Why go with ATX?

[majestic12]

It seems that standard ATX cases and motherboards are popular with system builders. While I could understand how a person wanting a tri-SLI or Crossfire setup would go with this, a lot of people I know have built their computers with standard ATX parts without the intention of radically upgrading their hardware in the future. Although I think the selection of ATX parts is generally better than what's offered for smaller form factors, I couldn't bring myself to build a large system (at least since the days of 386/486/Pentium where lots of cards were necessary). ATX systems are heavy, take a lot of space, and have a bunch more expansion slots than I'll ever need. It also gets a lot tougher when the possibility of LAN parties come into play as well.

I'm curious to know how the members of TPU feel about this. If you have a larger system, how many slots are actually filled up? Now that most of the latest tech is available on uATX and even ITX systems, what makes the standard ATX or larger system the better (or at least preferred) way to go?

 

[PaulieG]

For me, it's all about the number of options of mid-high to high end motherboards with enthusiast features. If there were a similar number of m-atx or itx, I would probably consider a smaller form factor. The other issue with a compact form factor system is cooling. It's hard to find good coolers to fit in small systems, for those of us who like to overclock. It's also hard to get good airflow in compact rigs. One other thing is the ease of switching out components in atx systems. That being said, my ATX system that sits on a small, portable tech station is no larger that the footprint of a matx chasis...which really negates the need for a smaller form factor.

 

[Undead46]

Usually bigger cases allow for better airflow for optimal cooling advantages.
And since there's more space to work with, it's easy to configure your hardware.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

There are some very viable Matx boards around now, next build of mine will be Matx.

Examples

Asus p8p67-pro

Asus rampage III Gene

 

[AsRock]

I don't mind either way as long as it has what i need for what i need it for and of course has good reviews.

Like my aging ASUS mobo in my specs the sata ports are were i want them and it had a optical connection which i like to have at that time plus it had a separate soundcard too and it's a good overclocker.

In the end i just require some things and of course with the ASUS mobo added like $80 to the price. Now things have changed as more and more are coming out with a optical connector and 90 degree sata port.

I like to change the case but when the time actually airflow for fans as mines the older TT Arma case you can have 3x120mm fans with 1x120x38 + a 90mmx38 at the rear of it. So th only reason i would swap the case would be for a mountain mods case the one you can fit 2 PC's i nto but your talking $450 but thats nt bad when you can have 2 PC's in it with over the top air flow.

My AMD setup is mATX it had what i needed with much better power manament which is twice as good as my ASUS mobo but to be fair i have had the ASUS mobo over 3 years now and and it's been a totally sweet mobo.

EDIT: And the reason i did not get a mATX case for my AMD setup was due to wanting it to match my Other stuff like BD player A/V as it's all on a HIFI rack.

 

[xBruce88x]

another drawback of mATX cases is that it limits the number of drives you can have. Not a problem for most who just throw in a 1TB drive and a dvd burner, but if your wanting a raid setup and a couple of optical drives it could be an issue.

as for motherboards, mATX is fine if your not doing sli/x-fire. yea there are boards, like what was posted above, that can do it but you'll really want the extra cooling room of an ATX build. Unless you do a lot of lan parties and want to build an mATX sli/x-fire rig. (which i've been wanting to do for the longest time lol)

A lot of it really comes down to the quality of the case everything is going in.

 

[Deleted member 74752]

And there is no rule stating you can't put a MATX mb in a full size case.

 

[xBruce88x]

true, but i think he was mostly talking about the case b/c he mentioned weight

 

[majestic12]

Both cases and motherboards are applicable to my original post. As a site catered to computer enthusiasts, I can't argue against using ATX if one wants a RAID setup or the best cooling options, which a large number of members here would most likely take advantage of. One of my friends recently built a very capable ITX system with watercooling though that is running at well over 4GHz with no issues. Granted he can't run 4 or 5 hard drives in it, but his SSD seems plenty fast by most standards.

I'd love to see a better selection of high-end uATX cases in the near future though. Most of the people who see my computer (built in a cheap Cooler Master Elite 341 case) think it's really big, which always causes me to chuckle a bit. I'd love to have a miniature Antec 902/NZXT Tempest/Cooler Master Storm Sniper though.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

I think there are a fairly nice selection of uATX cases like the Sugo S02 or similarly built cases. With uATX cases you have to consider both tower and desktop style cases as both give some nice options. I will admit the selection is rather small compared to the ATX cases, but such is the be expected since standard ATX is...the standard.

For me ATX is the universal board. The default you go with if you are not sure how or what direction your system will be upgraded toward. When you are not sure if your next purchase is a second GPU, TV tuner, bigger HDD, a RAID configuration, etc. sticking with ATX will often give you those options without breaking the bank on an extended ATX board. Also since it is the standard, you get the largest selection of possible cases.

I pic my board before my case, so for me the case has to conform first to my needs per the system, then my needs related to preferences in style. If I am building a system with an ITX or micro ITX board with the intent of it being a really small system, I would not buy a case that can hold an ATX board.

If I am in a situation where I have an already built system and the mobo is part of the upgrade, then I would usually get the board with the most options beyond what I currently need. Since I always seem to have a Full Tower case, size of the board doesn't matter in this scenario.

 

[damric]

Improved power phasing and dual PCIEx16 lanes.

 

[Thrackan]

I've moved to m-ATX about 2 years ago, since I only used 1 PCI-E slot and 1 PCI slot.
After I moved (2 times) to places where wired Ethernet was the obvious choice, I was left with just a PCI-E slot needed, so now I am moving to mini-ITX

Why ATX over anything else?
- If you want to use more than 1 GFX card and want to be able to use another slot for say, a WiFi card or a soundcard, you kinda have to get ATX.
- 6+ harddisks? You either need a card to plug those into (see above point) or a board with more than 6 SATA ports, which is hard, if not impossible, to find in <ATX.
- Srs overclocking business? Recently, a couple of high-end m-ATX boards have dribbled out, but sturdy power phases etc are still mainly reserved to ATX boards.

Why m-ATX over m-ITX?
- mini-ITX only gets you one expansion slot. If you're lucky.
- limited memory slots (usually only 2) on mini-ITX
- board layout is cramped on mini-ITX, which can block space for large coolers
- not a very broad choice of mini-ITX boards for some sockets (ie AM3, I could find 2.)
- also, a limited amount of mini-ITX cases is actually practical (or attractive for that matter)

Short story long, there is currently a fairly large offering of m-ATX products, both cases and motherboards. This has been growing alot since AM3 and 775 times, so anyone who doesn't need the advantages of ATX can get a good m-ATX setup to fit their liking nowadays.

One step smaller is a different story altogether. mini-ITX is still fairly limited in terms of variety of choice, practicality and cash.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

with the right casing, an atx would be just as compact

 

[Thrackan]

with the right casing, an atx would be just as compact

See my specs

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

See my specs

nice specs. and that a05 probably is the pinacle of smallest atx cases.

 

[Domestic_ginger]

Good point OP.

I suppose ATX harks back to when sounds and network cards/modems were not onboard and you needed at least two extra cards. It not really make much sense anymore.

I'm going to see if I can go mATX next. The only card I actually use is my GPU.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Yup all i use is a pci-e gfx card, thats it, and i am fed up of huge monolithic cases, lots of space with nothing there and a huge case for no reason.

 

[yogurt_21]

atx full towers for large coolers, larger cards in sli, airflow, and more cooling options.