Micro ATX

Titel: Micro ATX
Period: Q3 2001
Status: closed
Hosted: locally

Micro ATX!

news: 3rd quarter of 2001 … this article isn’t updated anymore

Ever had desires for a smaller case? Of course you had and perhaps still have
You are into building a nice small server for your gaming, router, etc? Or just want to build a compact PC based DVD/Divx or MP3 player?

Perhaps you are aware that most of computers today are based on ATX specifications and that ATX doesn’t suit your needs? Well there is something out there called Micro ATX. This basically means smaller motherboards, smaller cases with a smaller PSU, etc. There’s a lot you gain, but a lot of sacrifing as well: slots, bays, expandibilty, PSU power, etc.

The reason for writing this article is, that I wanted to build computersystem ‘a la pizzabox’ to hide a lowvalue linuxserver myself. I couldn’t find any satisfying information on the internet that covers it all.

This article should provide you enough resources to explore deeper into the world of Micro ATX. Articletopics:

Information about Form Factors (inclusief specification for Micro&Flex ATX and NLX).

specs comparison of mATX computercases

specs comparison of different mATX mainboards

PSU Power problem (how much is enough for a typical configuration?)

Links on making your own DivX/DVD station

Update 5-12-2001: It seems there are huge quantities “NLX” and “Flex ATX” (short: fATX) casings, which hold huge potentials as well. I will keep focussed on Micro ATX though. Whenever something nice about NLX or fATX comes up, then I won’t hesitate to mention it.

kind regards,
Ernst Kasteleijn

P.S. this page can grow bigger with your help! and YES I admit this page is still kinda messy, but I’m working on it! Feel free to comment on it though.

Information about Form Factors

This page: http://www.formfactors.org/formfactors/form_factors.htm contains all the information you need on Motherboard Form Factors, Power Supply Form Factors, Riser Form Factors, Add in Cards and others.

mATX cases

Feature comparison

mATX cases come in several sizes (just like ATX variants). The table below has been sorted ascended at brand&type(s), type of housing and dimensions.

brand&type(s)	type of housing	dimensions DxWxH (mm)*	external/internal bays	slots	PSU	certification	other	url to site manufacturer	url to reviews
AOpen H300 series: H300a, H300b, H300c	Desktop	373x322x95	1×5.25, 1×3.5″ / 1×3.5″	4 low**	145W proprietary	UL, CSA, CE, TUV, S, CB, N, FCC, C’tick, Novell ready	H300b and H300c are design cases
AOpen HQ85 / MT85	Minitower	360x180x350	2×5.25″, 2×3.5″ / 1×3.5″	4	145W	UL, CSA, CE, VDE, S, D, N, F1, FCC, DoC, Novell ready	HQ85 has case design colors
AOpen HT85	Minitower	356x180x356	2×5.25″, 2×3.5″ / 1×3.5″	4	145W	UL, CSA, CE, VDE, S, D, N, F1, FCC, DoC, Novell ready	Bend-in edges ensure safe assembly and installation, Slide-in/out side board design,
Enlight 7130 series: 7130, 7131A, 7131B, 7131C, 7131D, 7131E, 7132, 7133	Minitower	330x180x330	1×5.25″, 1×3.5″ / 2×3.5″	4	ATX PS/3 150W	CE, FCC, FI, N, S, D, SA, TUV, RU	0.8mm steel
Enlight 7150 series: 7151A, 7151B, 7151C, 7151D, 7151E, 7152, 7154	Minitower	330x180x375	2×5.25, 1×3.5″ / 2×3.5″	4	ATX PS/3 150W	CE, FCC, FI, N, S, D, SA, TUV, RU	0.8mm steel
Enlight 7180 series: EN-7181 / EN 7182	Desktop	457x377x130	2×5.25″, 1×3.5″ / 2×3.5″	4 low**	SFX P/S, 100W~150W	CE, FCC, FI, N, S, D, SA, TUV, RU	0.8 mm steel
Enlight 7305 series: EN-7108	Minitower	320x355x190	2×5.25″, 2×3.5″ / 0	4	ATX PS/3 145W	CE, FCC, FI, N, S, D, SA, TUV, RU	0.8 mm steel, swing-out HDD bracket/motherboard mounting
Gehaeuse MS706B cdt-001 / cdt-001-145 / cdt-001-251	Desktop	380x430x130	1×5.25″, 1×3.5″ / 1×3.5″	6	none / 150W / AT 250W	?	HIFI design (black)
Gehaeuse Flextower cdt-003 / cdt-003-150	Flex ATX tower	?x?x?	1×5.25″, 2×3.5″ / 0	1	none / 150W	?	FlexATX-Mainboards only!, able to fit a 80mm on top
Inwin D500	Desktop	416x370x130	1×5.25″, 2×3.5″ / 1×3.5″	4	145W	UL, CE, FCC Class B	1.0mm sheet metal, Snap on cage for extra fan	http://www.in-win.com/framecode/ino_d500.html
Inwin T515	Minitower	420x190x420	2×5.25″, 1×3.5″ / 2×3.5″	4	145W	UL, CE, FCC Class B	a V series design case	http://www.in-win.com/framecode/ino_t515pw.html
Inwin V series:V500 / V600 / V700 / V800	Minitower	352x180x373	2×5.25″, 2×3.5″ / 1×3.5″	?	235W	UL, CE, FCC Class B	1.0mm sheet metal, Snap on cage for extra fan	http://www.in-win.com/framecode/minit.html

* DxWxH => DEPTH x WIDTH x HEIGTH. If manufacturer gave dimensions in inches only, values have been multiplied by a factor 2.54
** You can’t fit normalsize PCI card in a “low slot”. The cards inserted in these slots have to confirm to the specs of “ATX Riser” or “Low Profile” cards: http://www.formfactors.org/formfactors/low_profile.htm

Update 05-11-2001: Page was getting messy because of all the casepics. I’ve decided to throw them away. Want casepics? Follow the provided links.

mATX mainboards

Different chipsets

All mATX mainboard are based on one of the following chipsets:

Chipset	CPU type	Information / specs:	P(r)eviews:
ALI TNT2
Intel 815EP
SIS 620
SIS 630S	Socket 370		http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/00q4/001009/index.html
SIS 730S	Socket A		http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q1/010109/
SIS 733	Socket A
SIS 735	Socket A
VIA KLE133

Comparison

Under heavy construction!

Brand/Type	CPU socket	chipset	DIMM	sound	NIC	vga	P / I / A / CNR / AMR	ATA Controller	url to site manufacturer	url to reviews
AOpen MX3s
Asus A7S-VM	Socket A	SIS 730S			Realtek RTL8100	yes	4/0/0/0/0		http://www.digit-life.com/articles/asusa7svm/
Asus CUEP2-M	Socket 370	Intel 815EP	3x	?		?	3/0/1/1/0	1x UDMA66/100, 1x ATAPI?		http://www.digit-life.com/articles/asuscuep2m/index.html
Asus CUSL2-M
EliteGroup K7SEM	Socket A	SIS 730S					2/0/1/1/1	1x UDMA66/100, 1x ATAPI?
EliteGroup K7VZM
EliteGroup P6IPM	FC-PGA	Intel 815EP & 82801BA Chipset	2x PC133 SDRAM up to 512MB	AC97 Audio Codec		–	2/1/1/1/0	2x UDMA 33/66/100
EliteGroup P6SEP Me+	Socket 370	SIS 620		?		?	2/1/0/?/?	U/66
GigaByte GA-7ZMM	Socket A for AMD Athlon™ /Duron™ 200 MHz FSB processors95/100/103/105/110/115/133* MHz FSB		2x PC133 SDRAM up to 1GB	yes		yes	3/1/0/0/1	2 x UDMA 100/66/33
MSI MS-6176		Intel 810E
PCchips MB754 LMR+	FC-PGA	Ali TNT2		AC97 Audio Codec		32MB max shared	3/0/0/?/?
PCchips M756LMRT+	Slot1						2/?/?/?/?
PCchips M786MR
PCchips M805LR	Supports AMD Duron/Athlon 500M~1GHz CPUs with frequency at 266MHz FSB in Socket A for								http://www.pcchips.com.tw/M805LR.html
PCchips M810LMR	Supports AMD Duron/Athlon 500M~1.2GHz CPUs with frequency at 200/266MHz Socket A	SIS 730S		AC97 Audio Codec		64MB max shared	2/0/1/0/1		http://www.pcchips.com.tw/M810LMR.html

Update 06-01-2001: Page was getting messy because of all the mobopics. I’ve decided to throw them away. Want mobopics? Follow the provided links.

“The PSU problem”

Is a system with 145W able to supply all the power needed for a motherboard, CD-Rom/DVD drive, 3.5″ diskdrive? That’s a question that hasn’t been answered yet!

Some helpfull links:

Processor Electrical Specifications: http://users.erols.com/chare/elec.htm

CPU Heat Dissipation Table: http://www.tech-report.com/cpu/

Succesful configs

Some guy at GOT named “Killah” uses a 150W PSU, with the following hardware: PCchips M810MLR, 1.1GHz TB, 512MB ECC SDRAM, SCSI RAID Controller, 2 10.000rpm 9GB disks. This in a 19″ 2U rackmount. Purpose: Counterstrike server.

The guy at http://www.flipchip.net/accy_reviews/enermax_eg365pve.htm is disassembling a HP system: “Let me get back to the HP 8674d. Sure enough, it came with a 75-watt power supply (…) a Pentium 3 667 FC-PGA with 256 Megs of PC-133 / CD-RW / DVD and a GeForce MX.”
75W!?!? PSU … oh wow

Links on MP3/DVD stations

Complete guide on building your “Standalone HIFI Player” which will be upgradeable to any future file formats

Credits

I would like to thank Victoria Chan (vkchan@kendryl.net) for her excellent review on the PCchips M810MLR. Her review actually made me to consider the complete Micro ATX platform more seriously. So in a way, she contributed to this article in lots of ways Thank you!

Second I would like to thank all the Dutch tweakers at “Gathering Of Tweakers” (GOT) computerforum. It’s one of the best Dutch computerforums, allthough the knowledge of computers and related subjects vary a lot between users.