Motherboard question

[dialgarocksful]

I was wondering why does majority of PC builders still use an ATX-size boards even though they aren't goaling for an SLI/CF config?

 

Instance 1: Let's say a $500 Intel build that has a Pentium G3258 and a seemingly Z97 ATX board with a single 260X. For one instance, a dual 260X would be redundant and everybody suggests getting a single 380/390 than getting dual 260X.

 

Instance 2: a somehow-high end graphics card (2 PCIe slots), a RAID card (1 PCIe slot), and a WiFi slot (1 PCIe slot) could fit in a mATX board

 

DISCLAIMER: I am also building with an ATX board, so everybody's opinion is accepted and taken on a positive note.

[Aytex]

b/c they look dank

[The Official Czex]

b/c they look dank

 

Or you could get a perfectly cable managed, stuffed to the brim ITX rig... You know, because they look dank.

[AresKrieger]

I used micro atx

[d3sl91]

1. They look cool. 

2. The prices are not generally MUCH different. 

3. Better to have more options than fewer.

4. Anything less than ATX in an ATX case looks weird. 

[dialgarocksful]

4. Anything less than ATX in an ATX case looks weird. 

 

Within a certain amount of budget, doesn't mATX good with mATX case as well? 

 

I do found a mITX board inside a 900D compatible, but look retarded. Like most people would get an HTPC case or a ITX case than a 900D

[d3sl91]

Within a certain amount of budget, doesn't mATX good with mATX case as well? 

 

I do found a mITX board inside a 900D compatible, but look retarded. Like most people would get an HTPC case or a ITX case than a 900D

Yes. 

 

But most will go with ATX unless they specifically need something smaller. Most "really nice mainstream cases" are ATX. Many mATX are actually more "lower end" cases. Of course you can spend $200+ on some, but generally.... alot of the popular/easily obtainable mATX cases are for "budget" systems. Wheras the good-priced yet great quality cases are ATX. (Define series, H440, etc). 

[ApolloEleven]

Here in Australia anything smaller than ATX is slightly more expensive than their ATX counterpart, I think because the manufacturing process is more complex for smaller motherboards? Make sense since there are more surface area to work with a standard ATX motherboard.

 

So I went with ATX than mATX or ITX because they are cheaper.

[King_Tuna]

mATX is great cuz its small and i can carry it to my summery. I'm using a mATX old case.

[App4that]

Upgrade-ability, anything else would look silly in my case, and the dank.

[eismcsquared]

Personally I'm not a huge fan of mATX boards. Sure they usually offer a second PCI-E slot and two extra DIMM slots compared to most mini-ITX boards but the way that the vast majority of mATX boards are designed are not friendly to SLI. Even something like the Maximus VIII Gene (which is supposed to be optimized for gaming including SLI support) from Asus is not optimized for SLI since the two cards would basically have no space in-between for the top card to breathe properly. Also while an mATX board put inside an mATX chassis can end up being significantly smaller build, unless you need SLI or really need to have a second PCI-E slot for other devices you might as well go all the way to mini-ITX and get an even smaller build. If you're gonna be going with an ATX chassis anyway, it makes no sense to buy an mATX board unless you are trying to go absolutely as low-cost as possible.

[Guest trucker2]

Cheapest board that I can find for the cpu I want