ASrock A790GMH & general HTPC build questions

[darkamulets]

Looking at the A790GMH from ASrock, seems to have a half decent video card onboard (ATI 3300). I believe the 3300 would be enough for light to mid gaming (dragon age or torchlight), I haven't played with AMD chips since Athlon XP days. Anyone built a machine out of this specific board or chipset? Looking for a little CPU advice also, I'm trying to keep the cost down and system low powered; dual core or spring for a triple core?

Will I have to pick up something like windows media center for simplified IR remote usage? Imagine I would run Windows 7 or XP on it, any experience on this would be appreciated especially as the last time I hooked up a PC to my TV was in 2000. I would be using DVI out from the board to the TV which can do 1080i. I'm not even sure if I would need the IR remote as there will be a mouse laying around that I occasionally game with.

I don't see it outright replacing my Tivo since I have comcast and would have to find a digital decoder for most of the channels or can some kind of passthrough w/ IR feed to an existing set top box work?

 

[Iron Woode]

I would find a better motherboard. Seems people are complaining about stability issues.

try looking for a 785 board like the Asus M4A785-M. If looking for a cheap cpu get the Athlon II X2 250. 2 gigs of ram should be fine or get more if money allows.

Win7 Home Premium comes with Media Center or see if you can get XP MCE 2005.

get a cable that goes from DVI to HDMI.

You will need a tuner card if you want to watch SD TV. Something like the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1850 as it comes with a remote and IR blaster to connect to your cable box.

I use a similar set up with an older motherboard/cpu combo and it works great.

 

[lopri]

Definitely Windows 7 over XP. A Quad-core CPU is preferred, just in case some weird codec or container don't work with DXVA. Without DXVA, 1080p clips can easily bring a dual-core CPU to its knees.

Gaming will be very limited, unfortunately. Old titles are bearable with middling image quality, but anything that requires SM3 or newer standard will not be a pleasant experience, IMO.

 

[darkamulets]

At the moment I don't have a tv capable of HDMI, it's either DVI or Component. I might end up ditching the TV Tuner idea as I do have a Tivo. I might try out the gigabyte equivalent of this though, sadly I didn't see a ATI 3300 on an ASUS board.

 

[Iron Woode]

Definitely Windows 7 over XP. A Quad-core CPU is preferred, just in case some weird codec or container don't work with DXVA. Without DXVA, 1080p clips can easily bring a dual-core CPU to its knees.

Gaming will be very limited, unfortunately. Old titles are bearable with middling image quality, but anything that requires SM3 or newer standard will not be a pleasant experience, IMO.

A cheap video card like an ATI 4350 will help with decoding and so he can still use a dual core cpu.

then he can just use a plain HDMI cable to his TV.

 

[Iron Woode]

At the moment I don't have a tv capable of HDMI, it's either DVI or Component. I might end up ditching the TV Tuner idea as I do have a Tivo. I might try out the gigabyte equivalent of this though, sadly I didn't see a ATI 3300 on an ASUS board.

it uses the Radeon 4200 IGP on the 785G boards.

 

[darkamulets]

it uses the Radeon 4200 IGP on the 785G boards.

Wasn't the 3300 a little more game friendly than the 4200?

 

[lopri]

A cheap video card like an ATI 4350 will help with decoding and so he can still use a dual core cpu.

I think you misunderstood me. What I was saying is without DXVA the load would be solely on the CPU. Even an HD 5870 or a Fermi would be rendered of no help in such a situation.

Admittedly those are very, very rare but they do exist and a quad-core will handle them without a hitch where a dual-core may fall short. Flash video is another concern if the OP is a serious HTPC user.

 

[Iron Woode]

I think you misunderstood me. What I was saying is without DXVA the load would be solely on the CPU. Even an HD 5870 or a Fermi would be rendered of no help in such a situation.

Admittedly those are very, very rare but they do exist and a quad-core will handle them without a hitch where a dual-core may fall short. Flash video is another concern if the OP is a serious HTPC user.

I just assumed he would be using DXVA as I am and therefore a dual core CPU would be fine. Heck, I am using a single core AM2 3800+ on my HTPC and 1080P playback is smooth as silk.

I not a big fan of flash video.

 

[darkamulets]

Guess the question would be will a 785 based board with 4200 handle torchlight mid/high or would it be a better choice to pick up a 790 based with 3300?

 

[Iron Woode]

Guess the question would be will a 785 based board with 4200 handle torchlight mid/high or would it be a better choice to pick up a 790 based with 3300?

the 4200 seems to play games reasonably for onboard video. You can over-clock the IGP and get much better framerates.

The Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H looks great, too.

the 785G boards are designed for HTPC applications, not gaming.

The 790G boards are better for IGP gaming, but are much more expensive.

I will be upgrading my HTPC system soon. I will probably get the Gigabyte version.

 

[darkamulets]

the 4200 seems to play games reasonably for onboard video. You can over-clock the IGP and get much better framerates.

The Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H looks great, too.

the 785G boards are designed for HTPC applications, not gaming.

The 790G boards are better for IGP gaming, but are much more expensive.

I will be upgrading my HTPC system soon. I will probably get the Gigabyte version.

Seems the 790s are $10 more from what I seen but no Asus options.

 

[Iron Woode]

Seems the 790s are $10 more from what I seen but no Asus options.

around here they are about $30 - $40 more.