Hi, I am after a micro ATX motherboard for a HTPC that will also be a gaming machine (Not cutting edge). I have a Nvidia GTX660 that I will be fitting as the graphics card. Only real requirements are UEFI BIOS. Would be nice to support SLI. Would like to keep cost down but don't mind paying a bit more if it will future proof it a bit. What CPU would be ok and what would be the best to go for. Would an I3 do I probably know an I5 would be better but at a cost. Would a AMD CPU be as good? If so which one? What do you recommend? Thanks in advance ! Rapier503
Avoid AMD FX CPUs on MATX unless you want to mod the board. The VRMs have no cooling and they need it with an FX. I would get (on AMD) http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus...raid-pcie-20-(x16)-d-sub-dvi-d-hdmi-micro-atx http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-...d-quad-core-s-fm2-38ghz-4mb-cache-100w-retail The board doesn't support SLI but you can always use HyperSLI
many FM2 mATX boards do not have appropriate connectors for SLI they seem to doe x16/8 x4 rather than dual 8x and if you buy an FM2 make it FM2+ with PCI-e 3.0 and importantly an FM2+ chip that will give you those ports, but I wouldn't bother as you have a dedicated GPU, FM2 is good if you intend to primarily use integrated graphics. Go with an i3 or i5 if you can afford it and a z77/z87 mATX board.
It doesn't matter Sandy. HyperSLI will enable SLI no matter what bandwidth you have available. And I can tell you from experience (as I'm literally doing it as I type this with two 670s on a £50 board) that it barely matters. I actually scored higher in 3dmark. I lost 1000 points from Catzilla but when you consider my X16 X16 score was 15,000 it's a mere drop in the ocean. I truly can not speak highly enough of HyperSLI. I used to have a 990 board that I returned (it was £90) and ended up with the board you see there, £55 IIRC. Installed HyperSLI - sorted. I even ran HyperSLI on my 990 board at one point due to the way I had to lay out the cards because of other add in cards (I was forced into the X4 slot on the 990 board). Worked like a charm
moving forward for example with the removal of internal connectors for Xfire in favour of using the PCI express bus I'm not sure if that is wise. Graphics is all about bandwidth, generally the more the better.
