mATX vs ATX boards

silk186

silk186

[H]ard|Gawd
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Feb 26, 2008
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I'm looking at making a build with a Lian Li mid tower, what they call miniATX cases PC-A05/PC-A06/PC-A59//PC-V600. They have a few other models that only fit mATX cards and the above accommodate both. I don't know anything about chip sets except that there's a north bridge, a south bridge and that it can make a difference for doing raid and overclocking. It also seems that a mATX boards have built in GPUs, are there any that don't? Do mATX have different chip sets or are they just named differently with comparable features/performance? Do ATX and mATX boards offer comparable quality in on board sound?

I'm just trying to figure if it's even worth looking into an mATX board. I'm looking at a multimedia/gaming rig, overclocked Q6600, 4gb ram (2x2gb, 2 HDs, 2 optical drives (dvd, BR), a single GPU maybe a9600 GT and maybe a sound card and TV tunner. I can't think of any other boards I would need to add. I don't want to be able to hear my rig and I want it small enough to take on a place a s a carry-on.
 
mATX boards are always physically smaller than ATX boards. Every mATX board I've seen has integrated graphics since they're usually aimed at HTPC / multimedia PCs. The current, top mATX board is the Asus P5E-VM HDMI based on the G35 chipset. It's pretty much equivalent to the P35 except for its integrated graphics.

Onboard audio has come a long way. There have been many threads popping up recently at various forums regarding how great onboard audio actually is now. If the motherboard has something from Realtek's ALC8xx series, then the onboard audio is going to sound pretty good to everyone except audiophiles and the very picky.

Check out my sig.. I'm running a P5E-VM HDMI with alot of stuff.
 
The DS2R, P5K-VM, and the P5E-VM HDMI mATX mobos overclock very nicely. They are the current top overclocking mATX mobos right now. Most people who overclock generally use a separate sound and video cards because when it comes to those components the onboard/built-in just isnt as good.
 
I'm not sure how big it is, but you could try an SG-01 in a Sugo Pack

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163078

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999041

The SG-01 isn't quite as small as a Shuttle, but it's smaller than most other SFF cases (not by a whole lot though) and the Sugo Pack will make it easy to carry most of your other computer stuff.

EDIT: I wrote this post a long time ago but didn't actually hit the submit button and I didn't see that Jimhsu had made the same suggestion
 
A list of what fits into the Sugo Pack would be nice .. anyone happen to have one? Not that it would do me any good because I already ordered my system :p

Also for airport security, I assume that you are taking the computer out of the bag before it goes in the X-ray machine? The policy is for laptops and should apply the same.
 
You mean cases or the extras (mouse, keyboard, etc.,) that go along with a pc? As far as case goes from a Qmicra v1 on down which covers quite a few SFF cases.

Different airports have different rules from my experiences but most will require you to remove the case from the container and sent through the x-ray machine. Some places may even ask you to pop the hood for a visual look see. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to go through security due to these rules.
 
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