Adina Rashid
4 min readNov 20, 2022

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ATX vs micro ATX vs mini ATX:

The importance of a motherboard in a computer cannot be denied. The motherboard is a key feature of your system.Based on the size, motherboards can be micro ATZ, mini ATX, or ATZ. When you look at three of them you might think that they are only different from each other in size. But that’s not like that when we look at their features and their pros and cons then you realized that they come from whole different worlds

What is a motherboard?

The motherboard serves to be the bridge among all components of a computer like CPU, GPU, or hard drive. It provides a platform for all parts where they can meet and share their talks. Without this connection, none of the parts can interact.

ATX motherboard:

These motherboards offered a massive amount of memory, as they come with 4 RAM slots. And each slot can handle 32 GB. This means you are ended with 36x4 RAM, which is not notable. With this motherboard on your side, you will never face issues regarding low memory. These motherboards are highly recommended for gaming purposes as they have an abundance of memory. It will never disappoint you as it can support many upgrades on your system day by day.

Micro ATX:

The most highlighting and eye-catching feature of these motherboards is they are not that much expensive as compared to ATX. as a nature of fact micro ATX provides almost all same features as ATX except for some. But their price is very much low. People rush to them after hearing their price packages. The fact that can fit themselves in most places because of their convenient size draws people’s attention. The smaller and bigger motherboard cannot successfully justify themselves when it comes to a comfortable size.

Mini ATX:

In most devices, when it comes to size, people prefer the small ones as they are small in size and fulfill all their demands but this fact is not true for the motherboard. The smallest motherboard( mini ATX) is not admirable by people. The reason for this does not provide enough features. these motherboards lack important features like RAM, PCle slots

ATX vs micro ATX vs mini ATX:

let’s go ahead with their comparison.

SIZE:

· ATX is considered as the biggest with a 12x9.6

· micro ATX comes with a 9.6x9.6

· mini ATX is the smallest with 6.7x6.7.

the size of the motherboard is very important to consider. Regarding size micro ATX is considered the best. As they are not that small and not that large and offer you a lot.

RAM:

when it comes to RAM, all of them stand behind ATX. standard ATX supports the most. The conclusion made among all these three are:

· ATX provides high RAM. It comes with 4 RAM slots. And each of them supports 32 GB.

· Micro ATX also comes with 4 RAM slots. But each slot doesn’t support much as compared to ATX’s slots. But it doesn’t mean that there is a problem in the future.

· Mini ATX does not support much RAM. It comes with 2 RAM slots only.

PCle slots:

· ATX supports multi-GPUs. They have multi PCle slots

· Micro ATX doesn’t support many GPUs but they are comfortable only with one GPU. These motherboards come with one PCle slot.

· Mini ATX is also not good when it comes to the supposition of GPU. They are also able to run one GPU.

Portability:

· ATX is the biggest and can build heavy computers. They are considered as much portable.

· Micro ATX has a perfect size. It is also portable. They don’t produce heavy computers. They also manage to fix themselves in almost every case

· Mini ATX is highly portable. They can produce light weighted and small computers.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

1. Which motherboard is the best?

Micro ATX is proving itself as the best motherboard. They offered a lot on a low budget. They are the most used and costumers demanded.

2. Why should I get ATX?

Go with ATX if you want to run multiple GPUs. They support multiple GPUs as they have many PCle slots. You can only find Multi GPU support in ATX, micro ATX and mini ATX cannot handle them.

3. Why should I get a mini ATX?

Go with mini ATX only if you want compact computers. They prove themselves as the best portable motherboards.

Conclusion:

There are always pros and cons for every product. For motherboards, the above discussion sure convenient that ATX is best but the fact that they are not portable disappoint you. In contrast to it where mini ATX provides good portability but they don’t have enough RAM and multi-GPU support.

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