Micro-ATX Motherboard Recommendations Needed

[CPL]

My GA-G33M-DS2R broke down and I need recommendationas for a new M-ATX card.

Use the below configuration:

Antec Fusion 430 V2
Asus Radeon EAH4350 Silent/DI/512MD2 512MB
Corsair XMS2 DHX TwinX DDR2 PC6400/800MHz CL5 2x2GB DDR2
Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3,16GHz Socket 775 Box
Noctua NF-P12 120mm
Samsung SH-S223F
Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD252HJ 16MB 250GB 3,5 tum S-ATA
Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD753LJ 32MB 750GB 3,5 tum S-ATA
Scythe Ninja Mini

At least 8Gb RAM is a requirement. Optical Audio out is a requirement. With the DS2R I use the Gigabyte S/PDIF to my surround system. Onboard graphics is not really an issue since I use the Asus GPU-card.

Thanks for a great forum.

[CPL]

Re: Micro-ATX Motherboard Recommendations Needed

Anyone? Or am I the only one using M-ATX..?.. :-)

[artdrivers]

Re: Micro-ATX Motherboard Recommendations Needed

Gigabyte G41M-ES2L Motherboard - G41 Express, Socket 775, microATX, PCI Express, Audio, Video, Gigabit LAN , USB 2.0, SATA at TigerDirect.com

[Psycho101]

[larft]

Re: Micro-ATX Motherboard Recommendations Needed

I'd give that a third,

I would have suggested the G31M:
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

...since I have prior experience with it but it only supports 4gig of RAM, great low buck board though, very high build quality.

The G41 looks like it would be a good bet, gets good reviews:

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-G41M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

The recent Gigabyte boards have been very good, I have two GA-EP45-UD3P boards and love them, if you're thinking about upgrading I'd opt to go with a midsize case and go for the full size ATX, more features etc.

Good luck!

[CPL]

Re: Micro-ATX Motherboard Recommendations Needed

Thanks for the proposals.

I have found this one:

GA-EG41MF-US2H

8Gb RAM
Optical Digital Out
PCI Express x16

Any thoughts or recommendations regarding this one?

[Chike]

Re: Micro-ATX Motherboard Recommendations Needed

Note the red fine print.

* Do not populate both DIMM sockets of the same channel (e.g. DDR and DDR2), or populate 4 DIMM sockets with double-sided memory modules to prevent system's failure to start or incorrect detection of memory modules. Please refer to the user manual for the memory configurations table.

According to the manual they all have to be single sided is all slots are pupulated.

[Psycho101]

Re: Micro-ATX Motherboard Recommendations Needed

Indeed. The ES2-L has no limitations on RAM module density, therefore this is the one I'd go for.

Like Chike said, if you happen to have double density/sided modules you will be limited. Also note that both boards only have 2 DIMM slots and to get 8Gb of RAM you will need tow 4GB sticks. If you need a board with 4 DIMM slots you will need to pay more.