Blogs Where have all the micro-ATX motherboards gone?

i could have written that article... Changed from atx to itx, back to matx back and forth. I think i owned most of the Gene´s Asus ever made. At the moment I´m stuck again at itx but, for a real powerhouse dual GPU support ist needed.
I miss the times when you had a fully kitted ROG matx that only lacked some pcie slots, but nothing else. I´m still hoping that with Z390 there will be a propper matx board to supplement the 8c/16t cpu.
Besides that, when you look at PC Cases, you have huge cases like Corsairs 1000D and a Dancase A4 on the other side of the bandwith.
Between that I only see a lack of smart compact cases. Lately NZXT stepped up the game again with the H Series (500/400) or the Evolves from Phanteks.

 

It really is a shame, as mATX will be sufficient for the vast majority of users. Full ATX isn't really necessary unless you need all the PCIE slots, but most people just don't.

 

I recently switched from Intel to AMD, and am salty about Asus producing a ROG Strix Z370-G (the current mATX designation) for Intel, but no equivalent B450/X470 version for AMD.

 

I've tried mATX before and prefer it over a full ATX board. While I may never use the extra PCI slots it is nice to know they are they if I ever do need them.
mITX is suitable for 95% percent of the market. It should be cheaper and more common. SLI/CF was never very mainstream and with support and GPU prices it has really fallen out of favour. I've been on a 280x for many years and haven't really seen games becoming more demanding. I think the bigger driving factor is the move to 1440p, 4k and VR.

 

Couldn't agree more micro if perfect for a high-end GPU and an audio card (or maybe thunderbolt etc)
MiniITX is just a bit too restrictive with cooler comparability as well.

ATX is just too big for no good reason.

 

Matx is the sweetspot in size for me, this makes me sad.

ATX is just too big. I guess if i have to i'll switch down to mitx in my next build.

 

I would go mATX but for the lack of a decent case even more than a decent board. I can find a small ATX case and some good mITX cases, but most mATX cases are as big as ATX models.

 

Whether you can use them [due to lack of available PCIE lanes] is another matter.

 

I think i'll keep on with my Antec, small enough to fit on my desk and surprisingly roomy with good airflow.

I think an itx case would be too small.

 

I thought the same. The only card other than a GPU I would need to add is a wireless nic, which is built in with mITX.

 

Just bought myself a used m-ATX PC. Been looking at cases for it but starting to worry about when I come to upgrade the thing now! It might have to turn into a mITX down the track...

 

6 PC's in the house, 5 are mATX mb's, 1 is mITX. This situation saddens me as, like others have said, mATX is also the sweet spot for me.

 

Mainboard manufacturers are still busy pushing atx like stupid, as for example with the Gigasparkle Z370 line up I complained about here:
https://forums.bit-tech.net/index.p...-have-a-flagship-product.346733/#post-4519706

 

My last ATX was a LGA1366...

Actually it technically still is as it works but lives in its box.

Everything else has been mATX.

 

Same here.

Everything since has been mATX or ITX

 

Dave do you have mATX cases for the ITX or iddy diddy ones?

 

I do find it utterly infuriating that the big manufactures will have 5-6 boards, all in the same form factor, all with the same chipset, all with the same base functionality, all looking virtually identical physically, but leave it up to the consumer to figure out what the differences are.

Gigabyte are especially terrible at this, MSI just behind.

 

Both, mate. Most of the PC cases in the house are ITX - Sprog1 has an EVGA Hadron and Sprog2 has a Corsair 250D. I have a Silverstone SG08, and an EVGA Hadron Hydro, both currently ununsed.

Until very recently I had my rig in a custom Parvum S2.0 mATX and my spare was in a Silverstone TJ08-E, but I swapped to the TJ08-E because of limited space - I have to have the rig on the desk top now so the smaller the better. I'm going to rebuild my Ryzen 7 rig in the Hadron over the next day or so.

 

That's exactly my take on mATX vs ITX. If the board has a decent sound setup and on board wifi, what do I need more slots for?
I did buy a cheap mATX B250 board for 2 M.2 slots to play with, but all the good newer ITX boards have double M.2 slots too.
This makes ITX perfect for LAN nights and I'd like to go even smaller than my SG13 if possible.
As for ATX, I can't see the need for all that real estate and endless slots that are unlikely to be populated.
That said, there's no reason not to offer decent mATX boards rather than the (already mentioned) swathe of finely differentiated ATX boards.
Come back Asus Gene, we miss you! Gigabyte and MSI had some great 4 slot boards on s1150 from memory.