What microATX motherboard for HTPC ?

Snow-Munki · 20 May 2006 at 17:49

Hi,

was just wondering what you guys reccomend for a microATX motherboard for an HTPC machine.

there are soo many around so not sure what to choose, haven't got CPU yet so socket does n't matter atm, just the price

hp7909 · 20 May 2006 at 17:57

Any motherboards with NVIDIA 6150/6100 GPU are good, i.e. apart from a decent graphics chip, they've got SATA2, etc. Most ppl here will recommend Asus A8N-VM CSM

Snow-Munki · 20 May 2006 at 18:00

thanks for the quick reply, how about the ATI ones, seem a few of those around.

hp7909 · 20 May 2006 at 18:04

Snow-Munki said:
thanks for the quick reply, how about the ATI ones, seem a few of those around.

Don't know much about those one's i'm afraid. Got interested in the NVIDIA one's because they claim Windows Vista Ready with that GPU!

Sumanji · 20 May 2006 at 18:26

Check out my GeForce 6150 thread

it should be sticky'ed really...

Suman

squiffy · 20 May 2006 at 20:07

Snow-Munki said:
Hi,

was just wondering what you guys reccomend for a microATX motherboard for an HTPC machine.

there are soo many around so not sure what to choose, haven't got CPU yet so socket does n't matter atm, just the price

Asus CSM board is good, onboard managed 1080p. Fine unless you need multiple PCI card (tuner, radio etc)

p4radox · 20 May 2006 at 21:32

The Asus is a very good board, as is the Foxconn 6150 based board. If you want to have a go at overclocking look into the Biostar TForce 6100 mobo. It has loads of options and the best overclocks on mATX boards have been obtained on the Biostar.
The DFI RS482 Infinity is another very capable option, but difficult to source in the UK.

Snow-Munki · 20 May 2006 at 22:21

p4radox said:
The Asus is a very good board, as is the Foxconn 6150 based board. If you want to have a go at overclocking look into the Biostar TForce 6100 mobo. It has loads of options and the best overclocks on mATX boards have been obtained on the Biostar.
The DFI RS482 Infinity is another very capable option, but difficult to source in the UK.

oh, i was going to get the MSI one, the one you have not mention, no good ?

p4radox · 20 May 2006 at 23:40

Snow-Munki said:
oh, i was going to get the MSI one, the one you have not mention, no good ?

I've not really had any experience of it, nor heard anything about it. I've had good solid MSI boards in the past though so it should be fine.

Are you going to overclock?

Snow-Munki · 21 May 2006 at 00:31

p4radox said:
Are you going to overclock?

naa, as long as it is stable that's all that matters. just going to be my media pc.

the one i'm on now is for gaming

( operton 146 @ 2.9ghz

squiffy · 21 May 2006 at 00:43

Which Silverstone case? I looked at a few of them, all the MATX desktop cases have low profile, not enough for PCI and PCIE cards to be used. Purchased the TJ07, granted not HTPC looking but enough space. HD cage bit of a pain to fit HD, but apart from that ok. 7v modded case fans, 1600rpm CPU. Pretty quiet.

The Asus has DVI out, the MSI doesn't. But the MSI has optical header port.

Snow-Munki · 21 May 2006 at 01:34

squiffy, you talking to me ??

As i have a coolermaster htpc case, desktop style but yeah pretty cramp.

oh and have double checked the MSI one does have DVI if you get the better version.

david25 · 21 May 2006 at 11:34

How about this onel

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-n4lvm-dh.html

gr1mey · 21 May 2006 at 18:18

I take it that with the mATX board with inbuilt GPU's its fairly easy to disable them and use a normal PCIx16 GFX board?

james.miller · 21 May 2006 at 18:21

yup. you dont even have to disable them. My ati xpress200 board has an x300 onboard. It played very happily together with my gto2 for multi screen goodness.

....shame i only have one monitor lol

squiffy · 21 May 2006 at 18:25

I hope so, otherwise what's the point of the PCI-E slot?

I think my BIOS does have a disable option. If not just don't install the Nivida graphics driver and disable it in device manager.

james.miller · 21 May 2006 at 18:27

yeah most boards thesedays should have the option. Althouh i have come across boards that have absolutely no way of turning it off.

gr1mey · 21 May 2006 at 18:41

the other thing that concerns me is the north/southbridge heatsinks - Ive an x800xl with an ATI Silencer fitted I want to put on the mATX board - will these interfere?

david25 · 21 May 2006 at 21:40

I have an HIS x800xl in my Asus n4lvm-dh board, no problems with space (bios auto disables the built-in vga)

I think its the cheapest core board around.

DiscoKandy · 26 May 2006 at 16:18

Are the onboard Graphics on the Asus board suitbale for a 32" HDTV, read on other forums that a GeForce 7300 is recommended for HDTV