Drawbacks of mATX boards?

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MatthewScott

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May 6, 2014
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So I've always used a standard size ATX board and had mid/full tower cases, but I've came to the realization that I NEVER ever fill them, I've always had one card and small radiators.

I've been thinking about buying a mATX board and case for a while now and having a smaller, easier to move about, PC, primarily used for gaming.

I just want to know some clear drawbacks of switching to mATX, I understand I can't have as many GPU's as a EATX/ATX board, but I want to know if there is any other limits, such as power consumption, RAM support, PSU support etc and does having a smaller case make a massive difference to cooling?

Thanks,
Matthew
 
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MeteorsRaining
Going mATX makes little sense then, since it's always better have your two (one in future) cards nice and cool. Since you got such a beast case already, it is a no brainer to put your future builds in it too (atleast the near-future ones). The only current advantage of mATX in this scenario would be more portability. But I'd rather not fiddle with a dual GPU setup much.
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plywrlw

plywrlw

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Not all mATX boards have 4 RAM slots but some do

Not all mATX boards have good power delivery for overclocking or power-hungry CPU's but some do

Smaller cases can be harder to cool

That's all I can think of right now!
 
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A_Goat

A_Goat

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Aside from expansion support, there are no cons of an mATX board.
As with all board types, there are low end and high end models. You have to buy one that fits your needs.
Having a smaller case can actually decrease temps, as you can make the airflow inside the case stronger (less air to move).
 
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MeteorsRaining

MeteorsRaining

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There is no limit in terms of power consumption/ RAM support/ PSU support/ etc. They're just a smaller version of ATX boards, and a good enough boards will give all features of a full sized ATX board, maybe not three way or quad GPU config, but hardly anyone attempts that on mATX anyways.

In terms of cooling, particularly in dual GPU config, ATX being more spaced out (by it's layout) helps keeping both cards nice and cool. So if you're looking to go dual GPU in future, go for full sized ATX because if cards aren't spaced out properly, they do tend to have notoriously varying temps. Otherwise, for single GPU, it's almost no difference.
 
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MatthewScott

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Ahh, thanks everyone, some very good informative answers.

Chances are that I'm going to swap out for a smaller chassis and board soon and go mATX, the two cases I have in mind are the Core V21 and the Core x2 from Thermaltake
 
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MatthewScott

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Due to the lack of good AM3+ mATX motherboards, I'm thinking about ordering a z97 mATX board and swapping my FX-8320 for a Intel chip (I can only realistically afford a i5 4690K at the moment)

However, right now i5 chips are considered the sweet spot for gaming, however, with games such as the witcher 3 coming out with recommended requirements of an FX8350 and DX12 along the way as well as the fact the consoles are using these 8 core chips, would it still even be worth getting a i5 4690K for a gaming machine? How much longer are they going to fill that sweet spot for gaming?
 
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MeteorsRaining

MeteorsRaining

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FX 8 has 8 cores residing in 4 modules, ie, 2 cores per module, and they share the same resoureces. FX has lower FPU and single core performance than Intel. i5 is and in all sense should remain the sweet spot for gaming in the coming 2-4 years at the least.

Moreover, FX 8 is based on a 3 year old platform, it's like getting an i5 2nd gen right now, with no scope of further development on this platform. More TDP adds against FX 8 as well.

But those aside, and only gaming performance in mind, i5 still wins by a considerable margin. Games do not require 8 cores to run, but rather they specify that FX 8 is the recommended CPU from AMD, as anything lower won't be powerful enough (from the game's perspective, not mine).

Simply put, yes i5 is still a great option for current and future gaming.
 
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MatthewScott

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The perfect answer I was looking for, chances are i'll buy a i5 sooner rather than later, I've kind of thought about the mATX thing a bit and I'm still uncertain about it however.

I'm currently using a Thermaltake Core V71 case with a single GPU (Upgrading to a Gigabyte G1 Gaming 970 tomorrow), and have a feeling that one day I'd like to SLI, I know you CAN SLI on a mATX in say a Thermaltake Core V21, but as soon as cooling becomes an issue then I wouldn't even consider it and would rather just stick with my full tower. Saves me a bit of money too, but i'll likely go mATX one day or unless someone can convince me again.

Looking at costs of a Core V21, i5 4690K and a Z97 mATX motherboard it's coming in at around the £300 mark so unless a friend would buy all my current parts I probably won't bother, unless one of you guys can convince me otherwise
 
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MeteorsRaining

MeteorsRaining

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Going mATX makes little sense then, since it's always better have your two (one in future) cards nice and cool. Since you got such a beast case already, it is a no brainer to put your future builds in it too (atleast the near-future ones). The only current advantage of mATX in this scenario would be more portability. But I'd rather not fiddle with a dual GPU setup much.
 
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Moonstick2

Moonstick2

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Will you though?

I had ATX boards in the past, and made use of the slots. My last ATX board only really had a graphics card in (it had a sound card, but that was disabled near the end when I moved to Win7). I moved to mATX mainly because I wanted a smaller cube-style case. I can't CrossFire/SLI because of my motherboard, but I still have two PCI-E cards-worth of slots for expansion.

If you've changed your mind about having a portable PC then you may as well stick with ATX unless it's a lot more money. Then you can always SLI in the future with better cooling options. You're probably still unlikely to, though. :D
 
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