Micro vs full-ATX

[Linkex]

I am about to start on my next upgrade, and I am considering the possibility of going to a small form factor, depending on what I am sacrificing. The most important factor is games – high frames at high detail is my goal. I don’t intend to plug in any cards beyond the GFX card, and I don’t plan to crossfire/SLI. As such, if the only sacrifice is the loss of expansion sockets, then it’s not a problem and I have a smaller case.

I realise that with a smaller case there will be (I assume) higher temps to deal with, but I’m not planning to overclock, so as long as it won’t catch fire, I’m happy. Likewise, I realise drive space is limited in a smaller case, this is also fine.

So, my question, by way of an example. An Asus Z97-M (Micro ATX) vs an Asus, Z97-A (Full ATX). They have the same chipset and on board toys as far as I can tell. Assuming all the other components are the same, in the same case running stock clocks (So disregarding temps), is there a performance difference between the full size and the micro?

Tl;dr – Are micro ATX boards just normal ATX boards with some of the expansion ports sawed off, or is there more to it?

 

[RJC]

Usually now there is very little between them bar as you mentioned the expansion, majority of M-ATX can tale dual cards and cases can be just as cool running as the bigger cases.

 

[JonJ678]

I'd really like to move to m-atx boards. It just doesn't seem sensible to have an extra three empty pci-e slots.

I don't believe there is such a thing as an eight dimm m-atx board, nor any sign of such on the horizon. So, sadly, that remains a reason to stick with the full size boards.