Official count: FOUR micro ATX Core i7 motherboards available

[Zap]

Fourth one was just officially announced. I'm posting here in SFF because we seem to get like-minded folk in here, but I can move thread to Motherboards if people want.

Asus Rampage II Gene (around $240-250)

DVI LANPARTY JR X58-T3H6 (around $230)

MSI X58M (around $170)

EVGA X58 SLI Micro (around $200 pending availability)

Appears that all of these support Crossfire and SLI, full overclocking, six memory slots, etc.

I'm so lucky that Micro Center is a 3 hour round trip for me (plus tolls, plus traffic) or else I might be spending $500+ to upgrade my LAN party rig that I hardly use.

 

[TheStu]

The only two that would interest me would be the EVGA and the MSI, just due to the price difference.

It is nice though that they are full featured (for a MicroATX). It always was a chore back in the day trying to get a mATX mobo that had things like AGP/PCIe slots, more than 2 RAM slots and everything else.

At least these guys are doing the smart thing, remove 2-3 PCI slots, and maybe some SATA ports, and BAM, you can now fit on a mATX board.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: TheStu
At least these guys are doing the smart thing, remove 2-3 PCI slots, and maybe some SATA ports, and BAM, you can now fit on a mATX board.

They didn't really remove any SATA ports. They just didn't add as many. By this I mean that the six SATA ports in the ICH10R are all present. Anything beyond that is provided by a third party chipset, usually from Jmicron.

 

[Skott]

Havent seen a review of the new EVGA mobo yet. The ASUS and DFI are the two most popular mobos so far I'm thinking. Its nice that the SFF users are getting more to select from. I wish i could build a i7 rig this year but money it just too tight. Maybe next year.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Skott
Havent seen a review of the new EVGA mobo yet. The ASUS and DFI are the two most popular mobos so far I'm thinking.

The DFI and Asus came out first, so of course there are going to be more of them out there.

The EVGA was just officially announced a few days ago. If no official site reviews it, I'm sure eventually PClark99 will get one and tell us his impressions.

 

[Skott]

LOL, yeah. Him and Pvhk buy a lot of the mATX mobos and give a run down on how well they work. I just wish I could do a build too.

 

[Zap]

I also buy a lot of mATX boards, however I tend to buy the really cheap ($30-60) ones. Witness my string of G31 chipset board reviews here. Guess I'm a cheap bastard.

 

[Massive Overkill]

One thing really nice about the Rampage II Gene is that the tabless memory locks on the side next to the PCI-Express slots is a really nice feature, especially if you're running SLI/Crossfire. With all the other boards, you have to remove both cards to get your memory in/out (can't get to the lockdown tab of the inner card without removing the outer card).

 

[Skott]

Originally posted by: Zap
I also buy a lot of mATX boards, however I tend to buy the really cheap ($30-60) ones. Witness my string of G31 chipset board reviews here. Guess I'm a cheap bastard.

You are one of the very few people that buy the budget boards and give us a review of them, Zap. You do us all a big service by doing so. So often we look at only the high end mobos. Personally, I'm glad you do what you do. Big kudos to you my friend. :beer: