Good Micro ATX Motherboard?

Question

Hi

The size of my current PC is starting to frustrate me so I am toying with the idea of downgrading size to a shuttle/cub pc.

I currently use a DFI-Lan party Ultra D which has been a superb motherboard, however i dont really use it to its full poitential and am thinking of ditching the amd 3000+ Processor and going for a Dual Core 3800.

I want to find a board that is reliable and represents good value - I understand that overlcoing pcs in shuttle pcs is a no go hence the idea to upgrade to a dual core and keep it at the locked speeds.

If anyone has an info it would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

the idea of downgrading to a shuttle p.c has more negative points than positive
although large tower p.c,s can be frustrating theres a reason why manufacturers make them so big,of course its for future upgrades,the downside of shuttle p.c,s is the lack of pci and pci-e/agp slots,this is why most shuttle atx mini motherboards come with onboard video to save space ,also this applies to the audio aswell
and another factor is cooling,theres much less cubic inches in a shuttle case than a standard p.c tower,and this can affect the air flow and i n some cases affect the performance of the spu and other cards
however the latest shuttle designs are much better than the early designs and these are getting better all the time,this may be to do with the core 2 duos low power usage
the Asrock 939NF6G-VSTA Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI-Express DDR Motherboard( http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-020-AK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=811)is a good micro motherboard with a pci-express slot and the 939 socket(amd athlon64/x2),also as allready mentioned this comes with intergrated graphics in the shape of the NVIDIA® GeForce6-class graphics DX9.0 VGA, Pixel Shader 3.0, Max. shared memory 256MB
these graphic specs are pretty good for a intergrated set up,and the audio is a nforce audio solution
price wise at £39.99...£46.99 inc VAT makes this excellent value for money and a great all round motherboard
good luck mate!

Answer 2

Years ago, the motherboards were all AT. Then, they came out with the ATX, which had improvements, including the PCI slots instead of the old AT slots, which were much slower. Then, they came out with BTX motherboards, which never caught on much but are still used here and there, I think, mostly in professional equipment. Then, to make computer boxes smaller, they came out with the ATX Micro form factor. This crams everything onto a smaller board. This is possible because they can put more stuff on the chips these days, so there are fewer chips. So, if a case is an ATX Micro case, then it has to have a Micro motherboard, because an ATX mb will not fit. But the larger ATX case has room for the Micros, provided it supplies mounting holes. That said, you have it all wrong!!! You do not buy a motherboard for a case!!! First, you select a processor (cpu) that you want and can afford, then you select a motherboard that will use that processor, then you select memory that the motherboard and processor can use. (The more you spend, the faster the computer.) Then, you select a case for the motherboard... You evidently like this particular case because you think that it is cool or something. Fine. You luck out, because it will fit any generic motherboard. Whether it will fit a proprietary motherboard, such as one from Dell or HP or whatever, is another question...

Answer 3

Lots of good ones from ASUS:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&l3=345&l4=0&model=1343&modelmenu=2
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&l3=496&l4=0&model=1585&modelmenu=2
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&l3=496&l4=0&model=1568&modelmenu=2

Answer 4

I would recommend the Asus A8V-VM SE. You can get it at Newegg.com for about 56.00 including shipping.

Answer 5

there alot of good boards out there in micro atx / msi /epox /abit asus/gigabyte/ take your pick they are all top of line if you are overclocking well then that narrows it down a bit abit /epox .

Answer 6

i would recommend going to www.pcsupplies.co.uk to get what ur looking for thats where i got my pc and i buy all the stuff i need for it from there its a good place