Is it me or is the ATX form-factor becoming obsolete?

**kris23** · Jun 20, 2011, 07:35 PM

really, i find it annoying that many add in cards take up 2+ slots on a motherboard with 7 slots and cover up unused ports.

with quite a few cases moving to 10+ slots and large form factors like XL-ATX and HPTX, why cant motherboard manufacturers slowly begin introducing motherboards that have space for cards with large heatsinks?

i always have to do a lot of hunting to find a board with the right layout for me as i always end up not being able to have access to the slots i need once the GPUs are down....

i mean, is it wrong to desire the ability to use quad video cards and still be able to use 2-3 other expansion cards?

long gone are the days when your high performance video cards still used single slot coolers...

as it stands now, i would need full cover waterblocks to use the adjacent slots on my motherboard....

Takaharu · Jun 20, 2011, 08:18 PM

Well yeah, to a degree. If you're going compact it's ITX or mATX, budget's mATX then for performance it's bigger-than-ATX.
Having said that, people who go for the middle of the price-performance will go for ATX... currently. Mine's pretty spacious and it's ATX. It's hard to say at this point in time, really. I think mATX has definitely come a long way as they were never really performance motherboards. Nowadays you can have people quite happily overclocking to over 4GHz on an mATX board.
I think ATX will retain its place in the world for the time being because it gives that entry-level for multiple graphics cards. For now at least I wouldn't consider getting an E-ATX or such forth because I'd find it's too overkill; two graphics cards at most would do me with maybe one other card (kinda like how I have it now).

Tyrsonswood · Jun 20, 2011, 08:43 PM

I usually go ATX over a mATX any day. I also hate covering slots that I might want to use. With today's larger cases we need an "ATX-long" or some such......

blibbax · Jun 20, 2011, 10:11 PM

As someone who generally doesn't use more than one expansion card, I find that most of the slots on an ATX mobo are a waste of space. However, MATX tends to leave things a bit tight on the wiring and cooling front with even a single full size (triple-slot) GPU, so I guess my ideal would be a 5 or 6 slot motherboard and case, but only one of those "slots" needs to actually have a pci-e slot in it. The rest can be blank for my purposes. Given that most enthusiasts have slightly higher expansion demands than me, 7 slots seems a sensible number for the industry standard, and the fairly popular trend of leaving the slot under the pci-e x16 blank seems pretty sensible.

When you get to quad GPUs, the current form factors aren't really fit for purpose imo. You have to have all of them right next to each other, and with coolers that have to be within a certain (fairly small) size.

Of course many larger system builders don't bother with ATX anyway, preferring their own propriety form factors instead.

BlueMak · Jun 21, 2011, 07:48 AM

If you can afford 4 top of the line GPUs, you probably can afford to have two seperate PCs. One for gaming and one for everything else, and stick the random other expansion cards to the second PC.

But yeah, in general I agree with your point. Though not exactly in that direction for my own usage. I wish they would work more on making things smaller but still faster than they are now, than going bigger. Something the size of a Mac Mini, with each expansion card the size of a SD card or something, would be much preferred over a large enough motherboard to fit more and more of the current hardware.

Judas · Jun 21, 2011, 04:25 PM

i liked where BTX was heading... then...... nothing has happened really.....

Jun 20, 2011, 07:35 PM	#1
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,018 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Is it me or is the ATX form-factor becoming obsolete? really, i find it annoying that many add in cards take up 2+ slots on a motherboard with 7 slots and cover up unused ports. with quite a few cases moving to 10+ slots and large form factors like XL-ATX and HPTX, why cant motherboard manufacturers slowly begin introducing motherboards that have space for cards with large heatsinks? i always have to do a lot of hunting to find a board with the right layout for me as i always end up not being able to have access to the slots i need once the GPUs are down.... i mean, is it wrong to desire the ability to use quad video cards and still be able to use 2-3 other expansion cards? long gone are the days when your high performance video cards still used single slot coolers... as it stands now, i would need full cover waterblocks to use the adjacent slots on my motherboard.... __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jun 20, 2011, 08:18 PM	#2
Takaharu I can fart in 7 languages Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: England, UK Posts: 1,850 Rep Power: 113 System Specs	Re: Is it me or is the ATX form-factor becoming obsolete? Well yeah, to a degree. If you're going compact it's ITX or mATX, budget's mATX then for performance it's bigger-than-ATX. Having said that, people who go for the middle of the price-performance will go for ATX... currently. Mine's pretty spacious and it's ATX. It's hard to say at this point in time, really. I think mATX has definitely come a long way as they were never really performance motherboards. Nowadays you can have people quite happily overclocking to over 4GHz on an mATX board. I think ATX will retain its place in the world for the time being because it gives that entry-level for multiple graphics cards. For now at least I wouldn't consider getting an E-ATX or such forth because I'd find it's too overkill; two graphics cards at most would do me with maybe one other card (kinda like how I have it now). __________________ I don't get paid to know the answer, therefore I'm far more likely to give you a straight and honest answer. Mods Rig, Box Mods Rig, Folding details

Jun 20, 2011, 10:11 PM	#4
blibbax What does this do? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 4,231 Rep Power: 254 System Specs	Re: Is it me or is the ATX form-factor becoming obsolete? As someone who generally doesn't use more than one expansion card, I find that most of the slots on an ATX mobo are a waste of space. However, MATX tends to leave things a bit tight on the wiring and cooling front with even a single full size (triple-slot) GPU, so I guess my ideal would be a 5 or 6 slot motherboard and case, but only one of those "slots" needs to actually have a pci-e slot in it. The rest can be blank for my purposes. Given that most enthusiasts have slightly higher expansion demands than me, 7 slots seems a sensible number for the industry standard, and the fairly popular trend of leaving the slot under the pci-e x16 blank seems pretty sensible. When you get to quad GPUs, the current form factors aren't really fit for purpose imo. You have to have all of them right next to each other, and with coolers that have to be within a certain (fairly small) size. Of course many larger system builders don't bother with ATX anyway, preferring their own propriety form factors instead. __________________ Donate the spare computing power of your PC to help to cure Alzheimer's, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease and cancer: Fold for HH!

Jun 21, 2011, 07:48 AM	#5
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,465 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	Re: Is it me or is the ATX form-factor becoming obsolete? If you can afford 4 top of the line GPUs, you probably can afford to have two seperate PCs. One for gaming and one for everything else, and stick the random other expansion cards to the second PC. But yeah, in general I agree with your point. Though not exactly in that direction for my own usage. I wish they would work more on making things smaller but still faster than they are now, than going bigger. Something the size of a Mac Mini, with each expansion card the size of a SD card or something, would be much preferred over a large enough motherboard to fit more and more of the current hardware. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*