Question Why do so many pre builds use a full size ATX case with a micro ATX motherboard?

[Quad3001]

Not Dell, HP, etc. Prebuilts with proprietary components, but the ones that use off the shelf components and sell in major retail stores. They seem to always use a full size ATX case with a micro ATX motherboard.

Is there any point to this apart from saving costs with the motherboard but making it seem like the customer is buying a big computer, though bigger than necessary with a load of wasted internal space or do they expect the user to upgrade the motherboard later on to a full ATX size?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

It's probably a cost cutting measure. You can get favorable pricing when you buy in bulk and from a particular range off their product portfolio.

 

[Eximo]

Mid Tower chassis are the most common, ie cheapest. Amongst OEMs Micro ATX chassis are the norm, but they are usually very custom/cost cut. IE bolting the CPU cooler directly to motherboard tray rather than paying a dollar for a backplate.

Micro ATX motherboards are typically the cheapest and more than enough for most people.

I pretty much stick to ATX and Mid Towers just because that is how I think computers should look.

 

[geofelt]

Pre-built pc's are not designed to be upgraded.
No doubt the decision is cost based.
MATX motherboards cost less than ATX.
Likely the cost of the case is at least no different ATX vs. MATX

 

[Eximo]

Pre-built pc's are not designed to be upgraded.
No doubt the decision is cost based.
MATX motherboards cost less than ATX.
Likely the cost of the case is at least no different ATX vs. MATX

OEMs often go beyond MATX to reduce costs. They roughly meet the MATX capabilities but the form factor isn't always exact. Sometimes they go with one less expansion slot, do completely custom shapes, and most commonly stray from typical front I/O and ATX power standards.

On the chassis it comes down to tooling. Many chassis may get slight appearance updates to the exterior and panels swapped out for tempered glass and the like, but the core chassis, motherboard trays and basic structure can often be re-used in many chassis and stamped out on the same line. The most commonly sold chassis size is Mid Tower, which means that most of the custom PC market chassis makers have a lot of money invested in this size.

The only OEMs who seem to do it right, at least for gamers, is HP, ASUS, MSI, Corsair and the like. They tend to go for standard off the shelf parts.