Mid/Full Tower Case Question

[BuckMaster]

Sorry if this is a stupid question. Its been a while since Ive built a new PC. I have a friend that wants me to build him a Mid or Full tower desktop with a window and lights ect.. I now notice I see alot of Micro ATX boards for sale at newegg. Will thye fit ok without having any issues in one of the bigger cases running all the cables ect? Before I only used ATX boards i nthe bigger desktops and the Mirco AXT in to small shuttle cubes.

Thanks!

 

[Eeqmcsq]

There shouldn't be a problem. MicroATX is basically ATX minus the bottom 3 expansion slots.

 

[BuckMaster]

Thank you! Id just hate to order a Tower and Micro ATX board the the screws not line on the board to the case side and cables not reach the drives because of it.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Originally posted by: BuckMaster
Thank you! Id just hate to order a Tower and Micro ATX board the the screws not line on the board to the case side and cables not reach the drives because of it.

The problem of cable-length is not likely to emerge from a choice between mATX and ATX motherboards. If there IS a problem with cable-length, it is more likely to occur with a full-tower than a mid-tower, but shouldn't affect your choice of case-size.

You can resolve any such problem with:

* PSU extender cables (Molex or SATA) -- usually sold as "splitters"
* Longer-than-standard SATA cables, IDE cables, etc. (which you can find at any number of resellers, like Geeks.Com, Cables To Go, Frozen CPU, Crazy PC, etc.

 

[bloodugly]

My only concern would be having a micro atx board in a larger case with a window....seems like you'd want to fill more of the back panel with motherboard goodness instead of having extra space back there to look at, plus you'd have more slots available later on with a full sized motherboard.

 

[BuckMaster]

My only concern would be having a micro atx board in a larger case with a window....seems like you'd want to fill more of the back panel with motherboard goodness instead of having extra space back there to look at, plus you'd have more slots available later on with a full sized motherboard.

I agree however I have a socket 478 CPU (P4 2.8GHZ HT) and Newegg only has a Micro ATX board for a 478 CPU. I dont have any other choice? Unless I upgrade the CPU and board which cost more money. Unless I can find a great deal on a ATX board and CPU combo. The funny thinkg is hes wanting it for looks more then anything. Not so worried about the CPU speed. Of course wants something not to out dated.

Thanks

 

[zagood]

Originally posted by: BuckMaster
I have a socket 478 CPU

Originally posted by: BuckMaster
Of course wants something not to out dated.

interesting.

May want to try ebay or craigslist. I know I've got an ECS mobo lying around somewhere, it's purple, looks pretty sweet but can't OC very well. There are probably more like it out on the market, even new in box.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

We recycle a lot of old cases in this household. With my screw-tapping hardware, we've even taken pre-1994 cases (non-ATX) and modded them to fit ATX motherboards. (The slots and slot-orientation of ISA and EISA expansion slots never changed when ATX boards and PCI were introduced. You just need to line up an ATX motherboard with the slots on the case-rear, mark and drill the ATX array of holes for motherboard-standoffs, and tap the threads in them (most likely 6-32 threads.)

At the same time, we upgraded two of my extended-family's computers from Pentium-4 socket-478 to LGA-775, choosing low-end C2D E21x0 processors in early 2008 and $70 mATX motherboards with onboard graphics. My family members mostly use office applications, e-mail and surf the web, or they play less-demanding games, so these hardware choices were appropriate -- saving them a few hundred bucks each when it came to paying me reimbursement.

[And imagine what we've saved on the purchase of computer-cases, too.]

Geez. Even a full-tower Gateway system I bought in 1995 came with an mATX "Zappa" motherboard for a Pentium-MMX 100-Mhz processor.

So I don't see what difference it makes, except for the reduced number of mATX expansion slots and some hardware-extras.