There's plenty of Z370 mATX boards, they're just at the bottom of the Z370 product stack and don't get media attention because the margins there are much lower than the flagship ATX boards. Mid-end on mATX is a total niche market and when you're a niche buyer you can't expect media coverage all the time.
Maybe mATX is a form factor that makes more sense for the average user with one graphics card and no other PCIe devices, but realistically the size difference between a mATX case and a compact ATX case is negligible. For example NZXT's H500 is only ~4cm taller than their mATX H400 with all other dimensions remaining the same.
Plus a lot of ATX mobos just seem like glorified mATX. They lack slots and lots of IO like they used to. I miss even EATX board options with tons of ports everywhere and actual 7 full slots. I don't see the point of this ATX boards being setup like mATX in terms of slots/ spacing and IO. Just give people more mATX then. Do ATX and EATX right for those of us that want more options.
Maybe it's just me, but I might've preferred a numbered naming scheme compared to Xtreme - Master - Pro - Elite, which doesn't immediately give me an idea of hierarchy. I don't remember the older one thoroughly but Gaming 3-5-7 seems to tell me a bit more information compared to the rest of the stack.
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limitedaccess - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link
I wish there would be more focus and range on mATX boards instead of just so many ATX variants.imaheadcase - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link
Yah, kinda disappointing. Even if a plain jane board with no stupid "gaming" features.Destoya - Sunday, October 7, 2018 - link
There's plenty of Z370 mATX boards, they're just at the bottom of the Z370 product stack and don't get media attention because the margins there are much lower than the flagship ATX boards. Mid-end on mATX is a total niche market and when you're a niche buyer you can't expect media coverage all the time.Maybe mATX is a form factor that makes more sense for the average user with one graphics card and no other PCIe devices, but realistically the size difference between a mATX case and a compact ATX case is negligible. For example NZXT's H500 is only ~4cm taller than their mATX H400 with all other dimensions remaining the same.
imaheadcase - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
Um its not a niche market, its literally the market for media servers.CheapSushi - Sunday, October 7, 2018 - link
Plus a lot of ATX mobos just seem like glorified mATX. They lack slots and lots of IO like they used to. I miss even EATX board options with tons of ports everywhere and actual 7 full slots. I don't see the point of this ATX boards being setup like mATX in terms of slots/ spacing and IO. Just give people more mATX then. Do ATX and EATX right for those of us that want more options.29a - Sunday, October 7, 2018 - link
I agree. I've been trying to put together a high end AMD uATX system and there are no X470 chipset boards on Newegg and only a few B450.rev3rsor - Sunday, October 7, 2018 - link
Maybe it's just me, but I might've preferred a numbered naming scheme compared to Xtreme - Master - Pro - Elite, which doesn't immediately give me an idea of hierarchy. I don't remember the older one thoroughly but Gaming 3-5-7 seems to tell me a bit more information compared to the rest of the stack.Wingartz - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
yep i agree with you, it was easier to tell in the old fashoined way of gigabyte-naming, by the numbers