Are there any Micro atx boards based on via pm/pt880 coming

[flipside101]

Hi all im heading down the HTPC route and after having dismissed the current crop of SFF boxes im going to build from scratch and this chipset seems like a good place to start, especially if it includes both the unichrome vid and via vinyl sound components as im trying to keep both the cost and sources of heat as low as possible .

Regards and much thanks for any help

Matt

P.S ive looked @ the via c3 boards and although they look tempting for sound/heat im non too sure about there ability to cope with things such as DVB decoding/recording though im open to having my mind changed

 

[Peter]

Sit still for a bit until the EPIA-N boards appear, featuring the new CN400 chipset. This alleviates some relevant bottlenecks by adopting DDR400, FSB200 and a handful of other new things, particularly in the area of media processing.

 

[flipside101]

Hi coincidently ive just been reading up on the CN400 and it looks good , though having the core processor running @ just 1ghz (hark @ me i remember a time when breaking the gig barrier was an amazing feet now here i am scoffing at it) hmmmmmm

 

[tcsenter]

FIC P4M-800M - VIA PM800

FIC P4M-800T - VIA PT800

Alternatives:

FIC P4M-RS300 - ATI Radeon 9100 IGP + IXP150

FIC P4M-RS350 - ATI Radeon 9100 IGP + IXP300

ASUS P4R800-VM - ATI Radeon 9100 IGP + IXP200

And if you're willing to consider an AGP graphics card, there are even more alternatives.

 

[Peter]

... and of course, a P4 is not a good starting point at all if you want to build a quiet system.

You'll be doing much better right from the start if you choose an socket-A board, and plant a "mobile" Athlon into it. These aren't that much more than the normal ones and, more importantly, fit onto and run fine in many standard boards.

 

[flipside101]

@ tcsenter
Thanks for the info but none of these have the unichrome/vinyl combo on board though the ATI chipsets do look good and adding an envy 24 based soundcard wouldnt be much of an issue as long as i can find one with a decent set of internal connectors . The only otehr issue is that as Peter suggested im looking @ using a mobile Athlon to keep the heat down

 

[flipside101]

sorry double post

 

[tcsenter]

Ok, since you've made overtures to an Envy24-based audio card, here's a suggestion:

MSI KM4AM-L KM400A + VT8237 (400FSB/DDR400/USB2.0/SATA/UniChrome VGA).

Toss in a Mobile Barton and an Envy24-based 7.1 audio card.

 

[Vette73]

^


That looks like a good setup. That and I have the envy sound and like it.

 

[Peter]

Here's one that uses KM400A, for DDR400 support that gives Unichrome a nice bandwidth boost (as does the MSI), and it has six-channel audio right out of the box.