Wow, what happened to the mATX market?

D

Dillusion

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 21, 2003
Messages
5,465
Hey guys, I haven't been on this forum or upgraded my desktop in over 4 years now. I used to post here a ton.

I also used to have the biggest stickied motherboard thread in this SFF forum! ;)

I am finally looking to upgrade my desktop PC since it's running slow...but wow has the mATX scene changed!

My current setup: AMD Dual Core 2.1GHZ AM2 CPU/2x2GB DDR2-667/Biostar mATX Geforce 7200 mobo.

This setup barely runs my photoshop and 5 tabs in firefox on windows 7 now.

I've been looking for a new motherboard with these requirements:

Onboard DVI/Support for current and future CPUs/DDR3 support/Onboard video chipset which is fairly recent with onboard HD decoding etc.

I'm scanning newegg right now, and I can't find ANY mobos with onboard DVI?! The only thing I can find is an LGA775 board which is a low end budget board...

What happened to all the mobos with onboard video chipsets with DVI? I have an Acer W2223 or something 22" LCD monitor too.

EDIT: I see intel 1155 and 775 mobos with onbaord video connectors, but the descriptions say 'no video chipset' ?
 
Look at the Intel Sandy bridge1155's. They are all hdmi now, but that can be fixed with a cheap adapter if your monitors do not have hdmi plugs.
 
Dillusion said:
EDIT: I see intel 1155 and 775 mobos with onbaord video connectors, but the descriptions say 'no video chipset' ?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing its because the GPU is attached to the CPU in the new Intel SandyBridge range (and the newer AMD ones too) instead of the chipset/northbridge..
 
Tak Ne said:
I'm guessing its because the GPU is attached to the CPU in the new Intel SandyBridge range (and the newer AMD ones too) instead of the chipset/northbridge..
Click to expand...

That just blew my mind, the GPU is on-die now? Holy hell I have reading to do.
 
Dillusion said:
That just blew my mind, the GPU is on-die now? Holy hell I have reading to do.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why they moved it exactly but its probably either cost, access to the memory or just the better cooling on modern CPUs compared to chipsets.
 
It makes a lot of sense to minimise the number of chips in a system that are handling really high speed stuff. The more such chips you have the more power you have to spend on high speed interconnects between them and the more chips you need to install elaborate heatsink/fan cooling soloutions for. That is why intel has been integrating the northbridge into the CPU

BTW intel has tightened up on overclocking, it is still possible to overclock but you need a K suffix processor and a P67 or Z68 motherboard.
 
Dillusion said:
I also used to have the biggest stickied motherboard thread in this SFF forum! ;)
Click to expand...

Yup, I remember. The Overclockable Micro ATX Motherboard thread. I think contributed a few minor additions to it. :D

Dillusion said:
That just blew my mind, the GPU is on-die now? Holy hell I have reading to do.
Click to expand...

Basically the chipset Northbridge and the CPU are becoming integrated. This is a good thing in a few ways:
- It gets better cooling
- It is built on a smaller node
- Because of that, less power/heat

Intel was first with Clarkdale (original Core i3/i5 socket 1156). They've continued it with Sandy Bridge (socket 1155). AMD is also going that way with their APUs, known under various code names like Llano, Bobcat, Zacate, etc.

So, a "modern" CPU now has integrated into it the memory controller, graphics and PCI Express lanes (most of them). The "chipset" is what was originally the Southbridge, with interfaces for audio/NIC, storage subsystem, USB ports and maybe a couple more PCI Express lanes. Thus, the chipset only needs a little heatsink on it.

Dillusion, what is your budget and how soon are you upgrading? I would suggest an Intel Z68 chipset motherboard at this time, because it is the most advanced platform, but that might change when AMD Bulldozer comes out. For the Z68 chipset, you can start cheap with a Core i3 2100 (dual core with Hyperthreading for pseudo quad core), or go for Core i5 2500K (true quad core). The 2500K (with the right Z68 chipset board) will overclock nicely, meaning you can have basically the highest performing setup possible, with a mere $225 CPU (or $180 at Micro Center). For RAM, no need for super expensive stuff. Just get DDR3 dual channel kits that are rated for 1.5v. Aim for 1333 or 1600MHz data rate, depending on whatever sales/rebate deals are going on at the time.
 
The next hot mATX mobo will be the ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z I'm thinking. Its already showing on ASUS's website so shouldn't be too long before it hits stores. This month hopefully. Buy a SB chip for it now and then when IB comes out next year do a cpu swap, maybe a BIOS update, and Presto! Got yourself a next gen upgrade. The Maximus IV won't be a budget board though so be aware of that.
 
Dillusion said:
That just blew my mind, the GPU is on-die now? Holy hell I have reading to do.
Click to expand...

Yup. And you don't wanna start checking on the crap-load of new cases that have appeared on the market on this 4 years.

You might end up spending a ton of money :D:D:D:D:D:D

PS: the only downside of Sandy Bridge (socket 1155) is that if you wanna overclock + use onboard gpu you have to get Z68 chipset. If you couldn't care less for overclock you need H67 (P67 has no video outputs).
 
For the DVI question just get an HDMI to DVI cable. Zero difference in image.
 
prava said:
PS: the only downside of Sandy Bridge (socket 1155) is that if you wanna overclock + use onboard gpu you have to get Z68 chipset. If you couldn't care less for overclock you need H67 (P67 has no video outputs).
Click to expand...

Just want to bump this so the OP doesn't miss it. You have to get a Z68 if you want onboard video and to overclock
 
I've got the MSI 890gxm-g65
has onboard hd 4290 hdmi, dvi & vga

(currently forsale too, check my fs thread)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top