The SFF Guide

Azza · 8 Dec 2009 at 19:55

So to give myself a break from essay writing tonight and tomorrow I shall write up a nice little guide for all those SSF lovers out there.

Basically I'll look at MicroATX and Mini-ITX components and hopefully leave no question unanswered. Might take a couple of days though as I plan on writing a lot.

Small Form Factor - SFF

There is no specific definition for 'Small Form Factor' but it usually refers to a PC that uses a motherboard smaller than the standard ATX form factor size. Those that we all love and use are MicroATX & Mini-ITX.

Differences - ATX, MicroATX & Mini-ITX

DFI DK X58-T3eH6 (ATX) - 12 in × 9.6 in (305 mm × 244 mm)

DFI JR P45-T2RS (MicroATX) - 9.64 in x 9.64 in (244.85 mm x 244.85 mm)

DFI MI P55-T36 (Mini-ITX) - 6.7 in x 6.7 in (170.18mm x 170.18mm)

Apart from the sizes the other main difference between them are the number of expansion slots each motherboard has. ATX boards usually have 6 or 7, MicroATX can have a maximum of 4 while Mini-ITX is limited to only 1 expansion slot. This obviously limits the number of graphics cards (no Crossfire or SLI on Mini-ITX boards and some MicroATX boards) you can put into your system or if you can add additional cards for sound etc.

Obviously this is not the only limitation that the size has on the boards capabilities, the number of SATA ports, internal I/O connectors and memory slots are limited as well. These do vary from board to board. The rear I/O though is not affected so you can still find Mini-ITX boards like the DFI above that have 6 USB ports, PS/2 ports, eSATA, lan ports just like on a normal sized ATX. Overclocking capability is also limited, the above DFI MicroATX board is a very good overclocking board though, so there are exceptions and of course it depends on the board maker.

Azza · 8 Dec 2009 at 19:55

Closer look at MicroATX

The good thing about MicroATX is that you can build yourself a small high end gaming machine or a small low powered, quiet media centre.

All current mainstream Intel chipsets have MicroATX variants that you can buy.

P55
X58
P45
Q45
Q43
G45
G43
G41
G35
G33
G31

P55, X58 and P45 are all based on the ATX models that you would normally get if you wanted a high end gaming rig. So you can get the same performance and features from this lil tiny thing just like you can from an ATX sized motherboard. Current models such as the DFI JR P45-T2RS, Asus Rampage II Gene and Asus Maximus III Formula Gene have support for Nvidia SLI and ATI CrossfireX as well as having great overclocking capabilities. The higher end more expensive models obviously have more features than lower end models, for example the Asus Maximus III Formula Gene comes with a SupremeFX audio card just like the bigger brother ATX board. This board costs just under £160 though, where as the Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 cots just over £80 but you don't get all the features the more expensive Asus has. But it is still a great platform to build a small high end gaming machine on using the P55 chipset.

If you are not after a platform for a gaming machine but just a media & entertainment PC / HTPC then one of the other chipsets with built in Intel graphics would be ideal for building a home media centre. The Q, G4x & G3x chipsets all have on board Intel Graphics Media Accelerators so there is no need for a graphics card. The G4x motherboards have X4500 integrated graphics where as the G3x boards have the less powerful 3100 graphics accelerator.

You can build yourself a perfectly capable media PC with out having to purchase an expensive graphics card or CPU by just using the on board graphics to play & stream your Blu-ray movies or HD content. You don't even need to purchase an expensive quad cored CPU to put in your HTPC, a Core 2 Duo is more than capable, and because they use less power they produce less heat so there is no need to lots of cooling power.

Asus P5Q-EM rear I/O with VGA, DVI and HDMI outputs. This particular motherboard uses the G45 chipset.

Azza · 8 Dec 2009 at 20:02

reserved 2

Azza · 8 Dec 2009 at 20:04

reserved 3

Guardsmon · 8 Dec 2009 at 22:34

Good work Azza. Any chance we can have the images roughly to scale? Only for people who don't know much about it, the ATX and m-ATX look very similar in size at first glance.

How much detail are you going to cover - PSUs, Cases, GPUs, cooling?

Azza · 8 Dec 2009 at 23:12

Guardsmon said:
Good work Azza. Any chance we can have the images roughly to scale? Only for people who don't know much about it, the ATX and m-ATX look very similar in size at first glance.

How much detail are you going to cover - PSUs, Cases, GPUs, cooling?

I'll try to get a comparison picture for you.

hopefully leave no question unanswered

That much detail, literally down to what GPUs & CPU coolers will fit in which case, how much cases with PSUs can power, will do some on board graphics & nettop comparisons as well if I can.

3t3P · 9 Dec 2009 at 10:46

Great idea look forward to the rest

EVILCOSMOS · 9 Dec 2009 at 11:46

Just made this up in photoshop, don't know if it's of any use to you?

If you want anything added to it just let me know.

Azza · 9 Dec 2009 at 12:06

Thanks EvilCosmos that's perfect.

Guardsmon · 9 Dec 2009 at 17:13

Looks perfect.

lettuce · 9 Dec 2009 at 18:51

Azza, could you also talk about the audio on the Mini-ITX boards, as im looking at a media centre and will probably be building on a Mini-ITX board, and to me audio is as important as video when considering a meida centre PC, yet there doesnt seem to be an easy what to get DD 7.1 or DTS on ITX boards

Azza · 9 Dec 2009 at 19:14

lettuce said:
Azza, could you also talk about the audio on the Mini-ITX boards, as im looking at a media centre and will probably be building on a Mini-ITX board, and to me audio is as important as video when considering a meida centre PC, yet there doesnt seem to be an easy what to get DD 7.1 or DTS on ITX boards

Yeah sure.

Yewen · 10 Dec 2009 at 12:30

Sticky in the making here.

Good start.

Azza · 11 Dec 2009 at 18:54

Thanks mate, essays tonight and tomorrow so I can go home Monday.

But I'll try to do a bit more over the weekend.

PishY · 11 Dec 2009 at 20:36

nice one chap! handy to have!

marc512 · 11 Dec 2009 at 20:40

Nice! finally know the different in sizes.
But i thought small form factor was only mini ITX?

Azza · 11 Dec 2009 at 21:09

marc512 said:
Nice! finally know the different in sizes.
But i thought small form factor was only mini ITX?

Nah, back before I properly got into computers I thought it meant "Shuttle form factor" as I thought they were the only PC of the type if you will.

There are loads and loads of small form factors, not just these two.

Yewen · 12 Dec 2009 at 09:33

Azza said:
Nah, back before I properly got into computers I thought it meant "Shuttle form factor" as I thought they were the only PC of the type if you will.

There are loads and loads of small form factors, not just these two.

Pico ITX is one that is severly under-used.

Guardsmon · 13 Dec 2009 at 12:33

Yewen said:
Pico ITX is one that is severly under-used.

due to cost....

Azza · 2 Jan 2010 at 11:57

Don't worry I have written more to this, just need to find some good pictures to go into it. Might just wait for Tute to get his new stuff and ask him nicely for some pictures.

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The SFF Guide