Sexiest mATX mobo ever

[Audioaficionado]

You're looking at the wrong $400 board at Newegg. It's only ~$200. Newegg and ZipZoomFly didn't have it either.

Very nice board. Put this in a LAN case and kick some @$$ at your local LAN game spot

My pendulum has swung the other way and now I'm back into full tower rigs with lots of nice cool air flow and room for my large hands to work in.

 

[Neuromancer]

You're looking at the wrong $400 board at Newegg. It's only ~$200. Newegg and ZipZoomFly didn't have it either.

Very nice board. Put this in a LAN case and kick some @$$ at your local LAN game spot

My pendulum has swung the other way and now I'm back into full tower rigs with lots of nice cool air flow and room for my large hands to work in.

I am in the same boat. I was all about SFF desktop rigs this winter. Now I have not cleaned my HTPC in a while and it was shutting off from overheating (I had it set to shut off at 60C on a 3600x2) and had to swap out a 4850e in the ITX box I gave to my sister and put a much cooler running 2400.

 

[jcniest5]

After all have been said and done, I want some techie sites somewhere to do a review comparison between all X58 mATX mobos out there and let's see which is the best of the best among the smallest.

 

[Slayn]

Anyone have a good reccomendation on a case for this thing? I put my PC in my entertrainment center flat on it's side but my case isnt really made for it. I want something a little smaller to accomodate this board that is made to be flat.

 

[ratbuddy]

Anyone have a good reccomendation on a case for this thing? I put my PC in my entertrainment center flat on it's side but my case isnt really made for it. I want something a little smaller to accomodate this board that is made to be flat.

Lots of good options out there. How many drive bays do you need? Does it have to be able to handle a full height video card? What CPU cooler do you plan on using?

 

[diaz]

Great, but... why?

I cant see the benefit to small form factor motherboard, until they come out with some cool running ones.


I could not imagine running a couple of GTXs, and a 920 in this thing in a SFF case, unless you were trying to make a bun warmer lol

Dude, I breathe mATX. My p180mini can cool down any i7 setup with 2x295 cards. Its all about being awesome as I am.

-D

 

[Cant.Touch.This]

Dude, I breathe mATX. My p180mini can cool down any i7 setup with 2x295 cards. Its all about being awesome as I am.

-D

Orly? Cooling down 2x295 cards in that case?

If I had seen the price reduction of that case I wouldn't have bought my LL A05NB.

EDIT: The board is available at Amazon now... preorder?

 

[Slayn]

Lots of good options out there. How many drive bays do you need? Does it have to be able to handle a full height video card? What CPU cooler do you plan on using?

I am putting in a GTX260 and a minimum amount of drives really, 1-2 hard drives 1-2 optical max. Not sure on the cooler but I will take whatever will fit honestly.

 

[BlkCamaro55]

Ok so I like the look of the board...BUT I do have a question that hopefully someone can help me out with...Is it just me, or does this not VERY CLOSELY mirror what the ASUS Rampage II GENE mATX board has? I have the mATX Rampage II GENE mobo and havent had a single problem with it and I like the layout of the BIOS. So if someone could, please point out to me what advantages and or disavantages these boards have against one another...

 

[ratbuddy]

I am putting in a GTX260 and a minimum amount of drives really, 1-2 hard drives 1-2 optical max. Not sure on the cooler but I will take whatever will fit honestly.

If you can get by on 1 optical drive, this little guy is top of the line as far as slim goes. With a GTX 260, I'd probably add a few more 70mm fans, though. It holds 2 hard drives and 1 optical, and fits full height cards. Full sized ATX PSUs too. Total height around 4". http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112186

There's an Antec that's about $10 cheaper, and comes with a remote, but it looks cheezy as hell and is 1.5" taller so I won't bother linking it.

edit: Camaro, this EVGA board looks cooler (subjective of course) and costs about $40 less. Probably has a rather similar featureset.

 

[BlkCamaro55]

If you can get by on 1 optical drive, this little guy is top of the line as far as slim goes. With a GTX 260, I'd probably add a few more 70mm fans, though. It holds 2 hard drives and 1 optical, and fits full height cards. Full sized ATX PSUs too. Total height around 4". http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112186

There's an Antec that's about $10 cheaper, and comes with a remote, but it looks cheezy as hell and is 1.5" taller so I won't bother linking it.

edit: Camaro, this EVGA board looks cooler (subjective of course) and costs about $40 less. Probably has a rather similar featureset.

Yea I agree with it looking alot cooler than the GENE mobo. $40 cheaper is also a nice plus, I just want someone to point out if there is actually a difference in the features and performance of the board...a good write up comparing these two boards would be pretty sweet seeings how they seem SO alike.

 

[Cant.Touch.This]

The only things I see physically changed is that:

-EVGA dropped the IDE port and uses a x1 slot instead of x4 (it has an open end on the slot as well).
-EVGA has the post code LED display.
-Location of the CPU power pin.

 

[MassiveOverkill]

Great, but... why?

I cant see the benefit to small form factor motherboard, until they come out with some cool running ones.


I could not imagine running a couple of GTXs, and a 920 in this thing in a SFF case, unless you were trying to make a bun warmer lol

I can imagine it: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1407916

FYI guys, one thing that has come in VERY handy with the Rampage II Gene is the ability to install/remove memory without having to remove your video cards. It's really convenient when you have SLI cards that you would normally have to remove with the other mATX i7 boards.

eVGA doesn't have as good cooling on the mosfets/NB, which can be seen as a plus if you plan on getting a better cooling setup anyways, but blowing a fan over the stock Asus setup works fine for me.

The eVGA board does look sexy though.

 

[ChinStrap]

with twin 285s

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=6100451&postcount=1211

my was on the tech station though, not in my ssf.

 

[Evilsizer]

i still think Gene is sexier, red/black was so 90's. lol ok well atleast they didnt copy Abit with the black and blue theme.

 

[Slayn]

If you can get by on 1 optical drive, this little guy is top of the line as far as slim goes. With a GTX 260, I'd probably add a few more 70mm fans, though. It holds 2 hard drives and 1 optical, and fits full height cards. Full sized ATX PSUs too. Total height around 4". http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112186

There's an Antec that's about $10 cheaper, and comes with a remote, but it looks cheezy as hell and is 1.5" taller so I won't bother linking it.

edit: Camaro, this EVGA board looks cooler (subjective of course) and costs about $40 less. Probably has a rather similar featureset.

You know... thats an expensive case... but I think it is worth it. Nice!!! Would it fit a 650TX.

 

[ratbuddy]

You know... thats an expensive case... but I think it is worth it. Nice!!! Would it fit a 650TX.

Yep, although in such a situation you may want to go modular - there isn't much room to hide all the extra cables.

 

[Slayn]

Eh I don't personally care for hiding cables, but yeah I guess it can help air flow.

 

[Cant.Touch.This]

Osnap, the board is on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188051