Need help choosing CPU (1 Viewer)

[rocky500]

The new Abit boards have been the best I've ever used for MCE/Vista/Media Portal HTPC setups.
ABIT AN-M2 & the AN-M2HD

The AN-M2 has DVI and the AN-M2HD has HDMI & firewire.

http://www2.abit.com.tw/page/au/mot...etail.php?pMODEL_NAME=AN-M2&fMTYPE=Socket AM2
http://www2.abit.com.tw/page/en/mot...ail.php?pMODEL_NAME=AN-M2HD&fMTYPE=Socket AM2

The onboard video is suposedly has the same aceleration chip as the 8500GT/8600GT.

We use mainly the AN-M2 with AMD 64 x2 4000+ CPU and are amazed how well they work.

Seems to setup better and work better than my Gigabyte 965 MB, Intel 6300, Geforce 8600GT.

I would throughly recommend this board with one of the new 45W AMD CPU's.
You can't go wrong with their price and their quality.

 

[Bram]

Wow! I relay like these boards. My motherboard recently died on me. So I'm looking for a new solution. The size and integrated options combined with the price (only 60 euro for the AN-M2!) make it very attractive. Combined with a AMD Athlon x2 4000+ which costs about 57,- euro and 2GB of Crucial BallistiX RAM I could have a completely upgraded system for only 217,- Euro.

I'm in desperate need of one (or two) 8800 GTS 320MB videocards also, so I'll have to choose... :/

 

[pbb]

The Abit AN-M2HD looks interesting, but I see it can have problems overheating (http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/motherboards/abit-an-m2hd/4). However, biggest problem for me is lack of a S-Video output, since I am still using a good CRT TV.

All of a sudden I found the Sapphire Pure Innovation HDMI. (http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=6&id=2236) Wow, this looks ideal. Almost the same specs as the ASUS HDMI, but you can use HDMI, S-Video output and S/P-DIF output (and input) without losing the PCI-e x16 slot! Instead, DVI-D requires the PCI-e slot. Which is a much better trade-off, since if you later want to upgrade to a separate graphics card, changes are it also has DVI-D. While with the ASUS, you will have to get a separate graphics cards with HDMI and S/P-DIF (!!) if you want to continue using those!

But, biggest problem with the Sapphire is... does it really exist???? I find reviews about the card, but the Sapphire site itself only has an empty page about it, and I can find no shops that sell it...

 

[Bram]

That look great! I can't find a shop that sells it either. Maybe you can send email to Sapphire and ask for resellers.
I'm guessing the board will be pretty expensive (more then 150,- Euro), based on the prices of other sapphire boards.

 

[pbb]

LDLC seems to sell it (http://www.ldlc.com/fiche/PB00056785.html) in France, Belgium and Switzerland for 100 euro (and in Switzerland even 85 euro)! Though that's probably ex tax, my french is not that good...