Mini-STX (mSTX, Mini Socket Technology EXtended, originally "Intel 5x5") is a computer

motherboard form factor In computing, the motherboard form factor is the specification of a motherboard – the dimensions, power supply type, location of mounting holes, number of ports on the back panel, etc. Specifically, in the IBM PC compatible industry, standard ...

that was released by Intel in 2015 (as "Intel 5x5"). These motherboards measure 147mm by 140mm (5.8" x 5.5"), making them larger than "4x4"

NUC Nucs, or nucleus colonies, are small honey bee colonies created from larger colonies, packages, or captured swarms. A nuc hive is centered on a queen bee, the nucleus of the honey bee colony. Layout A nuc hive has all the features of a standard ...

(102x102mm / 4.01" x 4.01" inches) and

Nano-ITX Nano-ITX is a computer motherboard form factor first proposed by VIA Technologies at CeBIT in March 2003, and implemented in late 2005. Nano-ITX boards measure , and are fully integrated, very low power consumption motherboards with many uses, but ...

(120x120mm / 4.7" x 4.7") boards, but notably smaller than the more common

Mini-ITX Mini-ITX is a motherboard form-factor, developed by VIA Technologies in 2001. They are commonly used in small-configured computer systems. Originally, they were a niche product, designed for fan-less cooling with a low Thermal design power, pow ...

(170x170mm / 6.7" x 6.7") boards. Unlike these standards, which use a square shape, the Mini-STX form factor is 7mm longer from front-to-rear, making it slightly rectangular.

Mini-STX design elements

The Mini-STX design suggests (but does not require) support for: * Socketed processors (e.g.

LGA LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia. ...

or PGA CPUs) * Onboard power regulation circuitry, enabling direct DC power input * IO ports embedded on the front and rear of the motherboard (akin to NUC, but unlike typical motherboards which often use headers instead to connect built-in ports on enclosures)

Adoption by manufacturers

This motherboard form factor is still not in particularly common use with consumer-PC manufacturers, although there are a few offerings: *

ASRock ASRock Inc. is a Taiwanese manufacturer of motherboards, industrial PCs and home theater PCs (HTPC). Founded by Ted Hsu, it was founded in 2002 and is currently owned by Taiwanese electronics company Pegatron. History ASRock was originally sp ...

offers bot
DeskMini kits
(that use mini-STX boards) an
standalone motherboards
* Asus offer VivoMini kits (that use mini-STX boards) and standalone motherboards, *

Gigabyte The gigabyte () is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix '' giga'' means 109 in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one gigabyte is one billion bytes. The unit symbol for the gigabyte is GB. This defini ...

offers a fe
motherboards
and * industrial PC suppliers (e.g
Kontron

IesyASRock Industrial
also provide some options for mini-STX equipment.

Derivatives

ASRock developed a derivative of mini-STX, dubbe
micro-STX
for thei
'DeskMini GTX/RX'
small form-factor PCs and industrial motherboards. Micro-STX adds an MXM slot which allows the use of special

PCI Express PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common m ...

expansion cards, including graphics or machine learning accelerators, but increases the width of the board to be extended two inches, resulting in measurements of 147 x 188 mm (5.8" x 7.4")

References

* http://www.pcworld.com/article/2975764/components/intel-unveils-ultra-tiny-fully-upgradable-5x5-mini-pc-motherboards.html * http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/technology-provider/products-and-solutions/desktop/mini-stx-for-mini-pcs.html * http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H110M-STX/ * https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMini%20A300%20Series/ (AMD AM4) * https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-H110MSTX-HD3-rev-10#ov Computer hardware Motherboard form factors {{computer-hardware-stub