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Mini ITX vs Micro ATX vs ATX

I am planning on upgrading my cpu which also means I have to upgrade my motherboard. I just wanted to know if there is any real difference between each form factor or if it is just the size. Any help is appreciated.

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Standard ATX is the largest. Has everything the chipset can provide. Also the most expensive, but not by much

mATX is the second largest. A bit shorter than ATX, with less PCIe slots available, but otherwise mostly same.

mini ITX is the smallest, more like a square. Because it has to be small, there's only 1 PCIe x16 slot, so no expansion card if you put a GPU in it. Also, some only have 2 ram slots and reduced number of slots for SATA and M.2.

 

Basically, I'd suggest buying mATX boards, unless you have tonnes of stuff to plug in.

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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First off, pick a case, that will determine your form factor to some extent. You will sacrifice some features as you go smaller as there is less real estate on the board itself to build on required components. Different board manufacturers will sacrifice different options on smaller boards depending on who the board is marketed towards. 

 

So yes, pay careful attention when looking at ITX and mATX as they "may" not have a specific feature you might be looking for.

 

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