables might be an issue, so I was wondering if they're still an issue with a modular PSU

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Modular. I have 6x SATA SSDs running in a small-ish case, along with SATA power splitters and such. Again, because it's a pretty basic case and 'good enough', the airflow isn't a concern for me. There's a 6-pin power input on the top of the card, so check your headroom between the cable curve and the roof of your case. If it's snug, maybe a low profile or angled adaptor will keep it low.

tazarbm said:

5. And lastly, what did you pay for this GPU and when? You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, no biggie. It's just to satisfy my curiosity because I want to see how the prices evolve over time and to check the difference in price between your location and mine. By the way, which country did you purchase this GPU from? I'm from Romania, so I'd like to see how the prices here compare to your location.

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UK. Second hand from eBay…well, barely used second hand, and it was in an eGPU enclosure which I flipped, so the card itself was around 375GBP in mid-2022 after I'd made some money back on the enclosure.

tazarbm said:

oh, and also, is the GPU fan enough to keep the GPU cooled, or do I need extra fans installed inside of the case?

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I'm probably not gonna be useful here - there's a 200mm case fan on my Thermaltake and I've got an air cooler on the CPU…plus the case is literally fill of holes for air movement, so I would say it's perhaps down to your own case.