Home Tech Computer Desktops: ATX And Micro ATX?

Computer Desktops: ATX And Micro ATX?

by Elsa Stringer

The vast majority of people buy computers and PCs and they do not even realize what are the most important factors and differences between desktops. It should be clarified that the main forms of these are ATX and Micro ATX. Micro ATX is also known for its many abbreviations, some of which include mATX or uATX.

ATX

source:tested.com

ATX is actually an abbreviation for Advanced Technology eXtended, and it should be also added that it is considered as an advancement to the previous form of AT. Here, we can come to the things that differentiate the two. More precisely, Micro ATX is different from ATX in size, and the size is the main difference to these. To be even more precise, ATX is characterized by a board that is rectangular in size and its measures are 305mm x 244mm. on the other hand Micro ATX can be considered to be of a square shape and its width is 244mm while its length is about 61mm.

Bad sides

When we are comparing the two, we can also add that Micro ATX has the disadvantage of the reduction of the expansion ports in comparison to ATX, and these ports are situated at the very end. When we are talking about expansion slots, we should also mention that ATX boards have five of these while the maximum number of slots for Micro ATX is three. This disadvantage has been dealt with in various ways, and many of the manufacturers simply integrate sound and graphics. Nowadays, it is not a strange thing to have a computer that does not have an expansion port at all.

Mounting points

source:tested.com

We have specified that Micro ATX has somewhat a smaller form factor and it has also been established that the property of having the same with allows it to have the same mounting points that ATX factor has. This actually means that we can mount and fit in the Micro ATX in ATX without any problem. When we are talking about the Micro ATX case, we need to mention that it is somewhat smaller and that it has smaller footprint. For more details you can visit
https://www.microcenter.com/.

Drive bays

source:tested.com

As we have said, Micro ATX is somewhat limited in its size, and this resulted in the smaller amount of drive bays that are located in the case itself. This is not a problem and not an issue if the user has two hard drives inside the case. However, this can be a serious problem if there are more than this or if a user wants to have RAID implemented. So, it is always a better thing to have more space for future expansions and adaptations. This is why Micro ATX cases are not so much in demand.