Best Micro ATX motherboard

[gunslash]

I'm looking to build a new FSS system and I've no experience with them really. I'd rather not go with the prebuilt shuttle systems, so I've chosen the Aspire X-Qpack case, and now I'm looking for the BEST (most stable, good o/c options) motherboard I can get for that Micro ATX case. Money's not an issue.
I'm planning on stuffing a 7900GT, 200GB IDE HD, DVD Drive and 2GB Ram in there and that's it.
I plan on taking this to the sandbox with me later on this year.

Thanks and happy Easter!

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: gunslash
I'm looking to build a new FSS system

You mean SFF - Small Form Factor. The X-Qpack is a nice chassis for such a machine, but the power supply may or may not be the best choice.

Test of X-Qpack 420W PSU

It couldn't do 300W, the voltages were way out of spec (the 12V dropped to 10.65V with only a 192W load on the combined 12V rail,) the efficiency stinks, there's no PFC.... How much worse can it get?

Needless to say, this power supply is a total bust. Not only does it not do 420W, it barely does half that.

I do know someone who is running an A64 x2 3800+ with a 7800GT using the stock PSU, but he isn't overclocked. For a higher powered or overclocked system you may want to consider a replacement PSU. To do that you'll need to start with SHORT optical drives, such as the ones by LiteOn. Then, you need the shortest ATX PSUs you can get, which are 140mm deep. Read the specs carefully, otherwise stuff won't fit.

As for overclockable socket 939 mATX board, how about the Biostar Tforce6100-939? It is one of two nicely overclockable motherboards that I know of, the other being the Jetway A210GDMS-Pro (something like that). I have two of the Biostar boards and they work fine and are stable, plus have all the important overclocking features.

Zap's mini review of Biostar Tforce6100

Check out my review of the socket 754 version. The BIOS settings are identical. Beware though that Biostar makes a Gforce6100-M9 board that is not the same as the Tforce6100-939. The T version will overclock better. I have the G version socket 754 and was dissapointed with it in comparison to the T version, though the G version still is more overclockable than pretty much any other mATX board on the market (minus the Jetway).

I'm not familiar enough with the Jetway to recommend it but there are those who really like it.

BTW, I'm using one of my Tforce boards with an Opteron 144, 2GB RAM, X850XT in a SFF case with an Enermax 270W SFX PSU.

 

[gunslash]

hey thanks Zap, I'll definitely take a look at that biostar mobo

 

[tony215]

Also take a look at the DFi RS482 INFINITY which uses the microATX form factor and has a ton of overclocking features in the BIOS if that's what your looking for.


DFI RS482 INFINITY
http://tinyurl.com/e7e3u

Review on Madshrimps
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=416

 

[ND40oz]

And check out the new Lian-Li case, looks like it allows a bigger heatsink then the rest of the cube boxes. PC-V300

I'll probably be getting it to put my Jetway RS480 board in, unless antec finally starts shipping the fusion. By the way, Jetway overclocks to 250~260 htt before the nic craps out. The biostar is pretty much the best overclocking mATX board out though, people seem to really like it and it's only $69 at the egg.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: ND40oz
By the way, Jetway overclocks to 250~260 htt before the nic craps out. The biostar is pretty much the best overclocking mATX board out though, people seem to really like it and it's only $69 at the egg.

Good point about the Jetway. Wonder if it is just a Jetway problem or a chipset problem - doesn't the DFI board use same chipset?

I haven't played around as much with the socket 939 version, but the socket 754 version of the Biostar Tforce6100 is really a monster clocker. I've had it running 315MHz HTT stable, and it will POST at 330MHz. Don't know if it's the motherboard or CPU limiting it, but I think it is CPU because takes 1.65V to get that high (Sempron 2600+ D0 core, can't lower multiplier). Even at high speeds everything onboard seems to work... excepting that I haven't actually tried the onboard video at all, have always used a PCI-E video card.

 

[furballi]

That Tforce is a derivative of the NF4 with OBV.

 

[RobsTV]

Good advice in thread.

Have several of the Jetways (5), and can confirm the good part about 300MHz FSB 100% stable, as well as confirm loss of "onboard" NIC at high overclocked speeds. Good 3 good Opteron 144's all running 2700MHz 24/7. Poor Opteron 146 only running 2810MHz.

The onboard NIC for me is no big deal.
HTPC in living room is too far from router, and home is not fully wired, so always used wireless G USB with that system anyway. Works perfect. For desktop gaming rig, just tossed in a 99 cent Belkin PCI NIC (Dell deal from a couple years ago gave me 15 cards for $15).

Note that many boards do lose something when highly overclocked. Jetway loses onboard NIC, but all else is fine. Other brands may lose onboard video or onboard audio. Some may be fine, and lose nothing.

If many monitors will be used, it is best to stick with same chipset as add on video card maker. Onboard ATI works best with add on ATi, while onboard nvidia works best with add on nvidia. Sticking with same usually allows you to run both onboard and add on at same time. Run different and most will require disabling onboard.

Haven't tried the DFI, but it does look like a great overclockable full featured board, and would probably be my next purchase.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: RobsTV
Note that many boards do lose something when highly overclocked. Jetway loses onboard NIC, but all else is fine. Other brands may lose onboard video or onboard audio. Some may be fine, and lose nothing.

If many monitors will be used, it is best to stick with same chipset as add on video card maker. Onboard ATI works best with add on ATi, while onboard nvidia works best with add on nvidia.

Those are some good points. I actually have never used the onboard video on my Biostar boards (besides once or twice for POST testing) so I don't know what happens at high clocks, but I do know that audio/network continues to function.

As for keeping the chipset/GPU brands together, that's always a good idea. Theoretically it doesn't matter, but in practice... who knows. I've had a 9600 Pro not work in a couple of Nforce2 boards, but the boards were fine with Geforce cards and the 9600 Pro was fine in SiS/VIA/Intel chipset boards. Some people report having to change the PCI-E clock to something above 100MHz to get Radeon cards working right on some Nforce4 boards. Also, seem to recall some reviews showing (not their intent but if you compare the benchmarks) that certain video cards will work slower if not on the same brand chipset. For instance, Geforce cards seem to work faster on Nforce4 socket 775 boards versus Intel chipset.

 

[RobsTV]

Couple examples of video issues.

With Asus A7n266-vm, a popular NF1 mATX board with soundstorm and GF2 MX graphics onboard. If you installed an ATi video card, it disabled onboard video (which was expected), but you could NOT overclock motherboard any longer. Stick in a nvidia video card (still disables onboard), and overclock motherboard with no problem.

With new 939 boards (possibly others):
ATi and nvidia only allow onboard video to be used with their addon video cards.
If you stick a nvidia in an ATi, you can use either onboard ATi, or nvidia add on, not both at same time. Same thing with nvidia 6150 boards. Can not use ATi add on at same time as onboard, but nvidia add on works fine.
They treat it is not a feature disabled, but a feature enabled when used with same type video.

Only bring it up as original poster has nvidia addon, so if ATi motherboard is chosen, will not have ability to also use onboard for additional monitors, (which most could care less about, but sucks if you needed and expected it). I would still get ATi, but it's more a personal preference from experience than a need. Like "Ford"/Chevy or Intel/"AMD". All will work fine.