Small form newbie

smithy1988 · 18 Jul 2007 at 22:46

Hi just a few questions.
Am i right in thinking that the majority of micro atx boards only have one Ide slot on the mainboard, wich is therefore usually used as the optical drive? Does this mean that a sata hard drive would have to be used.
Also what options are available to make the optical drive ribbon cables more attractive as obviously a large ribbon cable in a small shuttle type case could cause greater problems than in a standard tower in terms of temps.

smithy1988 · 18 Jul 2007 at 23:34

K but is there only one slot for an old style hard drive. Therefore u have to choose either optical drive or hard drive, if u use the ide slot as ** hard drive u need to buy a sata optical drive, and if u choose to keep your optical drive in ide u will have to upgrade ** hard drive to sata- unless u choose to upgrade the 2. Hope that makes sense

smithy1988 · 18 Jul 2007 at 23:42

k thanks yea that makes sense. I know that sata is the way forward in terms of technology etc but just wanted to ask a few questions as if i upgrade it will probz be in stages. Most boards have 2 sata connections so therefore one for hard drive and one for optical and leave out IDe and the messy ribbon cables?

smithy1988 · 19 Jul 2007 at 00:02

R rite thanks for correcting me, that means even more space for expanding/updating.
Yea i was thinking that it must really hurt SFF temps.
Thanks for the advice and answering my beginner questions lol- i suppose weve all got to start learning somewhere lol

smithy1988 · 19 Jul 2007 at 18:11

Another question

I came across another question. If you wanted to make a small form pc what psu's do you need, are they the same size as a normal psu or do you have to get a special size psu for M-ATX pc's.

smithy1988 · 19 Jul 2007 at 19:19

Thanks damien that clears things up. I thought that that was the case but just hadnt seen any mATX psus for sale on ocuk, so assumed that some cases *** just take normal psus and for the likes of the shuttle they were already preinstalled.
Isg1r
What is the difference with the modular psu's??
Yea im sure that is the case sometimes, its all trial and error as i understand to try and achieve the best temperatures etc

smithy1988 · 19 Jul 2007 at 21:01

Ah right- yea i can see the advantage of that especially in smaller cases where good airflow needs to be achieved in a small area of space