Micro-ATX (uATX) mobo recommendations?

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SWEnginerd

Member
Jan 18, 2001
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I've been trying to find out which micro-ATX motherboards are good. Even at review-collecting sites like ReviewsHQ.com, they don't turn up any reviews of these boards that I've seen (managed to find one board by Albatron, that's it).

Is this because the micro-ATX boards are simply trimmed-down versions of the full ATX boards? Should they have the same good and bad points (minus a few PCI slots) as their full-sized editions?

Does anyone have recommendations for particularly good micro-ATX boards? This is for an elderly woman's email-and-websurfing PC, and needs to be stable and maintainable (also low-cost). There won't be any overclocking or gaming going on, she just wants it to function reliably whenever she powers it up. It should have USB2.0, and onboard video to keep the costs down -- this eliminates the one the computer shop recommended (Asus A7N266-VML) since it's only USB1.1. Comments in the main thread for the Asus A7N8X(-VM) make me want to avoid it as well, since as one poster put it, it's not for newbies.

Aside: the case/PS she likes has only a 180W PS, is this enough for a mobo and one HD and one CD-RW, with maybe one or two PCI cards, or should I try to get something heavier? She probably won't be adding another HD any time soon; she's had only a 6Gb (5400rpm) drive for the last five years, and still has close to 4GB free. Not sure if we will reuse the old drive or keep her old PC intact.

Thanks,

Michael
 
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SilverBack

Golden Member
Oct 10, 1999
1,622
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I recently built a cheap system for a friend that wanted some power.
He's not a gamer , but thought his 9 year old may play some simple games.

He got a Biostar Nforce2 ATX board and a 1900+ cpu.

NF2 ATX with video (400Mx) $68

OEM CPU I had a HSF here


OEM 1900+ $50
That power supply wouldn't cut it for that though, minimum would be a quality 250W
BTW his system runs really well with that cheap mobo.
 
D

DieHardware

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2001
1,706
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Originally posted by: SWEnginerd
I've been trying to find out which micro-ATX motherboards are good. Even at review-collecting sites like ReviewsHQ.com, they don't turn up any reviews of these boards that I've seen (managed to find one board by Albatron, that's it).

Is this because the micro-ATX boards are simply trimmed-down versions of the full ATX boards? Should they have the same good and bad points (minus a few PCI slots) as their full-sized editions?

Does anyone have recommendations for particularly good micro-ATX boards? This is for an elderly woman's email-and-websurfing PC, and needs to be stable and maintainable (also low-cost). There won't be any overclocking or gaming going on, she just wants it to function reliably whenever she powers it up. It should have USB2.0, and onboard video to keep the costs down -- this eliminates the one the computer shop recommended (Asus A7N266-VML) since it's only USB1.1. Comments in the main thread for the Asus A7N8X(-VM) make me want to avoid it as well, since as one poster put it, it's not for newbies.

Aside: the case/PS she likes has only a 180W PS, is this enough for a mobo and one HD and one CD-RW, with maybe one or two PCI cards, or should I try to get something heavier? She probably won't be adding another HD any time soon; she's had only a 6Gb (5400rpm) drive for the last five years, and still has close to 4GB free. Not sure if we will reuse the old drive or keep her old PC intact.

Thanks,

Michael
Click to expand...

You're worried about the stability of a new motherboard yet considering using a five year old HDD? I'd use one of the budget (Asrock, Biostar ECS, etc) boards and a low-end Athlon/Duron and get a new HDD over a more expensive MB and old HDD, if money is really tight.
 
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WobbleWobble

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2001
4,867
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A 180W PSU would be plenty. Many mATX cases only come with about 180W to 230W PSUs. The biggest PSU I've seen on a mATX case is 250W. Just buy a quality case and it'll come with a good PSU that will handle what you can actually fit in the case!

I've used a 180W PSU from Inwin mATX case to power a XP2000+/A7N266-VM and a couple of Cel 1.7GHz/P4BGL-MX.

I fail to see how any mobo can't be for newbies. I think that would only apply when you're actually building or fixing the machine, not the usability. There aren't very many boards when used with quality components give you troubles when you press the power button. And you can always buy a USB 2.0 card if you like a board that doesn't have it.

I second the HDD idea. Chances of that failing are a lot more than the lesser mobo failing. Check out the Maxtor DiamondMax 8s. They're slimmer than a conventional HDD and only have 1 platter (less prone to failure) and are super quiet.
 
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SWEnginerd

Member
Jan 18, 2001
35
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Thanks SilverBack; I've never looked at the Biostars before. I'll do some review-digging on them. She wants a 2600+ or faster (MHz envy). I take it they're stable, just not as zippy/overclockable/feature-rich as the Asuses and so on?

Originally posted by: DieHardware
Originally posted by: SWEnginerdNot sure if we will reuse the old drive or keep her old PC intact.
Click to expand...
You're worried about the stability of a new motherboard yet considering using a five year old HDD? I'd use one of the budget (Asrock, Biostar ECS, etc) boards and a low-end Athlon/Duron and get a new HDD over a more expensive MB and old HDD, if money is really tight.
Click to expand...
Good point. :) But I think she can figure out a dead HD, whereas a hosed BIOS (seems to be a problem with the nforce2 mobos, per the thread below) would leave her helpless and confused.
http://www.aoaforums.com/forum/showthread.php?s=caf0307a5b894b541b29af247ba82976&threadid=15471
Originally posted by: Wobble Wobble
I fail to see how any mobo can't be for newbies. I think that would only apply when you're actually building or fixing the machine, not the usability.
Click to expand...
I'm mainly worried about a somewhat different issue. Another "friend" of hers helped her with her current machine a while back, and nearly killed it; I shudder to think of what might happen next time the "friend" drops by and sees a new box to "improve". I might have to loan her a shotgun to keep the "friend" away from it, since I won't be in town to be able to fix it.
 
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WobbleWobble

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2001
4,867
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Just password lock the BIOS, key-lock the case to keep her "friend" out ;)

Anyways, I'm still curious on how one board may be more fool proof than another (asides from dual-BIOS). And what is the problem with the A7N8X-VM? I was thinking of picking one up myself for a second small box...
 
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Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
21,503
9
0
Best bang and ease of setup for what you are doing I would go with a KM400 board. The best one I see is the....

Biostar M7VIZ

Has good c-media sound, USB2.0, decent Video, and has SATA ports for future upgrade. Also for a CPU get a Athlon 2500+ It is a barton and can get one for less then $99 retail at newegg.com

I would not go nForce2 as it has more bells and whistles and can do better at gaming, but will have more of a chance with conflicts and things that are not needed. I say this and my choice for MY motherboard was a Abit NF7-S
 
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SWEnginerd

Member
Jan 18, 2001
35
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Thanks all, especially Marlin -- she/we/I ended up going with the Biostar M7VIZ. I'll probably be putting it together for her on Thanksgiving Day. :)

Wobble, my only A7N8X-VM concern was the N2 BIOS-corruption thing, which is apparently on all N2 boards, not just the Asus. It would probably never happen to her, but if it did, she'd be unable even to guess at the problem. Having read the thread on AOA, I doubt I'd ever figure it out myself, but now that I've seen that, I'd at least eventually be able to fix the problem if it happened to me.

BTW, DieHardware, she decided on a new drive as well, so no worries there. Since the Biostar board comes with Norton Ghost (I haven't been able to find my copy for months, alas), I'll make a backup of her old drive onto the new one. Good deal all around. Total cost for all the parts comes out to about $360, not bad at all.

Woohoo! A new computer is born. Ah, the cycle of life. Makes me all weepy. :)
 
colonel

colonel

Golden Member
Apr 22, 2001
1,784
21
81
I made a lot of systems with mATX and the best mobos are from Biostar, I tryed ECS but the one I like the K7SEM with the SIS chipset is hard to find, the MSI mobos combos do not overclok with Durones....
 
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fxsts

Golden Member
Oct 10, 1999
1,794
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76
I have got this Biostar M7NCG 400 and I have to say that it is the best MicroATX motherboard if you are into overclocking. You can find some of my reviews in the review section.
 
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Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,685
136
Be careful using old software w/ new boards, particularly nforce boards. I have an asus a7v266vm-aa, and it simply would not accept an older version of win 98. After much frustration, I discovered, in the small print at the asus site, that 98se is required....
 
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kmmatney

Diamond Member
Jun 19, 2000
4,363
1
81
I've had good luck with the ASUS A7N266-VM AA mATX board. I've built about 6 systems with that board, and all systems have worked great. The Biostar Nforce2 board looks to be the best deal though.

Edit: The ASUS doesn't have USB 1.1, but its been a rock stable board for me.
 
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jjyiz28

Platinum Member
Jan 11, 2003
2,901
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i've had bad luck with the biostar M7VIZ. first time, it had restarting problems, wouldn't restarting properly, i would have to do a hard reset. i installed 2000 pro, came out fine. installed 2000 server on different HD, video drivers do not load right, stuck at 640x480 60hz. RMA exchanged it for same board.

new board does not go past the biostar splash screen. gonna RMA refund this time.

read the reviews on the biostar mobos, the NF2 and KM400 chipsets, you will see that the "good" reviewers rated it good once they RMA'ed their board like 2 times. i thnk the quality assurance is not that high with biostar. i've had good luck with MSI though, little bit more expensive.
 
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