The Unofficial List of Good mATX Motherboards (Overclocking and Not)

That's the mid-priced Gigabyte G33 board, right? I'd say avoid that board for anyone who will be using a PCI-E video card. The reason is that apparently the PCI-E 16X slot is electrically a 4X. The G33 chipset's IGP does not have built-in DVI or HDMI capabilities. To add that requires a separate chip. Sometimes those are available as PCI-E cards, for instance the ASRock ConRoe-1333DVI-H board comes with one. Also I've seen them in Dell computers. So, I'm thinking that Gigabyte board used the 16X connection for the DVI/HDMI ports.

BTW, Anandtech finally has the next mATX motherboard roundup installment up, this one focusing on the G33 chipset and including overclocking results.
http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=3111

Better half year late than never. :rolleyes:
 
pvhk said:
gigabyte too!
GA-N73UM-S2H
spi1M
000452251.jpg

onboard video
000601880.jpg
Click to expand...

dang... i kinda wanted to see all solid caps on that thing. probably has an ULTRA DURABLE 2! model also, but yah...2 ram slots only seems kinda fishy. i like everything else though. first time i've ever seen sata placement like that. if it stays like that, it'd be like replacing floppy cables. esata?
funny how they compare it to intel igp's, but not the ati/amd one. come on! everyone knows intel igps suck. why don't they go head to head with amd?

whoa! i just noticed the evga. i likee more. :D
 
Anybody else working on an Nvidia chipset? Will they all have the same placement? That layout kills it for me.
 
MC FLMJIG said:
Anybody else working on an Nvidia chipset? Will they all have the same placement? That layout kills it for me.
Click to expand...

What's wrong with the layout? Only thing I can think of is the PCIe slot is one lower than the G33 boards.
 
Hmmm... I wonder how well it OC? If its as good as the P5K-VM then we'll have three good mATX mobos to choose from instead of two.
 
Yea... and how hard is it to put 2 PCI at the end and the PCIe first! grrrrrr
 
PVHK keeping the thread alive!!!

Are there any MATX based on the X chipsets?
 
Anyone know about the MSI K8MM3-V for my skt 754 i have a turion in it but they are for some reason all i see in bios are DIMM tweaking no core or fsb options. Question i ask is because its giving my turion cpu 1.58 volts :eek: and i know at most it should have 1.25 or so. Anyone know what i can do
 
Hi all.

I currently own a Soltek QBic EQ3401, equipped with a P4@3Ghz, 1Gb Corsair XMS and a AGP X700(256Mb). The rig is almost 4 years old (except for the X700. I had to replace the older 9800pro with a X700 cause it broke) and barely can play todays games anymore.

Since I really like SFF pc's I'm looking for something similar.I didn't keep up with current hardware changes to much so the last two weeks I did some reading and came up with the following shoppinglist

* 1x GA-G33M-DS2R (seems to be one of the best mATX for gaming right now ? The ASUS P5K-VM should be a bit better but I don't like ASUS that much and the gigabyte has a bracket for eSATA)
* 1x E6850 C2D @ 3Ghz
* 1x 8800GTX (evga seems to be one of the quietest ?)
* 1x Quiet psu like the Zalman 600W
* 4Gb of memory but I can't find a 2x 2Gb DDR2 800 configuration on de QVL on the Gigabyte site (I think 2x 2Gb is better than 4x 1Gb (2x a 2Gb dual channel kit))
* Some SFF case (I like the LANBox Lite and Qpack2; they can handle a standard PSU and GTX card)
* 2x Hdd
* One very silent CPU cooler that fits a qpack2 or lanbox lite
* vista home premium 64bit
* some dvd-writer(internal) like nec 7xxx series
* some fdd(external) or cardreader (internal)

I'm not planning to do any oc'ing so components must be fast from the start.

Wil this system be okay for the next 3 years and I need some advice for the memory that I choose
 
GA-G33M-DS2R
If that's the board I'm thinking of, I wouldn't get it. The board's physical PCI-E 16x slot is actually a 4x slot electrically.

8800GTX
Take a look at the new 8800GT cards. They take much less power (110W versus 180W), produce less heat and only require one PCI-E power plug versus two. Additionally, the two PCI-E plugs in the 8800GTX are on top of the card and not at the end of the card. Don't know about the Tt LANBox, but the X-Qpack (X-Qpack2, MicroFly, all others on same chassis) has part of the 5¼" drive bays right over the video card, thus interfering with the PCI-E power plugs. Additionally, the 8800GT performs almost as well as the 8800GTX, and costs around $250 give or take. Check out the reviews on all the review sites (including here).

Quiet psu
One of the most recommended for quality and low noise are the Corsair line of PSUs. Get the cheapest one (look for rebate deals) that has the features you want (modular or not) and the number of PCI-E power plugs you need (two, if you get the 8800GTX). If you end up with an 8800GT or 8800GTS video card, then even the lowest end 450W Corsair PSU will work fine.
 
The GA-N73UM-S2H has a x16 slot that has only 4lanes connected. The DS2R has a 16lanes connected (by my knowledge). What is the best alternative ? I heard the P5E-VM DO is nearly as good (but I don't like asus and de DS2R has a bracket for eSATA

Good think mentioning the GT. I saw some benchmarks. I guess the S in GTS stands for slow ;). About the PSU, I didn't know corsair had PSU. I found a CMPSU-520HX. That one will do right ?

What is de releasedate of the 8800GT (G92) ?
 
Since the abit nf-m2 mobo has become increasingly hard to find. Is the 'new-gen' an-m2 worth buying?
 
pkasso said:
Since the abit nf-m2 mobo has become increasingly hard to find. Is the 'new-gen' an-m2 worth buying?
Click to expand...

Yes, but BIOSTAR also has a couple models that are every bit as good if not better so than ABIT's so look into BIOSTAR models.
 
shades-nl said:
The GA-N73UM-S2H has a x16 slot that has only 4lanes connected. The DS2R has a 16lanes connected (by my knowledge).
...
I didn't know corsair had PSU. I found a CMPSU-520HX. That one will do right ?
...
What is de releasedate of the 8800GT (G92) ?
Click to expand...

My bad on the mobo... I mis-remembered (is that a word?) the part numbers.

Yes, Corsair PSUs are mostly made by Seasonic and they're supposedly really good (and quiet). I think Topower makes the highest wattage Corsairs (750W?). The 520HX is the cheapest one with modular cabling, and it should be fine.

The 8800GT was officially released this past Monday. Good luck finding one for a reasonable price. :mad: There's a lot of price gouging going on with the places that have stock charging close to $300, when Nvidia's suggested retail price is $250. Wait until the initial rush dies down and the pricing settles. Alternately, there is supposed to eventually be a 256MB version for $200 (or less).

EDIT:
MC FLMJIG said:
The 690G is tremendous
Click to expand...

What makes it tremendous? Are you talking about the Biostar version, or that chipset in general?

I want to know because recently I bought the Biostar version. Haven't played with it much though - been too busy.
 
Sorry.

The Biostar Tforce 690. I'm loving it. Great OCer. Stable and no problems.
 
How is the BIOSTAR TForce TF7050-M2 mobo? I haven't seen it linked in this thread so far. What do you guys think of it? Is it comparable to the an-m2 and m2hd?
 
Can anyone recommend me a cheap matx board. It will mainly be used as a HTPC(x264 playback) I wont be overclocking so I am fine as long as the mobo wont crap out on me.

Plans for the build
E4300 C2D
2gb Crucial Ballistix
7800gtx 512mb
2 x 500gb or 1tb
Windows Vista


Thanks for any recommendations!
 
If you want really cheap, then you can get something like the ASRock ConRoe1333-D667. It uses the older 845GC chipset but supports Core 2 Duos, dual channel DDR2, PCI-E 16x, FSB1333 (officially from ASRock, unofficially from Intel). Cost $50.
 
The only downside I see with that mobo is the memory speed. I already bought the ram, on sale for $50, and its DDR2 800. I might as well get something that supports the full speed.
 
Does anyone know whether G965 boards can support 45nm 1333FSB chips?

I have a DG965OT and would like to drop a Core 2 Quad 'Yorkfield' Q9300 into it, although its a 1066FSB board.


Guessing there's been no sign of P35 or X38 MATX boards :(
 
I have to admit I'm a bit overwhelmed by this thread. I'm looking for a uATX board with what I think are pretty simple requirements if someone has a suggestion. The following will be moving to the new board from my current Abit board.

E4300 (running at 3.0 and would like to keep it that way)
EVGA 8800GTS 640
OCZ Modular 600w supply
2x 1gb PC6400 RAM (Adata I believe)
Scythe Ninja CPU cooler
1x Sata Hard Disk
1x IDE DVD Burner (Think of replacing this with Sata so feel free to suggest a board with no PATA onboard.

I'm not gonna overclock past the 3ghz mark. My ram timings are fairly slack and that's fine by me. I'm never going to SLI on this thing. I'm horridly addicted to WoW and frankly the 8800GTS is already overkill.

Any suggestion? I'd like to stay under the 100 mark but if a bit more buys me something special I'm open to the idea.
 
bigddybn said:
E4300 (running at 3.0 and would like to keep it that way)
...
Any suggestion?
Click to expand...

One way to go about it is to get an Asus P5K-VM or Gigabyte (cheapest G33). Those have overclocking features in BIOS and are strong and modern boards. However, they are priced above $100.

The other way is to get the ASRock ConRoe1333-D667. It is a cheap $50-60 board using the older 945G chipset. Sure, RAM won't run as fast and the chipset is considered "older" but it has enough modern conveniences (dual channel DDR2, PCI-E 16x, SATA) and the performance difference won't be noticed without benchmarking. The caveat of this board is that to really open up 800MHz FSB chips, you have to do a BSEL mod to make the board think your CPU runs native at 1066MHz FSB.
 
Is that where you use the circuit pin and bridge 2 of the pins? I think I've done that. My 4300 boots at 2.4ghz I believe.

What exactly do you mean the ram won't be as fast? I assume the D667 in the model name means my 800 ram would only run at 667?

I see 3 Gigabyte G33 boards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128053 GA-G33M-DS2R for 129

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128063 GA-G33M-S2H for 119

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128060 GA-G33M-S2
for 109

I won't be using the onboard video so I really don't care about HDMI or anything else video related. Other then solid caps on the 129 board which I see no real use in (the board will be obsolete long before a capacitor wears out) is there any reason to NOT buy the 109 board?
 
Okay I'm trying to educate myself here instead of just being a whiny "just tell me what to do" noob.

My E4300 when pinmodded acts as a 1066fsb CPU right? I want to if possible maintain a 1:1 ratio with my memory I think which would mean a DDR533 speed correct? The cheaper ASRock ConRoe1333-D667 board seems to have no problem running at that speed.

Now when overclocked to 3.0ghz my cpu is now 1333fsb (333x9) which would need a DDR667 memory speed to stay 1:1 which the ASRock ConRoe1333-D667 can also do.

It seems like I don't need a DDR800 board in this case. Am I smoking something here? The ASRock ConRoe1333-D667 looks perfect in this scenario right?
 
My "slower RAM" quote was for the fact that the chipset doesn't support DDR2-800. The D667 board sounds fine for your needs as long as you don't need more Vcore (more difficult mod).

If you were to buy a Gigabyte G33 chipset board and are not using the onboard video, then do NOT get the middle-priced one, the S2H. That does not have a true 16x PCI-E slot. The cheaper one DOES have solid caps, but just on the CPU power circuitry where it is more important anyways. When you see pics of burst caps on a motherboard, it is usually in that area. How often does burst caps happen elsewhere and cause major malfunctions? Save your $20, IMO.

EDIT: Of course you can go even cheaper and get the Asus P5K-VM. IIRC it is on sale (Cyber Monday) at Newegg for $99 or something like that... may be a coupon code (from their newsletter) or a rebate involved, but anyways it doesn't hurt to have another choice... unless too many choices is giving you a headache. :p
 
Just noticed the pci-e bus would run at 115mhz in 1333fsb mode. Will this cause any problems? I'm running the 8800gts 640 and the HD is SATA.
 
Actually the Asrock board doesn't support quad core I see. I can definitely see myself picking one of those up down the road.

GIGABYTE GA-G33M-S2 seems to be the way to go.

Thanks :)
 
Looks to me like the first post needs a MAJOR update as it doesnt seem to be current on C2D for a start :confused:
 
Hey guys (and gals if that applies).. I have always been a regular ATX overclocking kind of guy for the past 4+ years. I recently aquired an OLD Dell L800R chassis (mATX) and I have already begun modding the case. So far, it's been a very fun little project (worklog worthy perhaps?)..

I intend on picking up an E8400 (3.0ghz 45nm dual core) or a Q9300 (45nm quadcore). I WILL be overclocking. I saw that DFI might be coming out with a good mATX board later this year but this is something I am trying to get up and going within a month. Any suggestions on solid overclocking mATX boards that support the 45nm processors? I have 2gb's of Corsair Dominator 1066 ram just sitting here unused so the board will need to support DDR2.

Thanks everyone!
 
AFAIK, the G33/G35 boards should support the 45nm chips. Just find one with good OCing headroom. I've used the Gigabyte DS2R without any problems.
 
YES

Finally I can get me a new gaming lan-rig.

CASE: NZXT Rogue Red :cool:
CARD: 8800GTS 512Mb
CPU: E6850 or Q9450 or E8500
MEM: 4Gb kit (2x2GB of GSKill/Corsair/Crucial) PC6400
HDD: 1x160GB, 2x320GB (stripe), all WD 16mb
PSU: Some Corsair thingy 750Watt
Also: Dual layer liteon/nec don't care and some card reader (apacer or something)

But I'm still can't make up my mind for the mATX. I think the GA-G33M-DS2R is the best choice. Not going to oc but need stable system, no need voor dvi/hdmi but I do need 6 or more usb-ports and 1 firewire port, I know the DS2R has only 4 port but I have a decide pci card at my old box that has 1 internal (which I do not use) port and 4 external ports and there is a sh*tload of headers for it on the motherboard itself so I not worried about the only 4 usbports

Need some help
 
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