Micro-ATX MB's...

[looper]

What are a few high-performance, high-quality Micro-ATX MB's that have WiFi and enough slots to handle an nVidia 980Ti and a discrete sound card like the Xonar Essence ST or the ZXR?

And which components listed below could be utilized in the possible new build?

Thanks.

 

[repoman0]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132584

It's been out of stock for a few weeks though. I couldn't find any Z170 microATX boards with built in wi-fi when I was looking (would have allowed me to sell my PCI-E wifi card. I'm moving in September and switching to gigabit wired anyway but would have been nice to sell it early). I use an external DAC, but it would be tough to fit a big discrete GPU and two PCI-E devices on most mATX boards because the second to bottom device will typically block the GPU cooler.

I ended up with an Asrock Z170M Extreme4, which has been great and very stable so far. Glad I switched from ASUS Z68. It's $100 so you can get the board, good external DAC, and a PCI-E wi-fi card for a couple hundred total if you're looking for Z170.

 

[looper]

Thanks...

Could a discrete sound card like the Xonar Essence ST or the ZXR fit in that case?

 

[repoman0]

You mean with a PCI-E wi-fi card too? Yeah I think it'll fit but will be right next to a dual slot GPU. If you have a blower style cooler it's probably fine, and might even be fine with fan style too, but the cooler will be a little less effective.

 

[looper]

So, could that board fit the WiFi card, the Xonar Essence ST or ZXR sound card, and the EVGA nVidia 980Ti ???

 

[ElFenix]

the xonar essence ST appears to have been a PCI soundcard, not a PCI-e soundcard. so, no, that asus board won't work with it.

if you need a wifi card, those tend to be PCI-e x1 afaik, so assuming you go with the soundblaster, you just need 3 PCI-e slots, only one of which needs to be x16. x1 cards will work in x16 slots no problem. so you have lots of options.

with the asus card, because it's PCI, you have fewer options.

if you want to reuse everything and just move to mATX then you have fewer options, but you still have some.

this asus board would work, but you'd need to add an x1 wifi card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G3RH7943

so would this gigabyte (again, you'd need an x1 wifi card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N83UD9923

but you will not be able to overclock as the H61 chipset does not support it (your current P67 does).

 

[looper]

Thanks, folks...

So, I won't be able to use the Xonar card with the smaller MB form factor.... Dang it....

For my next PC gaming computer build (late '16/early'17), I want to go smaller form-factor, yet with GREAT gaming performance for my son and me, and taking many of the same below components (I hope) into the new build....

Any other thoughts?

ps... Finally got my Xonar Essence ST sound card working again... crazy, when Win 10 installed, it turned on onboard sound in bios. I de-activated that, and voila, high-end sound again.... just need a good, inexpensive sub for my 2.0 M-Audio AV40 speakers...

 

[looper]

oops... double-post deleted.

 

[looper]

I think the Asus Maximus 8 Impact (Z170) Mini-ATX MB is pretty funky and would be in the running if I was doing this today.

I don't know if the 2 RCA jacks from my speakers and the 2 connectors from my Sennheiser PC360 headset could be connected to the sound device on that board.

I would need to get a powered USB hub.... best ones out there?

 

[lukart]

Personally I feel like the Maximum 8 is a bit overkill.
I would go for Z170 Xtreme 4 or Z170 Gaming 5, plenty of juice and features.
Leaves you a bit of money extra for a new Xonar

 

[lukart]

There's a thread in [H] about one that come's with Wifi :
https://hardforum.com/threads/asrock-fatal1ty-z170-gaming-itx-ac.1884138/

 

[looper]

According to Ari at this site, many/most ITX cases can't handle the size of the EVGA 980Ti...

http://techbuyersguru.com/