Should I go Micro ATX for the pc I'm building for my kid?

[Shadoah]

Budget (including currency): 300 CAD

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Minecraft, Valheim, eventually more demanding games and school work.

Other details (1660TI, I5 9600k, 550W PSU)

 

Hey guys,

 

So I've upgraded my gaming PC and got 1660TI, a i5 9600k, a 550W PSU to spare so I'm looking into building a computer for my kids who's going to play mostly Minecraft and Valheim.  I was looking into 1151 socket motherboards and realized that they were way rarer or more expansive than I thought they would be.  Found a microATX for 60$, but I don't know much about the different sizes of mobo, should I go micro?

 

Thanks

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

2 minutes ago, Shadoah said:

Budget (including currency): 100 CAD

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Minecraft, Valheim, eventually more demanding games and school work.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

Hey guys,

 

So I've upgraded my gaming PC and got 1660TI, a i5 9600k, a 550W PSU to spare so I'm looking into building a computer for my kids who's going to play mostly Minecraft and Valheim.  I was looking into 1151 socket motherboards and realized that they were way rarer or more expansive than I thought they would be.  Found a microATX for 60$, but I don't know much about the different sizes of mobo, should I go micro?

 

Thanks

The main difference between microATX and full-sized ATX is expandability options in terms of PCIe cards and M.2 SSDs. With ATX as the board is physically larger, there will be more of those compared to microATX. 

 

Other than that, it'll be looks since a microATX board in a full-sized ATX case might look funny. 

[gen_angry]

MicroATX is just a smaller form factor. You'll have less PCI-e slots and maybe m.2 slots. They'll all perform about the same assuming similar quality.

 

If you do get an m-atx board and still need a case, I'd recommend actually getting an m-atx case. They're usually cheaper anyways and wont look so 'hollow'.

[brob]

Very inexpensive mATX motherboard often only have two instead of four memory slots. Not a big deal, but it is something to be aware of.

[Shadoah]

All right so a mATX board can support whatever an ATX can but with less options like many RAM slots or M.2 slots.

 

Thanks you guys, it helps a lot.