PC Peripherals mATX vs ATX - Gaming

M

Marc2

Novice
Shouldn't ATX boards be the preferred choice for gaming?

What would you chose, Gigabyte MA785GMT-UD2H or ASUS M4A78STD-V-EVO if the price difference is negligible?
 
Personal choice: Full ATX

+ Better southbridge and northbridge

+ Better OC support

+ More space underneath the graphics card which usually come with dual slot coolers these days
 
Yes I really want some space around the GPU. I also have short fingers and the wide spaced layout is better for me.

Are there any heating issues in mATX boards since the components are closer together?
 
^yes, the southbridge is sometimes too close to the GPU's PCB in case of mATX. Also, the heatsinks on the NB & SB are smaller incase of mATX, again leading to heating issues when OCing the RAM/CPU.

Moreover, using PCI cards (TV tuner or Sound card or expansion cards) isnt always a choice when using mATX because it spoils the air intake of the GPU's dual-slot cooler.

And in some cases where an aftermarket GPU cooler is involved (like in my case Accelero s1 rev2), the GPU may use a whopping 3 slots! The mATX just cant cope up with the space shortage here. Hence always stick to ATX (until its out of your budget).
 
I was only aware of vague reasons and I didn't know these exact points. Thanks for the information. I've picked the ATX motherboard.
 
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