Motherboard Smallest/Thinest motherboard with atx ability?

[_ONE_]

Hello!

For my future prototype I would like to know what is the smallest and thinest possible motherboard deal.

But

Including desktop cpu socket and at least a pci-e x4 for connecting a decent gpu (1060 and more)


I heard about stx and thin itx

Stx are perfect in size but seems limited with pci-e and have vertical ram slot

While thin itx are good in connector and have horizontal ram position, but yet too thick for what I need.

The perfect thing is an stx with horizontal ram slot and pci-e.


You know something like that?

Thank you

 

[Windfall]

Hello!

For my future prototype I would like to know what is the smallest and thinest possible motherboard deal.

But

Including desktop cpu socket and at least a pci-e x4 for connecting a decent gpu (1060 and more)


I heard about stx and thin itx

Stx are perfect in size but seems limited with pci-e and have vertical ram slot

While thin itx are good in connector and have horizontal ram position, but yet too thick for what I need.

The perfect thing is an stx with horizontal ram slot and pci-e.


You know something like that?

Thank you

STX is thicker than Thin-itx.

 

[_ONE_]

STX is thicker than Thin-itx.

Are you sure about that?

https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Motherboards/Mini-STX-Build-ECS-H110S-2P-and-SilverStone-VT01-Review

 

[Windfall]

Are you sure about that?

https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Motherboards/Mini-STX-Build-ECS-H110S-2P-and-SilverStone-VT01-Review

Yes, I am.

Thin-itx has laydown ram, and the IO shield is 25mm tall, and as per this, the STX IO shield is 40.3mm tall (which I can confirm, I'm making both an STX Case and a Thin-itx case). Normal ITX IO shield is 44mm.

Thin ITX is the the thinnest form factor.

If you need STX, you can use a M.2 to pcie x4 adapter, and then an x4-x16 riser.

Cheers,
Windfall

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Thin mini-ITX IS indeed the thinnest, but beware as PCIe-4x can only deliver 25W instead of the 75W of a PCIe-16x slot.

 

[Windfall]

Thin mini-ITX IS indeed the thinnest, but beware as PCIe-4x can only deliver 25W instead of the 75W of a PCIe-16x slot.

We have @aquelito's powered riser for that.

But this is what STX should have been: https://www.pcper.com/news/Motherboards/Intels-55-inch-Socketed-Motherboard-28-Smaller-Mini-ITX
Laydown RAM, LP IO, the works...
Would've been better with an internal power connector IMHO.

 

[thewizzard1]

Some industrial ITX boards offer flat soDIMM mounting, and if you're making a project, you can desolder your rear I/O and install new ones, or just leave them off. There's also sub-ITX offering - Most weird SFF units now-a-days will have m.2,

But what you want is PICMG 1/2 length, but you'll be making / requesting a custom butterfly mount for your graphics card. PICMG is your only option for that super-slim unit. But why bother with sub-44mm units when your graphics card will end up being 2-slot thickness anyways? You won't want a 1-slot thickness fan, trust me.

IEI offers this:
https://www.ieiworld.com/en/news/con_show.php?op=showone&cid=848

And this nice 3.5" SBC:
https://www.ieiworld.com/en/news/con_show.php?op=showone&cid=960

 

[Windfall]

Some industrial ITX boards offer flat soDIMM mounting, and if you're making a project, you can desolder your rear I/O and install new ones, or just leave them off. There's also sub-ITX offering - Most weird SFF units now-a-days will have m.2,

But what you want is PICMG 1/2 length, but you'll be making / requesting a custom butterfly mount for your graphics card. PICMG is your only option for that super-slim unit. But why bother with sub-44mm units when your graphics card will end up being 2-slot thickness anyways? You won't want a 1-slot thickness fan, trust me.

IEI offers this:
https://www.ieiworld.com/en/news/con_show.php?op=showone&cid=848

And this nice 3.5" SBC:
https://www.ieiworld.com/en/news/con_show.php?op=showone&cid=960

A PCIe computer???

I would rather have this SBC, thank you very much: http://www.bcmcom.com/bcm_product_ECM-CFS.html

 

[aquelito]

Would that help ?

https://www.adexelec.com/other.htm

 

[Windfall]

Would that help ?

https://www.adexelec.com/other.htm

Not any shorter though...

:/

 

[_ONE_]

Well thank you for all those reply!

No in fact I see the stx format as the smallest one but indeed not the thinnest one now.

Desoldering is an interesting idea.


I'll remove the heatsink and replace everything with an ultra low profile water-cooling system.

Now I also saw those stx with mxm gpu slot on them but... Impossible to buy them, are they specific to their pc brand only?


About m.2 to PCI-e, how much gpu performance will I get from those connector?

98% 95%...80%?


Thanks

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

If you wanna go the STX way, I highly suggest this thread: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/stx160-0-the-most-powerful-atx-unit-in-the-world.934/

 

[_ONE_]

Yes the man that did the NFC s4 highly recommended it.


Absolutely itsi worth it if I'm going to manufacture

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Manufacturing process aside, you'll have all information about m.2 to pcie, power delivery, etc.

 

[_ONE_]

thank you, i'm checking that now

 

[thewizzard1]

A PCIe computer???

I would rather have this SBC, thank you very much: http://www.bcmcom.com/bcm_product_ECM-CFS.html

But that one only has a mini-PCIe! The PICMG form factor support *full* PCIe 3.0 X16 interface. There do exist 2x16 butterfly backplanes, and it's full ATX compatible.

https://www.icpamerica.com/pe-2sd1/

 

[aquelito]

@Hexagone_6 : I'm currently developping a thin-mini ITX dedicated case and the thinnest height you can achieve with a dual-slot GPU stacked over the board is 68 mm.
You add 2 x 2 mm aluminium casing and you get a 72 mm case height.

Which is not far from the S4 Mini (while being more compact).

 

[Acty_ly]

If you need STX, you can use M.2 to pcie x4 adapter

 

[Windfall]

@Hexagone_6 : I'm currently developping a thin-mini ITX dedicated case and the thinnest height you can achieve with a dual-slot GPU stacked over the board is 68 mm.
You add 2 x 2 mm aluminium casing and you get a 72 mm case height.

Which is not far from the S4 Mini (while being more compact).

That is INSANE power density.

 

[chx]

About m.2 to PCI-e, how much gpu performance will I get from those connector

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1080_PCI_Express_Scaling/24.html the higher the res the lower the loss. It's 92% minimum nonetheless, if it's via CPU direct then 96% minimum for the 1080 at least.

The 2080 Ti suffers https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_RTX_2080_Ti_PCI-Express_Scaling/6.html more but still 91-94%.