Exactly. I don't get miniATX at all, either. However, for a remote VEP7 server... you should pretty much care just about its CPU and a good low latency LAN card, and Intel cards beat any Realtek ones. NUCs really make a good VEP7 server. Or some older laptop maybe... depending on the budget, eh?

 

depends on what plugins (instruments?) are running on the server, usually LOTS of RAM and preferably ALL-SSD build is very handy, something like 32GB is bare minimum may prove useful

 

Kontakt should come packaged with additional RAM sticks. NI approved.

 

actually I've seen some use tests where Kontakt was not offloading contents into RAM that much, and used direct access to NVME SSD, which didn't seem to show any noticeable performance degradation
(but again, NVME SSD array isn't something easily obtainable, especially with smaller builds, something like Sonnet PCIe 4x4 NVME card is full-length slot designed primarily for MacPro)

 

lOOK for an AMD mini pc like this one 8 cores with 2 sticks of ram you can go up to 64 GB I think.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Barebone-Ryzen-4800U-SO-DIMM/dp/B08BLGHW8R

 

People also think they need the 15 mic positions for every instrument, taking their normal kontakt requirements and multiplying it by 15 x RAM & CPU,
Its pretty ridiculous padding so companies can be seen shifting "weighty" libraries.

 

MiniATX 's main reason of existence was serving as a gaming platform. You can build a rig small enough to fit anywhere and can be carried in a bag. In the past years it sort of re-invented itself as a small server/workstation alternative and as such it has been very successful considering the much fewer options in mini-atx server boards.
Still, when talking about desktop boards, we should take in consideration the advances in I/O connectivity that have evolved the last years. Nowadays we have MiniATX mobos with Thunderbolt3 (and soon with TB4) even for the Ryzen/AM4 platform. This alone, opens a huge world of possible (and pro grade in many occasions) connectivity, especially for us here musicians. With TB3 essentially being a pci-e gen.3 x8 connection, you can have external GPU, Display Port via TB for monitor(s) connection, very fast external SSDs, external NAS and DAS with any combination of disk raid arrays for backup/storage and a good bunch of top notch audio interfaces. There 's even a bunch of solutions for fast networking like TB3 to 10gbE and all sorts of "tb3 to usb" hubs for more usb etc etc.
Pick your poison hehe.
Also, nowadays 2 ram sticks isn't much of a hassle since you can have 64gb of DDR4 ram (2X32gb). If you need more you would opt for a server mini atx board anyway which can take LRDIMMs that can go up to 128gb per ram stick. But these are so expensive that make the whole portable thing sort of a moot point if you know what i mean...
My Shuttle XPC mobo btw (one of my many older pcs), although now surpassed and considered legacy, has 4 ram slots and 6 Sata ports, and the chassis is smartly designed to hold up to five(!) 3.5" hdds. But this dates back to the early DDR3 days, when the largest DDR stick was 8gb.
So yeah, i have to slightly disagree that MiniATX cuts valuable corners. It does cut some feats, but the better boards offer external connectivity that is almost as good as internal. At the end, you buy something according to what you need, MiniATX is a niche market and not for everyone.
All the best mate

 

Last edited: Mar 22, 2021