Matx vs Atx

[Samsim92]

Ok ive just ordered a new system and it arrived today spec include
i7 860 2.8 quad
Psu OCZ gamexstream 850w
4gb G.skill ripjaw ddr3
asus Maximus gene 3 Motherboard
Ati 5870

As you can see i accidently ordered an matx Motherboard by accident
Its a good motherboard and i dont really mind about expansion slots, is it worth changing to a full atx mobo?

 

[biostud]

no

 

[airdata]

I've had some good Matx boards...

Should be fine as long as you don't need additional connections above what it has.

That board should work great. Only downside I've had w\ Matx is that I went from ATX to MATX w\ a huge case and the smaller mobo looked a little off inside the huge case

 

[Harvey]

Hi. Welcome to the forums.

The most common problems with an MATX setup involve cooling and space in the smaller MATX cases. These aren't problems when mounting an MATX board in a larger case. Assuming your board is well reviewed and has no known basic shortcomings, the questions you have to answer for yourself:

1. Does your MATX board have all the features and resources you want on it? Think forward to what you really want or will want soon.

2. Does another board have more of those features and resources?

3. Is the vendor willing to exchange it or, if they don't have a board you want, to refund your money?

4. Is it worth the price and the time to exchange the board?

Hope that helps.

 

[RaiderJ]

I personally prefer mATX cases and boards. I don't need all the extra expansion slots, so the smaller the better for me. I'd go mITX, but the jump in cost doesn't seem worth it.

 

[superccs]

mATX boards arent so bad anymore. My last 3 boards have been mATX for the real reason mATX exists, you dont need all the expansion slots and numerous connectors which are included on ATX boards.

If you run 1-3 HDDs a CD and 1-2 GPUs a mATX will most likely be fine.
I have an ASUS 780gx, MSI 890gx and gigabyte 790gx and they all have great layouts, enough connectors, and very good heat pipe cooling.

The only thing you need to watch out for is case fan posts, they eusually only come with 1-2 extra not including the CPU 4pin.

I got a 3.5" drive bay adjustable fan controller cheap from Amazon to solve that issue in one instance. I got the very basic Scythe 4 fan controller for around $20, but you can get some pretty cool looking ones with LCD's that will run ~$40-50, but since my case is under my desk and out of sight, I stuck with the basic. They solve the fan post # issue and give you an easy way to regulate temps and noise levels.

 

[Samsim92]

yea ive stuck with the Matx, it has everything i need and its a republic of gamers board so it will overclock and it has great features like xfi supreme fx, 8 channel high def 7.1 audio, gaming and quad sli, i dont even need the expansion slots with the shit this baby has built into it. this boards has the highest performance in its price region.

 

[Athadeus]

It still sucks that there's no mATX P55 (or any 1156 boards?) with 6 Gbps sata. I finally just decided to get an i7 930 and Asus Rampage 3 gene which has pretty much everything, and am putting it in a CM Storm scout so the colors should be matched nicely (except for the darned blue GB GPU PCB).