What are the disadvantages of a Mini ITX board?

[c_marriott]

My friend wants to get a mITX case for his new build and I was wondering what he would be missing out on if he were to get one over a normal ATX board?

[Comessy]

Less ram slots, more cost

[79 Potatoes]

Less ram slots, more cost

This, less slots.

People that will come and say "heat" and those craps, that's because of the case, not the mb

[Mao_Zedong]

Only two ram slots, only one PCIe slot, worse looks, not as good value as mATX.

[c_marriott]

This, less slots.

People that will come and say "heat" and those craps, that's because of the case, not the mb

 

 

Less ram slots, more cost

 

 

Only two ram slots, only one PCIe slot, worse looks, not as good value as mATX.

 

So its mainly just the amount of RAM slots then?

 

Heat was an issue I thought of but, like you said, that is due to the case not the board 

[harrynowl]

VRMs are limited, less features for your money and you pay a premium for the small size.

[bomerr]

So its mainly just the amount of RAM slots then?

 

I would say no. Because 2 ram slots on ITX give 16GB of dual-channel memory which is perfectly fine for gaming and most PC tasks.

 

The biggest drawback IMO is the weaker power delivery which may limit OCing potential.

 

Also as said ITX usually costs more than mATX so you pay a premium for the smallness. 

 

I'm actually doing an iTX build right now and I think it's really cool in the right circumstances. For instance I am using an external laptop style power supply so the actual PC will very small, only an 8" cube. But if you did a regular build with a typical PC ATX PSU, your overall build would be almost the same size as a regular mATX rig. 

[sgloux3470]

Less expandability.

Thermal issues (depending on the case/airflow situation.)

 

 

Personally, once I went full tower I never went back.  I've consistently added harddrives, fans, RAM, video cards etc over the years, all of which wouldn't have been possible with mITX (or even mATX).  

mITX makes sense for a machine that won't be upgraded for a few years.  A decent mid to upper mid range system where you're not going to be overclocking, a small little box to tuck away on your desk that happens to house your computer.