The best type of Motherboard

[Upendra09]

hi,

I was shopping for a new setup for my computer and I saww all these different mobos. I know about ATX and mATX but

what is the main difference between mATX and ATX? Which is better?

what is BATX? ITX? mITX? and extendedATX?

Which one is the cheapest? or best price/performance?

and which one of them are ^^ better? and will all of them fit in a ATX case?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, I don't know much about comps yet.


Thanks for any replies

 

[mindless728]

ATX are usually full functioning desktop boards, can support 4(or 6) sticks of memory usually, many of the desktop cpus from a socket (if not all) and better built boards support more than one graphics card, usually have 5-7 expansion slots

mATX is micro ATX, the board is physically smaller, can have a reduced feature set of an ATX brother (not so much anymore though), may support a smaller amount of memory (usually through less sticks), may only usae proccessors up to a certain wattage, and usually can only have 1 graphics card (very few exceptions), usually have 3-4 expansion slots

BATX i think u mean BTX, don't know anything about that

ITX i do believe is the same thing as mITX or miniITX, think about mATX except smaller less features, less processor support, ond usually only 1 expansion slot

extended ATX or eATX is a larger form of ATX, more features, sometimes dual or quad processor support (workstation/server CPU's only aka opteron or xeon), more memory

cheapest: mATX is usually the cheapest (miniITX tends to be expensive because of such small size, eATX since it is server oriented)

price/performance: depends on what u are going, though, i tend to stick to ATX for gaming and mATX for HTPC (maybe miniITX if it needs to be very small or low power), defiantly ATX for multi GPU gaming

best: like above. depends on need, thoug raw performance might be eATX, though u probably don't need anymore than ATX

not all of these boards fit in an ATX case, you have to check the manufacturer to see what boards fit/have holes in the tray in the correct positions

not really stupid questions, but easily found through google or wikipedia + knowing what you need

 

[Upendra09]

thanks,

I did google it, and I did find some info.

And I have another question

If BTX mbos are suppposed to be better than ATX, then why don't people start using those more?

And what are the real benefits of a BTX? a noticeab;e boost in efficiency and drop drop in heat and boost in speed? how much of a difference does it make?

sorry for the truckload of questions I just don't whether it would really make a difference.

Thanks

 

[Upendra09]

Anyone?

 

[gondo]

BTX isn't used because people can't find BTX boards. Sure the cases are BTX compatible but that's it. It's a better interface, just try getting all manufacturers to switch from ATX to BTX?

90% of all mainstream boards are ATX. Chances are a board with the features you're looking for will be ATX and most mid tower type cases will support it.

 

[Upendra09]

Cool, Thanks Gondo