Motherboard recommendations

[DoubtfulSalmon]

Holiday greetings all,

First time building a PC, and I'm getting hung up on choosing a MB.

Current hardware:
CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750
GPU: GIGABYTE GV-R685D5-1GD Radeon HD 6850
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) KHX1600C8D3K4/8GX
Sound Card: planning on getting a Sound Card, but I’ve been reading about issues with Windows 7 compatibility (especially with Creative’s cards), so for now I’m holding off. As such, a decent on-board sound chip would be a plus.
Hard Drive: Western Digital AV-GP WD5000AVDS 500GB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal AV HDD
SSD: G.SKILL Phoenix Pro Series FM-25S2S-60GBP2 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal SSD
PSU: Antec TruePower TP-650 650W
Tower: Cooler Master Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 ATX Mid Tower

I know sort-of what to look for in a motherboard (LGA 1156 socket for my CPU, DDR3 1600 support for my RAM, HDMI for my monitor). Beyond that though, I’m lost. Micro-ATX vs. ATX is also something I’m not sure about (is there any real difference besides size?).

Any advice/concerns/recommendations would be great.
Thank you in advance!

 

[Fireguy85]

The only difference is one is a smaller form factor. Meaning they both have the international ATX standard, one is just smaller, hence the 'micro'. Generally, the primary difference is size, and the number of PCI slots that accompany the microATX is usually 3+1 agp slot. I have seen full-featured micro boards, and at the same time seen full ATX boards with very few features.

In a nut shell, there's no real difference. Micro-ATX is smaller.

Since your tower is an ATX, then Micro and ATX will both fit into the tower.

Hope that helps you out.