mini-atx mobo for quad core
I am thinkning of upgrading to quad core but would quite like to use a mini-atx case to save a bit of space when lugging it to and from uni, I would like it to have a 1x pci-express slot svaliable with a dual slot graphics card plugged in, although this is not essential. I am not that bothered with overclocking, if I have nothing better to do with my time I might have a breif go but do not mind if there are no overclocking features. I don't want to spend much more than I have to.
I would be gratefull of anyone's suggestions, or even just pointing me in the direction of grouptest or similar.
Re: mini-atx mobo for quad core
I think you mean Micro-ATX or mATX/uATX ("u" would actually be the greek symobol for micro but oh well lol)
There's a few good one's out there. I've always liked the look of the Abit Fatality
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
some people have problems with them from what i've heard, but nothing major that I can remember and abit have fantastic support.
lovely looking thing though and it has HDMI (convertable to DVI)
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
this isn't bad but only has vga, if you're using a graphics card this won't matter though.
They are all different chipsets.
Abit is ATi
Asus is G33
Gigabyte/EVGA is 630i
The second 2 are probably better to stick with but that abit.. hmmmm
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
latest chipset from nvidia although i'd look for an EVGA version as I don't like gigabye much. Has DVI and HDMI on some of them at least.
Re: mini-atx mobo for quad core
I have a Gigabyte G33M-DS2R and its great so far does everything you could want really :) Overclocking wise its fine mine is currently running at 400MHz FSB and got there with no issues at all.
Haven't tried the onboard graphics but as you have a card no issue there!
Edit - Worth noting the Abit board does not support FSB of 1333MHz (333MHz) so will be unable to run the new Penryn quads expected in January.
Re: mini-atx mobo for quad core
well... i may as well just do this. excuse the mess but i've been working on it over the past month or so.
it's integrated graphics oriented, which is what you'll get on most mATX boards, and boards are ordered in order of performance / features / quality, which closely follows the chipset order (like chipsets are grouped together). note that some are intel and others amd. and you may wanna wait a month or two for intel/nvidia's new chipsets or a lil later for amd's if you're not getting a seperate graphics card.
prices are the cheapest i've found, an s indicates shipping price inclusive though some i haven't worked that out for.
Code:
P5E-V (X3500)
P5E-VM HDMI (X3500) £105 *overclockers*
Gigabyte GA-73UM-S2H (7150)
MSI P6NGM (7150)
MSI G965MDH 76.34 *stuff-uk.net*
Gigabyte GA 965GM-S2 Socket 775 Motherboard ~£45 *ebay* £53.76 *aria*
GA-MA69G-S3H £44.25 *btshop* £46.12 *amazon s* £50.08 *scan s*
GA-MA69GM-S2H 690G £45.67 *amazon s* £49.21 *lambda s* £50.78 s scan
Foxconn A690GM2MA-8KRS2H £36.08 *ccl* £38.72 *aria*,
Biostar TA690G AM2
Asus M2A-VM HDMI £45.06 ccl
MSI K9AGM2 £53.25 *stuff-uk.net s*
Biostar TF7050-M2 (7050) £45.43 *ccl*
ASRock AliveNF7G-HDready
MSI K9NBPM2-FID
ASRock 4Core1333-FullHD (use ddr2-800 @ 4-4-4-12) ~£45 *ebay* 59 *tekheads s* 60.06 *dabs s* 63.84 *overclock s* 65.64 *aria s*
Abit FATAL1TY F-I90HD 775 (X1250) 61.09 *Aria*
GA-G33M-DS2R
ASUS P5K-VM
MSI G33M
Gig GA-G33M-S2H 55.11 *ebuyer*
chipsets:
G45 x4500
G35 (GMA X3500) (abandoned)
MCP73 (7150 + 630i , 7100 + 630i)
AMD: 690G (RS600) AMD Radeon X1250
G965 / G33 + GMA X3000 X3100
my choice? the GA-MA69GM-S2H (s3h is near identicle but ATX size with extra pcix1 / pcix4 slots). it's amd, 690G chipset that's better than most current nvidia/intel int. graphics), should support quad core phenoms, and unless you add an extra £5 at shop.bt.com you wont get free shipping so get it from amazon instead.
Re: mini-atx mobo for quad core
Um he has a separate graphics card so integrated graphics are not really an issue.
And going quad core then at the moment I would think the Q6600 is the only way forward (or wait for Penryn in January) Phenom wasn't as good as Q6600 to start off with clock for clock and its as much if not more to buy... In addition to that while it will run on an AM2 motherboard it will be even slower since most of its new features will be disabled, I haven't seen any AM2+ uATX boards yet but I'm sure they will come in time but until then I don't think Phenom is a realistic option.
Re: mini-atx mobo for quad core
Oh yes, sorry, I did mean micro, with Q6600 and DDR2 (I think I just assumed those, I saw the reviews for Phenom then promptly forgot about it). Thanks for the responses so far. Also am I right in thinking I can put a pcie 1x card in the 4x slot off the Gigabyte or asus?
Re: mini-atx mobo for quad core
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Webby
I have a
Gigabyte G33M-DS2R and its great so far does everything you could want really :) Overclocking wise its fine mine is currently running at 400MHz FSB and got there with no issues at all.
Webby, what settings did you use? Mine did 400mhz FSB for a while and then decided it didnt want to and I suspect I;ve cocked the settings up. Even running 6x400 it refuses now when it did run 8x400 before.... so I suspect its settings.
Re: mini-atx mobo for quad core
I found that when I overclocked with auto voltages it raised the voltages all round so everything got hot which was bad...
Anyway my current settings are,
FSB 400MHz
Multiplier 7x
Memory divider 2x so 800MHz
Memory Timings 4-4-4-12
Voltages set to manual and then left at standard apart from memory which is set to +0.3v to achieve the 2.1v required for my memory to run at those speeds.
Can't think of any other settings that I changed.
Hope this helps any thing else ask and I will happily check for you :)
