Which Form Factor?

[Guest]

I'm looking for a smaller setup (media mostly), but not sure whether to choose mATX or mini-ITX.. What's best and worst about each type!?

[gamer tom]

mini-ITX is smaller than mATX so I would choose it for a media setup

[allthatremains94]

Off the top of my head, mini-ITX boards and cases are usually more expensive than they should be, but they're very small, while mATX is more expandable and will fit perfectly in your everyday case, as well as some media cases.

[fencingdude101]

M-ATX is a bit bigger than ITX, as stated above.

If you just want a small, low powered build, get an Intel ITX CPU and a decent ASUS board along with something like the the Silverstone FT03-mini case.

If you wanted to go with an AMD CPU, I'm sorry to say that there are very few ITX AMD motherboards. I would choose M-ATX for AMD, just because there are a lot more products.

Really, there's no huge advantage to either one, look around a bit and see which has cheaper options for what you're looking for.

[Guest]

Thanks for the help guys! Regarding ITX and CPUs, are there any disadvantages to using say a 3570k on there rather than on an mATX board?

[allthatremains94]

Thanks for the help guys! Regarding ITX and CPUs' date=' are there any disadvantages to using say a 3570k on there rather than on an mATX board?[/quote']

Airflow, heatsink compatibility issues, and overheating.

[crispy345]

I would go as far to say, if you want to have more expansion cards (like sound cards TV tuners and so on), you will be better off with mATX. Get something like the Core 1000 from Fractal, very alright and small case, and will fit pretty decently sized hardware as well.

[Ghost]

Just pick a well reviewed board for as cheap as possible.

[tkdrob]

Always check motherboard reviews and make sure that you get a chassis that supports it. The chassis specs will explicitly say which form factors are supported.

[SammichThyme]

ITX boards are really limited in expansion. A 3570k should be run in a mATX or ATX board in my opinion. You only get one PCI-e lane on an ITX board and a 3570k is way more capable than that. Unless you will be running the Bitfenix Prodigy case with that Asus ITX board with the off board VRM (Looks like a big chunk sticking out of the top making a right angle) then ITX shouldn't be a gaming option.

[Guest]

ITX boards are really limited in expansion. A 3570k should be run in a mATX or ATX board in my opinion. You only get one PCI-e lane on an ITX board and a 3570k is way more capable than that. Unless you will be running the Bitfenix Prodigy case with that Asus ITX board with the off board VRM (Looks like a big chunk sticking out of the top making a right angle) then ITX shouldn't be a gaming option.

thanks for all the help!

[Eporter]

Bit fenix prodigy build fo sho. Best M Itx case ever. You can fit a super awesome M itx rig in it and even water cool it (240mil rad!!) for silence if you so desire. I'll link to linus unboxing one below. ASUS even makes a z77 board with the power delivery stuff on an attached PCB so that you can overclock. Such a system may be a little overkill for a pure media center pc but would have the added functionality of being a sweet big picture box for steam.

[vanwazltoff]

Thanks for the help guys! Regarding ITX and CPUs' date=' are there any disadvantages to using say a 3570k on there rather than on an mATX board?[/quote']

well you want to make sure you get a Z77 board to go with it to support over clocking and other features. I just did a review of an ITX case and a rather descent set up using that processor. Here is a link to my review:

http://linustechtips.com/main/forum/member-reviews/7083-fractal-node-304-mini-itx-review

[vanwazltoff]

ITX boards are really limited in expansion. A 3570k should be run in a mATX or ATX board in my opinion. You only get one PCI-e lane on an ITX board and a 3570k is way more capable than that. Unless you will be running the Bitfenix Prodigy case with that Asus ITX board with the off board VRM (Looks like a big chunk sticking out of the top making a right angle) then ITX shouldn't be a gaming option.

Fractals Node 304 is also an excellent option