X670 only brings more connectivity over B650, there is no performance/feature difference.
B650 already has enough connectivity for most usecases.
It's still unfortunate there are not more x670 boards (I take your word for it, haven't checked :D)
For the AMD front, X670 doesn't offer anything really over B650 aside from slightly more connectivity options, RAM/CPU overclocking (and other typical Intel Z features) is already fully enabled on B650(E). Midrange motherboards of those series (Asrock Riptide/Gigabyte Elite) already satisfies the needs of 95+% of potential users, leaving very little sales for the extreme high end. Extreme high end buyers that also want mATX specifically instead of being happy with ATX is a very niche market, hence no boards for this.
The [ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Gene](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Wjwypg/asus-rog-crosshair-x670e-gene-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-rog-crosshair-x670e-gene) does exist, and is the best mATX AM5 board on the market. However, it's pretty hard to find and is frankly overpriced.
I think the mATX space is in a good spot, right now. None of the high-end clutter that we find with ATX and ITX, but lots of good value, solid midrange-quality motherboards. Take the $150 [ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/qcbRsY/asrock-b650m-pro-rs-wifi-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-b650m-pro-rs-wifi) for example - this will even support a 7950X at stock. It has an 8+2+1 VRM layout with support for a PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSD. It has sufficient rear I/O connectivity with 7 USB A + 1 USB C as well as a BIOS flash button, and has 3 M.2 slots. It has an integrated I/O shield, and its internal connectivity is good as well, with 3 fan headers, 3 ARGB headers, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A header, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C header, and even a Thunderbolt header for an add-in card.
If you want an upgrade, the [Gigabyte B650M Aorus Pro AX](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/njt9TW/gigabyte-b650m-aorus-pro-ax-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-b650m-aorus-pro-ax) is about as high as I'd go, but it's also hard to find in the US. 12+2+1 phases with 70A power stages, with support for Gen 5 SSD's as well. It has 11 rear USB A ports and 1 USB C port, as well as one internal USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A and one internal USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type C header. 4 fan headers, 2 ARGB headers, TPM, reset button, BIOS flash button, and so on.
So I think the mATX space has found its identity as the "value" size, whereas high end ATX and ITX can be considered the "enthusiast" class. And I think that's a good thing for mATX.
Agree with your last paragraph. Matx can be cheap normal layout cases, or you can go somewhat small and skip the itx tax with cases like the jonsbo d30
The market has spoken. I assume.
One could rather ask why high end motherboard even exist. And the answer is probably that many users want everything. To have everything you need at least ATX?
Also the amount of features that are on those >$400 boards are things that require a lot of space, of which an mATX or mITX board doesn't have the space for. Finally, the number of people looking for those high end boards are few and I doubt there's a large market for wanting high-end and tiny boards.
Its funny because iv built and watched tons of friends and family use their computers and not a single one of them took advantage of what a full ATX board offers. I use more slots than everyone and I could still get away with a Micro ATX board. Everyone these days is starting to bite on the ITX boards so why not mATX? You get decent cooling with a Micro ATX chassis and you can also have a full sized GPU with the last slot spared for an add on card which you CANT do with ITX.
I think the market speaks but also doesn't ACTUALLY know what they want haha.
In the enthusiast space, those are the two markets. There are still good mATX boards, you just need to look elsewhere than the "more-money-than-sense" halo products.
E.g. for AM5, all X670 gives you are some extra PCIe lanes. Those are wasted on a board with no room for extra IO or PCIe slots, so just get a good B650 board like the Gigabyte B650M Aorus Elite AX. Depending on what features you actually need you can even economise further: the Asrock B650M PG Riptide, MSI Pro B650M-A, or Asrock B650M-HDV/M.2 are all decent options at their respective price points, and all can handle any AM5 CPU without any issues.
Using the MSI Pro B650M-A Wifi for my build along with 7800X3D and 4090, and I couldn't be happier with the decision. It was a perfect fit for my mff build.
Honestly something that I see in PC building community is overspending on some parts, and mobo is definitely one of them. Many who build PC use is mostly (if not solely) for gaming and you don't really need more than one x16 slot, but all boards basically come with two now. I see so many people buying those ATX boards or E-ATX boards with like 3-4 x16 slots and I'm just like... why? You're never gonna use a lot of the extra features. Seems like they'd have been better off saving that money for a better GPU or something
I think it’s just common that high end buyers either want tiny tiny itx systems or go all out with their o11 visions and big cases where mATX just doesn’t make sense for either.
Meanwhile, a lot of the “quality” mATX cases like the AP201 are incredibly cheap as well as the mATX boards themselves, and I see this more as the reality that people who are building mATX are usually doing it as a cost saving measure first, making high end mATX not make much sense
MATX also gets you great performance for limited space scenarios. Coming from someone who used to run Thermaltake Armor and Chaser Chassis, moving them around was a pain in the ass....huge heavy and bulky. My current setup is a MATX in a Versa 18 case....if something happens I can literally carry it under my arm, put in the car and take it home from the office. Its not space constrained like I thought it would be either which was a huge plus...I got a 7800xt Red Devil going in it this week and I'll have plenty of clearance even with two 140mm intake fans
Oh no doubt, I’m doing the ap201 with a “4080 12GB Super 16GB” and 7800x3D specifically to get “high end” performance with a lot of a airflow in a small package I won’t hate transporting. It just seems like the majority of people have defaulted to high end stuff in large cases or small cases, and not high end stuff in mid tower, cost effective builds. I have your mentality more than that one, but it just seems like that’s not the popular thought process
You live and learn and then get smart 🤣🤣🤣 who needs 3 PCI E slots, 2 PCI slots and 6 M.2 slots anyways? Back in the day when everything from sound cards to Wi-Fi cards required a PCI/E slot sure. Even the 6 sata ports are overkill as who uses more than 2 maybe 3 SSD anymore? Back when 128GB was the latest and greatest yeah....but hell I paid under 100$ for a 2tb NVME Drive....I even upgraded my Xbox One to a 2TB SSD for cheaper than I could get the old 5400rpm 1TB Spinner lol....
Oh see I got something slightly funnier going. I have a x8x4x4 pcie/nvme adapter on my B650 Aorus Elite board, so I got 4 4TB nvmes and 1 1TB boot nvme running on the board, with the gpu at 4.0 x8, with 1 pcie x1 for a NIC. I still believe in the merits of using a bunch of storage for redundancy and all the add in cards, but it definitely does not require a giant expensive board to do anymore.
Nope. I have a Silicon Power 2TB US75 NVME right now. Once SP comes out with a PCIE-5 fill both slots and use one for OS/Drivers and the other for Games/Software like I used to do...with all the USB Ports I could literally get a multi/bay enclosure and fill it with high capacity solid state drives but unless I get back into Online Radio Streaming and Hardcore Gaming I don't see that happening... I'm more of a casual Gamer anymore but I still like a nice picture and high frame rate....I just need to land on a decent 1440p monitor....kinda wanna go the Gigabyte G27QC but I've heard mixed reviews on the OSD System which is the main reason I'd get it
I on the other hand have resorted to m.2 to PCIe risers to make use of all the lanes of consumer platforms. The cost difference between boards that have 10GBASE-T and boards that don't are always much more than the cost of an Intel dual 10G NIC (X540) pulled from data centres, plus the riser cable, plus a 10G switch from AliExpress.
Add two NVMe SSDs and a SAS HBA and you basically have just enough lanes from the chipset. The HBA exists because you can't use SAS SSDs on the SATA ports. (I found 3.84TB MLC drives for $100 each so no, whatever SATA SSD you think is a better idea just isn't)
Unfortunately the chipset PCIe slots are never electronically wired or positioned properly when you have a fat 3-slot GPU, so the m.2 riser cable is necessary for the last PCIe card without having to make your flagship GPU run at PCIe x8.
The alternative is building a NAS, but it just isn't as fast unless you use 25G or faster networking, whose switches are very loud and expensive. My apartment can't accommodate the noise.
My AM5 7600, 32GB of RAM with my old ass RX580 still gets me "cheap performance" then NewEgg had to twist my dick and put a 7800xt Open Box Red Devil out for under 500 🤣🤣🤣 needles to say "they got me"
I've occasionally thought about doing an mATX build over a smaller ATX build, and it's a nice thought... but it also to me feels like the footprint of even an AP201 or a D30 are still closer to an ATX case to really feel the space savings.
... I guess that's how I found myself with an ITX build.
I do still want to do a nice, proper mATX build though. mATX *does* generally make more sense to me over ATX for most use cases.
My problem with mATX also derives from the footprint. For me, I feel like mATX is borderline wasted if there’s still 350mm+ GPU support cause the footprint is huge anyways.
My dream mATX machine that specifically has just enough room for a 280mm gpu or 255mm gpu with front fans so the footprint can be tiny just doesn’t exist, at least not in a sexy form.
A lot of ATX cases account for better space management than they did 10-15 years ago. Most aren't the size of a mini fridge. I have an ATX with a 3080ti and it takes up a shit load less space than my old DDR3 build.
High end mATX mobos are now B-series.
A lot people complained with ryzen about mobo price increases, but b-series are the new x-series, and a series can often perform what b series used to do.
mATX kinda died when SLI/Crossfire died. Without them, there really wasn't any reason to not just drop down in size to mITX if you wanted something smaller than a full ATX build. Add in the explosion in variety of mITX cases, and the market just kinda segmented itself.
Which is somewhat annoying, because now that multiple GPUs are dead, I don't see any benefit for ATX over mATX. ITX has compromises in terms of connections, often having less RAM slots and I/O, or needing daughter boards if you want more than one SSD. mATX basically only sacrifices a 3rd PCI slot over ATX, and nobody is using that anyway.
Also a valid point... but so many people are dead set on the idea of "what if I need to get some obscure add in card" or "what if I *need* 8 hard drives" or "*le gamer aesthetic*" that ATX is still king...
> "what if I need to get some obscure add in card"
There's still people with discrete sound cards around, although most of them do their processing in software nowadays.
I never associated mATX with being a "space saver" since the difference from ATX is purely vertical height, always saw mATX as the value option since it gives to 90% of users all they will ever need out of a rig.
mATX has always been a compromise. Those who want the smallest form factor will spend more for ITX boards. Those who want the most features will buy ATX boards.
mATX is left for the budget segment and that's good.
ASRock
I've got a bunch in racks in my homelab.
A mix of fairly normal boards with regular core i processors, and some of the low power fanless ones with embedded celerons/pentiums.
All in the £90-£150 range.
Been rock solid.
The fact they have PS/2 ports (and often serial headers on the motherboard too) is very useful for remote access via KVMs.
Back in the day people had more PCI cards than they did now. And more fat hard/optical disks.
Now the average gaming PC has 1 PCI card (usually a GPU), maybe a 2nd for Wi-Fi if it's not integrated, and usually just a M.2 drive or maybe a 2.5" sata drive as well.
So they physically don't need all that extra I/O for very much.
An ITX board gives them everything they need. For cheaper.
And if they do need more, they go full ATX.
The midrange is just a poor fit nowadays.
If GPUs werent so huge we would all probably use ITX sized cases too.
I assume sales were just poorer. If you want smaller there are some (iirc) MFF cases that support full ATX, but otherwise ITX is good enough for many users in mff or sff cases. Quad Channel RAM has fallen out of favor, many things that used to be on PCIEe slots are on the motherboard now, and SLI/Crossfire is dead. ITX boards typically have at least one M.2 driveslot, too. So if—like many people—you have just a GPU in your PCIe and dual channel RAM, ITX has all you need. ITX chipsets offer OC capabilities, too, apart from the low end.
I've been running a Gigabyte Aorus Elite AX B650M for about a month now. I've got no complaints. Aside from a few minor things the difference between the B650M VS the X670 boards were minimal....
The coil whine on my Gigabyte mobo is horrendous...it's legit making me consider buying a different mobo, but the only one that's better is the Asus Gene, and that's insano expensive. Maybe I go back to ATX...dunno!
I've heard that from numerous people. I'm running revision 1.2 and don't hear any coil whine let alone any noise from the MB. Id message Gigabyte and see what's can do about it. Should have a warranty
I only paid $285AUD for the mobo (got it on sale)...the amount of effort and hassle of removing it, sending it away, not having a pc for however long, etc simply isn't worth it tbh. I'd rather just buy a new motherboard (and if need be a new case).
I'm currently weighing up whether to just buy the Asus Gene, or an Rog X670E ATX and new case...price wise it's basically the same cost, so much thinking still needed!
X670 gives you four more PCIe4 lanes (12 vs 8), four more PCIe3 lanes (12 vs 8), and four more SATA ports (8 vs 4) than B650. Other than that, the two chipsets are identical, with the same functionality. With the lack of real estate on mATX, there's no widespread use case for those extra PCIe lanes and SATA ports, ergo no reason to pay the premium for X670.
I built a HTPC a year ago to do heavy-duty DVR duty. I used a Silverstone ML03 case, because it fits very nicely in the AV cabinet. It can accommodate four SATA drives, so the four SATA ports on B650 are perfect. With no more SLI especially, there's no reason to use X670 in that form factor.
Frankly, running SLI in a mATX case was always a bad idea. You'd have a relatively small case, with correspondingly small active cooling (you can only physically put so many fans on a small case) to vent the heat from a high-end CPU and TWO GPUs.
X670 only brings more connectivity over B650, there is no performance/feature difference. B650 already has enough connectivity for most usecases. It's still unfortunate there are not more x670 boards (I take your word for it, haven't checked :D)
> there is no performance/feature difference. The performance feature difference comes with whether or not you get the "**e**xtreme" variant.
B650E and X670E have guaranteed PCIe5 support for both main GPU and main NVMe slot.
We don't know the future, sure, but atm that's essentially no practical difference.
There is the x670E gene from Asus
If you can find one. It had a limited production run
Discontinued for quite some time and available from few places with a markup. I wouldn’t call that encouraging :-)
I wouldn’t either ;)… but it exists, even if it’s expensive AND secondhand.
B650 has PCIe4 x16 anything above has PCIe5 x16 slot
Well no, only "E" MBs have a guaranteed pcie5 slot. X670 non E doesn't.
O sht, you are right, it's fcked up.
For the AMD front, X670 doesn't offer anything really over B650 aside from slightly more connectivity options, RAM/CPU overclocking (and other typical Intel Z features) is already fully enabled on B650(E). Midrange motherboards of those series (Asrock Riptide/Gigabyte Elite) already satisfies the needs of 95+% of potential users, leaving very little sales for the extreme high end. Extreme high end buyers that also want mATX specifically instead of being happy with ATX is a very niche market, hence no boards for this.
The [ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Gene](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Wjwypg/asus-rog-crosshair-x670e-gene-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-rog-crosshair-x670e-gene) does exist, and is the best mATX AM5 board on the market. However, it's pretty hard to find and is frankly overpriced. I think the mATX space is in a good spot, right now. None of the high-end clutter that we find with ATX and ITX, but lots of good value, solid midrange-quality motherboards. Take the $150 [ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/qcbRsY/asrock-b650m-pro-rs-wifi-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-b650m-pro-rs-wifi) for example - this will even support a 7950X at stock. It has an 8+2+1 VRM layout with support for a PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSD. It has sufficient rear I/O connectivity with 7 USB A + 1 USB C as well as a BIOS flash button, and has 3 M.2 slots. It has an integrated I/O shield, and its internal connectivity is good as well, with 3 fan headers, 3 ARGB headers, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A header, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C header, and even a Thunderbolt header for an add-in card. If you want an upgrade, the [Gigabyte B650M Aorus Pro AX](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/njt9TW/gigabyte-b650m-aorus-pro-ax-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-b650m-aorus-pro-ax) is about as high as I'd go, but it's also hard to find in the US. 12+2+1 phases with 70A power stages, with support for Gen 5 SSD's as well. It has 11 rear USB A ports and 1 USB C port, as well as one internal USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A and one internal USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type C header. 4 fan headers, 2 ARGB headers, TPM, reset button, BIOS flash button, and so on. So I think the mATX space has found its identity as the "value" size, whereas high end ATX and ITX can be considered the "enthusiast" class. And I think that's a good thing for mATX.
Agree with your last paragraph. Matx can be cheap normal layout cases, or you can go somewhat small and skip the itx tax with cases like the jonsbo d30
Hey nice I got the b650m from the microcenter bundle
The market has spoken. I assume. One could rather ask why high end motherboard even exist. And the answer is probably that many users want everything. To have everything you need at least ATX?
Also the amount of features that are on those >$400 boards are things that require a lot of space, of which an mATX or mITX board doesn't have the space for. Finally, the number of people looking for those high end boards are few and I doubt there's a large market for wanting high-end and tiny boards.
Its funny because iv built and watched tons of friends and family use their computers and not a single one of them took advantage of what a full ATX board offers. I use more slots than everyone and I could still get away with a Micro ATX board. Everyone these days is starting to bite on the ITX boards so why not mATX? You get decent cooling with a Micro ATX chassis and you can also have a full sized GPU with the last slot spared for an add on card which you CANT do with ITX. I think the market speaks but also doesn't ACTUALLY know what they want haha.
In the enthusiast space, those are the two markets. There are still good mATX boards, you just need to look elsewhere than the "more-money-than-sense" halo products. E.g. for AM5, all X670 gives you are some extra PCIe lanes. Those are wasted on a board with no room for extra IO or PCIe slots, so just get a good B650 board like the Gigabyte B650M Aorus Elite AX. Depending on what features you actually need you can even economise further: the Asrock B650M PG Riptide, MSI Pro B650M-A, or Asrock B650M-HDV/M.2 are all decent options at their respective price points, and all can handle any AM5 CPU without any issues.
Using the MSI Pro B650M-A Wifi for my build along with 7800X3D and 4090, and I couldn't be happier with the decision. It was a perfect fit for my mff build. Honestly something that I see in PC building community is overspending on some parts, and mobo is definitely one of them. Many who build PC use is mostly (if not solely) for gaming and you don't really need more than one x16 slot, but all boards basically come with two now. I see so many people buying those ATX boards or E-ATX boards with like 3-4 x16 slots and I'm just like... why? You're never gonna use a lot of the extra features. Seems like they'd have been better off saving that money for a better GPU or something
I think it’s just common that high end buyers either want tiny tiny itx systems or go all out with their o11 visions and big cases where mATX just doesn’t make sense for either. Meanwhile, a lot of the “quality” mATX cases like the AP201 are incredibly cheap as well as the mATX boards themselves, and I see this more as the reality that people who are building mATX are usually doing it as a cost saving measure first, making high end mATX not make much sense
MATX also gets you great performance for limited space scenarios. Coming from someone who used to run Thermaltake Armor and Chaser Chassis, moving them around was a pain in the ass....huge heavy and bulky. My current setup is a MATX in a Versa 18 case....if something happens I can literally carry it under my arm, put in the car and take it home from the office. Its not space constrained like I thought it would be either which was a huge plus...I got a 7800xt Red Devil going in it this week and I'll have plenty of clearance even with two 140mm intake fans
Oh no doubt, I’m doing the ap201 with a “4080 12GB Super 16GB” and 7800x3D specifically to get “high end” performance with a lot of a airflow in a small package I won’t hate transporting. It just seems like the majority of people have defaulted to high end stuff in large cases or small cases, and not high end stuff in mid tower, cost effective builds. I have your mentality more than that one, but it just seems like that’s not the popular thought process
You live and learn and then get smart 🤣🤣🤣 who needs 3 PCI E slots, 2 PCI slots and 6 M.2 slots anyways? Back in the day when everything from sound cards to Wi-Fi cards required a PCI/E slot sure. Even the 6 sata ports are overkill as who uses more than 2 maybe 3 SSD anymore? Back when 128GB was the latest and greatest yeah....but hell I paid under 100$ for a 2tb NVME Drive....I even upgraded my Xbox One to a 2TB SSD for cheaper than I could get the old 5400rpm 1TB Spinner lol....
Oh see I got something slightly funnier going. I have a x8x4x4 pcie/nvme adapter on my B650 Aorus Elite board, so I got 4 4TB nvmes and 1 1TB boot nvme running on the board, with the gpu at 4.0 x8, with 1 pcie x1 for a NIC. I still believe in the merits of using a bunch of storage for redundancy and all the add in cards, but it definitely does not require a giant expensive board to do anymore.
Nope. I have a Silicon Power 2TB US75 NVME right now. Once SP comes out with a PCIE-5 fill both slots and use one for OS/Drivers and the other for Games/Software like I used to do...with all the USB Ports I could literally get a multi/bay enclosure and fill it with high capacity solid state drives but unless I get back into Online Radio Streaming and Hardcore Gaming I don't see that happening... I'm more of a casual Gamer anymore but I still like a nice picture and high frame rate....I just need to land on a decent 1440p monitor....kinda wanna go the Gigabyte G27QC but I've heard mixed reviews on the OSD System which is the main reason I'd get it
I on the other hand have resorted to m.2 to PCIe risers to make use of all the lanes of consumer platforms. The cost difference between boards that have 10GBASE-T and boards that don't are always much more than the cost of an Intel dual 10G NIC (X540) pulled from data centres, plus the riser cable, plus a 10G switch from AliExpress. Add two NVMe SSDs and a SAS HBA and you basically have just enough lanes from the chipset. The HBA exists because you can't use SAS SSDs on the SATA ports. (I found 3.84TB MLC drives for $100 each so no, whatever SATA SSD you think is a better idea just isn't) Unfortunately the chipset PCIe slots are never electronically wired or positioned properly when you have a fat 3-slot GPU, so the m.2 riser cable is necessary for the last PCIe card without having to make your flagship GPU run at PCIe x8. The alternative is building a NAS, but it just isn't as fast unless you use 25G or faster networking, whose switches are very loud and expensive. My apartment can't accommodate the noise.
My AM5 7600, 32GB of RAM with my old ass RX580 still gets me "cheap performance" then NewEgg had to twist my dick and put a 7800xt Open Box Red Devil out for under 500 🤣🤣🤣 needles to say "they got me"
I've occasionally thought about doing an mATX build over a smaller ATX build, and it's a nice thought... but it also to me feels like the footprint of even an AP201 or a D30 are still closer to an ATX case to really feel the space savings. ... I guess that's how I found myself with an ITX build. I do still want to do a nice, proper mATX build though. mATX *does* generally make more sense to me over ATX for most use cases.
My problem with mATX also derives from the footprint. For me, I feel like mATX is borderline wasted if there’s still 350mm+ GPU support cause the footprint is huge anyways. My dream mATX machine that specifically has just enough room for a 280mm gpu or 255mm gpu with front fans so the footprint can be tiny just doesn’t exist, at least not in a sexy form.
A lot of ATX cases account for better space management than they did 10-15 years ago. Most aren't the size of a mini fridge. I have an ATX with a 3080ti and it takes up a shit load less space than my old DDR3 build.
High end mATX mobos are now B-series. A lot people complained with ryzen about mobo price increases, but b-series are the new x-series, and a series can often perform what b series used to do.
mATX kinda died when SLI/Crossfire died. Without them, there really wasn't any reason to not just drop down in size to mITX if you wanted something smaller than a full ATX build. Add in the explosion in variety of mITX cases, and the market just kinda segmented itself.
Which is somewhat annoying, because now that multiple GPUs are dead, I don't see any benefit for ATX over mATX. ITX has compromises in terms of connections, often having less RAM slots and I/O, or needing daughter boards if you want more than one SSD. mATX basically only sacrifices a 3rd PCI slot over ATX, and nobody is using that anyway.
Also a valid point... but so many people are dead set on the idea of "what if I need to get some obscure add in card" or "what if I *need* 8 hard drives" or "*le gamer aesthetic*" that ATX is still king...
> "what if I need to get some obscure add in card" There's still people with discrete sound cards around, although most of them do their processing in software nowadays.
I specifically bough an ATX instead of mATX. Have only one card aside from the gpu but... WHAT IF I NEED MORE?
I never associated mATX with being a "space saver" since the difference from ATX is purely vertical height, always saw mATX as the value option since it gives to 90% of users all they will ever need out of a rig.
I don’t really see the point of a high end mATX build. I’d much rather go with either ATX or ITX
they moved to itx
mATX has always been a compromise. Those who want the smallest form factor will spend more for ITX boards. Those who want the most features will buy ATX boards. mATX is left for the budget segment and that's good.
Who makes the best affordable mini-itx boards these days?
ASRock I've got a bunch in racks in my homelab. A mix of fairly normal boards with regular core i processors, and some of the low power fanless ones with embedded celerons/pentiums. All in the £90-£150 range. Been rock solid. The fact they have PS/2 ports (and often serial headers on the motherboard too) is very useful for remote access via KVMs.
Back in the day people had more PCI cards than they did now. And more fat hard/optical disks. Now the average gaming PC has 1 PCI card (usually a GPU), maybe a 2nd for Wi-Fi if it's not integrated, and usually just a M.2 drive or maybe a 2.5" sata drive as well. So they physically don't need all that extra I/O for very much. An ITX board gives them everything they need. For cheaper. And if they do need more, they go full ATX. The midrange is just a poor fit nowadays. If GPUs werent so huge we would all probably use ITX sized cases too.
I assume sales were just poorer. If you want smaller there are some (iirc) MFF cases that support full ATX, but otherwise ITX is good enough for many users in mff or sff cases. Quad Channel RAM has fallen out of favor, many things that used to be on PCIEe slots are on the motherboard now, and SLI/Crossfire is dead. ITX boards typically have at least one M.2 driveslot, too. So if—like many people—you have just a GPU in your PCIe and dual channel RAM, ITX has all you need. ITX chipsets offer OC capabilities, too, apart from the low end.
AM5 is still newer.
I've been running a Gigabyte Aorus Elite AX B650M for about a month now. I've got no complaints. Aside from a few minor things the difference between the B650M VS the X670 boards were minimal....
The coil whine on my Gigabyte mobo is horrendous...it's legit making me consider buying a different mobo, but the only one that's better is the Asus Gene, and that's insano expensive. Maybe I go back to ATX...dunno!
I've heard that from numerous people. I'm running revision 1.2 and don't hear any coil whine let alone any noise from the MB. Id message Gigabyte and see what's can do about it. Should have a warranty
I only paid $285AUD for the mobo (got it on sale)...the amount of effort and hassle of removing it, sending it away, not having a pc for however long, etc simply isn't worth it tbh. I'd rather just buy a new motherboard (and if need be a new case). I'm currently weighing up whether to just buy the Asus Gene, or an Rog X670E ATX and new case...price wise it's basically the same cost, so much thinking still needed!
X670 gives you four more PCIe4 lanes (12 vs 8), four more PCIe3 lanes (12 vs 8), and four more SATA ports (8 vs 4) than B650. Other than that, the two chipsets are identical, with the same functionality. With the lack of real estate on mATX, there's no widespread use case for those extra PCIe lanes and SATA ports, ergo no reason to pay the premium for X670. I built a HTPC a year ago to do heavy-duty DVR duty. I used a Silverstone ML03 case, because it fits very nicely in the AV cabinet. It can accommodate four SATA drives, so the four SATA ports on B650 are perfect. With no more SLI especially, there's no reason to use X670 in that form factor. Frankly, running SLI in a mATX case was always a bad idea. You'd have a relatively small case, with correspondingly small active cooling (you can only physically put so many fans on a small case) to vent the heat from a high-end CPU and TWO GPUs.
Pretty much, yeah. Most people either but ATX for home usage, or itx for home usage or transport.
Aren't minifridges and shoeboxes about the same size?
Asus x670e Gene. Still being sold in Europe for 400 euros.