ATX vs Micro ATX

[kittenmetal]

So I have been seeing a lot on the forums here about people who are planning a new Build for their PC, but I have to ask this question because I am getting confused beyond belief about why people are recommending it.

I have seen in a large number of posts the Micro ATX Board being recommended whilst people are building in  ATX Towers.

I understand the advantage that it takes up less space in the tower, but that doesn't actually change the fact that the backplate still typically has to be put in the same position as a full sized ATX Board.
I understand the componants are closer together on a Micro-ATX board, which begs me to ask why would you want that when cooling off a rig that you are overclocking, or heavily gaming on is going to be a factor.
So the Micro ATX board can support up to 32 GB RAM but only has 2 Slots available. and often I am finding it only supports 16GB RAM(not in the example given below)
On almost all Micro-ATX Boards there is often only 1 PCIE lane - which ok nice as it is to have one running at full bandwidth capacity, I want to be able to Run SLI in my new Build when I finally get to it (Summer 2017)

That and there is often a lot more funtionality on a Standard ATX Board that isn't available on the Micro-ATX Boards.

As an Enthusiast Builder and Avid Gamer, Why would I want to Go with the Micro-ATX Board that I am finding is so often being recommended in here in suggestion lists because of it's price for budget builds.

But what are your thoughts and opinions on this?

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

matx boards are normally cheaper and most people get cheaper boards, as the motherboard makes no difference in performance.

 

You can get matx boards with 4+ ram slots and 64+gb max ram. You can get 16gb and bigger dimms now.

 

If you building a budget rig, you don't care about sli.

 

 

[Mark77]

I had to upgrade my micro-ATX board to a full ATX board on my Sandy Bridge server because I ran out of slots and wanted multiple TV tuner cards, an add-in disk controller, etc. 

 

If you're committed already to the full-ATX case, and don't mind the extra $20 or whatever the full-sized boards cost, then you should get one.  You never know when your requirements might change, or you get an awesome deal on SLI'ed video cards or whatever. 

[paddy-stone]

Most newer M-ATX boards I have seen offer 4 DDR4 ram slots... unless you're going very low end maybe.

 

The reason I would choose M-ATX for my next build is the convenience of moving between m-ATX and ATX cases... I have almost given up on BIG cases now, but would still like the option in the future without having to also change motherboard again... eg at the moment I am using an ATX board in an ATX case, stuck without a motherboard change as I obviously can't fit it in an m-ATX case.

[Shiv78]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

as the motherboard makes no difference in performance

Eh, not always true. For overclocking, a solidly built motherboard can make a pretty big difference on performance and component life.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Shiv78 said:

Eh, not always true. For overclocking, a solidly built motherboard can make a pretty big difference on performance and component life.

Most people  building budget builds have non overclocking chips. Also motherboard life seems to be about the same.

[Aeacus]

In my opinion why someone would choose mATX board over ATX is because they could also be using mATX case that is smaller in dimensions than ATX case.

If you have plenty of desk/floor space then you can even use E-ATX or HPTX MoBo and case but if you're limited with desk/floor space then mATX fares better than regular ATX.

[Gonio]

 

26 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

as the motherboard makes no difference in performance.

23 minutes ago, Shiv78 said:

Eh, not always true. For overclocking, a solidly built motherboard can make a pretty big difference on performance and component life.

Both are correct and true, but think that what Wizardy means is that mATX is not automatically less for performance compared to ATX with same components used. They only have less room to cram the same stuff on a board.