What Are the Different Motherboard Sizes?

When you archetypal larn how to physique a PC, everything tin look ace complicated, but 1 of the astir confusing things you'll travel crossed is motherboard sizing. Depending connected the benignant of lawsuit you've bought for your physique (and what benignant of hardware you privation to enactment successful your machine successful general) you tin person a ton of antithetic size options. Below I'll spell done each of the main modern motherboard iterations and what they mean.

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What Is ATX?

Ever wonderment wherefore astir modern machine motherboards look the same? That’s due to the fact that they astir each usage ATX, a modular for motherboards, powerfulness supplies, and desktop cases that defines size, position, and powerfulness delivery. This acceptable of rules helps each constituent enactment together, careless of manufacturer.

For our purposes, we’re funny successful the carnal dimensions. Some elements, similar the size and determination of the ports connected the back, are accordant crossed each of the ATX variations. Other aspects of the standard, similar the width and magnitude of the board, are indicated by their ain acronyms, helping you rapidly place the size and compatibility.

Just ATX

ATX is some the sanction of the modular and besides however we notation to the astir communal size. If you've ever cracked unfastened the broadside of a machine case, this signifier origin volition apt look familiar. Measuring successful astatine 305 x 244 mm (12 x 9.6 inches), this size of motherboard has plentifulness of country for 4 oregon much RAM slots, aggregate PCIe cards astatine respective lengths, and 2 to 4 M.2 slots.

For example: The ASUS TUF Gaming B650-Plus WiFi ($200) is simply a full-size ATX motherboard for the AMD AM5 platform. It boasts 4 RAM slots, 2 M.2 slots, and a PCIe 5.0 slot.

These are a large prime for fundamentally immoderate PC build, from your humble surviving country email checker to a almighty gaming rig. They’re typically the archetypal to merchandise erstwhile a caller procreation launches, and person each the caller features and options without paying a premium price. You don’t request a fancy machine to admit the benefits, since ATX motherboards besides travel successful the widest assortment of budgets and diagnostic sets.

Micro ATX

A somewhat smaller option, micro ATX (or mATX for short) is progressively common, acknowledgment to perpetually improving vigor and thermal efficiency. These boards are the aforesaid width arsenic the full-size boards, but shortened connected 1 extremity to beryllium a 244 x 244 mm square. You’ll besides find galore of the aforesaid options and features that you tin connected ATX boards, without excessively overmuch of a terms increase, making these a fashionable prime for midrange gaming PCs.

For example: The reasonably priced MSI Pro B760M-P ($99) has the CPU slot for the latest procreation of Intel chips, a PCIe 4.0 slot, and lone 1 M.2 slot.