Motherboard suggestions please (1 Viewer)

[NorthernJohn]

I'm going to upgrade the insides of my HTPC. Seven years old now so I think it deserves it. Seven years ago was about the last time I looked into hardware too so I've lost touch and hope you guys can help me shortcut the amount of reading and research I need to do.

Budget: approx £150 for mboard, processor + RAM. Can stretch it a bit if I have to.

Usage: HTPC only. Mostly DVR and avi playback. HD preferred, but can get away with just 720. Don't have a full HD screen.

Requirements (pretty simple):

• Onboard GFx with HDMI out is preferred to DVI so it can carry audio too.
• SPDIF over coax. I have no optical in on my amp.
• Other things I guess are standard now are that my existing hard drives are SATA so need to take them.

Misc: My case is full ATX so no restriction on size.

Think that's it. I have a bias towards AMD but that is totally personal and not based on any science. They just seem a bit less "Big Brother" to me. Will consider Intel if it's the right thing to do.

Thanks

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Scan.co.uk: IONITX-G-E - Zotac ION Synergy, Nvidia ION, Intel Atom N330 CPU 1.6GHz, DDR2 800, SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, Mini-ITX

Just for htpc use, only need ram, 2gb should be well sufficient.

You may need the dual core for 1080 in the future, that's why I chose this over the single core 230

 

[NorthernJohn]

Wow. That was quick.

That's a tiny board. Will look lost in my Silverstone case. Plenty of room to breathe though. Just contacting Scan to see if the coax spdif comes with the one they've got. According to the manual, it's an optional extra.

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

It look pretty lost in my antec case as well , but that not the point, could not get a much more efficient setup, and when you really start looking at whats on offer out there, a mobo wth onboard gpu are around 88-115 quid, then processor another 40-50, plus memory, hopefully lack of a pci slot is not a hardship, or is it!!

The one thing you have not factored for is psu, I don't know how old yours is, but they seriously degrade after 3-4 years, even a good one and newer ones are so much more efficient

 

[NorthernJohn]

Efficiency is good. I've no probs with it looking lost.

The lack of PCI slot will mean the analogue capture card will need to be relocated. Haven't used it for ages anyhow so no loss. The innards of the current setup will be moved into another case for the kids playroom. The analogue card can go with it for the rare time that it may be needed. I've got a couple of bits of VHS that need archiving. This could be the kick I need.

PSU was replaced a couple of years ago. I'll leave it another couple of years before updating that. Still pretty quiet if I keep the case free of dust.

Just heard from Scan. They don't stock the spares so won't have a coax spdif. I'll need to do some hunting.

In the meantime, thinking caps for alternatives please?

 

[NorthernJohn]

Found the Zotac range here. Quite extensive.

Is there any reason you'd favour the Zotac over an ASUS equivalent? The ASUS looks better on paper and has the PCI slot. Cheaper too.

In between the two, there's a POV model which looks like it ticks the boxes too.

Opinions appreciated.

 

[winterescape]

I would look at a 785G board
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

and add a 240
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103688

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H 785G Socket AM3 DVI VGA HDMI Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard - Ebuyer

Yep pretty good choice, think the CPU is overkill for what is needed.

Regarding Asus, just never found there mobo's very good quality, they seem to skimp on some silly things like, the thickness of the board and the quality of the fans leave a lot to be desired, when I was looking for my gt220, every review said the first thing they noticed was how noisy the fan was, as it was designed for the htpc market (low profile) what was the point

 

[drealit]

Yep I removed the fan on my ASUS GT220... left the heatsink and just strapped down a decent 40mm fan (it seeeems to be working alright).

I'm moving towards replacing it with one of the 5xxx low profile cards from ATI... or possibly just going with a new clarkdale setup with no discrete GPU at all.

 

[NorthernJohn]

Going for the Gigabyte mobo listed above, with Athlon X2 2.8GHz + 2GB DDR3 Dual Channel RAM. Total £173 from Overclock, inc p&p.

A little over budget but should be future proofed for a bit without going too crazy. Lack of coax spdif is a minor annoyance but can use the input currently employed by the Cable box which doesn't get used much. Not for surround sound viewing anyhow.

Thanks for the input guys. I'll give ASUS a wide bearth in future. Just read similar reviews saying build and noise weren't good.