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Good MicroAtx PIII board for HTPC?

G

ghetto buck

Senior member
I've been looking to build an HTPC for a while and I think i'm almost set except for the motherboard.

I'll be using the following components:

P3 700 oc'd to 933 if possible
128-256M Ram
This case with the front USB header
Toshiba 12x dvd
45G 5400rpm HD

Those are the basics, its important the board has a usb header for the front usb. Also I 100% do NOT want a Via chipset 🙁 . I've been looking into intels 815 chipset and it seems great but I can't find a good one in MicroAtx. Also if anyone knows of one with spdif out that would work in win2k I would snap that up right quick. Onboard video isn't neccesary but onboard LAN would be great.

Thanks for any suggestions you have, I finally found a case that will work for me and i'm anxious to order everything.

P.S. anybody know of a good deal (<$50) for like a GF2 with tv out? I saw one here a couple weeks ago but it's gone.
 
I like my Aopen MX3S(Celeron800@1066), onboard video and 4x AGP slot, 3 PCI, onboard ethernet and the onboard sound is pretty good. MX3S-T and MX3S-U(3 DIMM slots) are the new versions with support for tualatin.
 
DieHardware, Thanks for the reply.

That board is almost exactly what i'm looking for, hopefully I can find one for a good price. The only concern I have with that board is the AC97 audio. Does anyone know how good this will sound though a receiver and surround sound speakers (in stereo mode). I have found some boards which have 6ch cmedia sound but I can't locate them to purchase at the sites I frequent.
 


<< The only concern I have with that board is the AC97 audio >>

The onboard sound is pretty good for 2ch AC97(quiet through the analog out, and I've had no problems with the sound cutting in and out when multi-tasking. Looks like that case you picked has plenty of room and will allow you to add a seperate sound solution.
 
If OCing now a big deal, get a Intel D815EFVLU. I've built several systems on the mobo when, "It must be Intel" and "No VIA" was part of the deal. Rock solid Intel reliability and very well laid out. There is an 4X AGP slot (no onboard video), 4 USB in the back plus 10/100 ethernet. There is a connector for front USB connectors. MWave appears to have the best price for the board. Just be careful about which on you select. There are several models that are very close to each other with various features. The audio is AC97 but you can easily dump a cheap SoundBlaster Live 5.1 on it for cheap now.

Windogg
 
Ya i'll probably end up adding a sound card with spdif out. Any fairly inexpensive solutions out there? It looks like the board is gonna cost more than I expected, micro atx 815 boards are still going for like 100 dollars shipped. That seems crazy to me.
 
Yea, Intel chipsets are always a bit more costly. The board is going to run you about $100 - $120. Pricey but usually worth the extra cost when 100% reliability is called for. Intel used to make an even bigger killing on chipsets before VIA started rocking the boat.

A good consideration if VIA is looking more attractive is mobo based on the VIA PLE133. I've built around 100 system on the Biostar M6VLQ and similar derivatives. They comes with onboard 8MB (shared) Trident Blade video which is similar to the Matrox G200, AC97 audio, and 10/100 ethernet. None of the board I have seen have an AGP slot. The price is right at arounf $50 - $55.

EDIT, actually scratch the Biostar. great board but if I recall correctly, it does not have support for front USB headers.
 
Windogg, that board looks great as well. Any idea if the intel board would allow overclocking by just upping the fsb to 133? I know intel boards have almost no oc features but I would just be setting it at 133 anyways.
 
Intel boards auto detect the FSB setting so there is no chance of overclocking. That particular board also adjusts the splashscreen to reflect the CPU that is installed. Kinda nice actually.

Windogg
 
Wow they actually auto detect, thats harsh 🙂 . It definately would be nice to have the stability of intel but I would be paying a premium of about 25 dollars and would be running 233mhz slower. Does anyone know a reputable store that has several variations of boards such as the gigabyte mentioned by DieHardware. I'm probably gonna end up buying a replacement sound and video card as well, but I would really like integrated 10/100.
 
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