MATX A64 Nforce4 board

[LeoMael]

can anybody recommend a good board that will fit into an Antec Aria? I've seached both newegg and ZZF but their search engine come up pretty iffy when u start getting specific. I plan to couple the board with an A64 Venice core 3200+.

 

[L00PY]

There's just a handful of them on the market now. I think only Foxconn varients are widely available. There are a couple of manufacturers that claim they'll be releasing some this quarter. The Gigabyte one (GA-K8NMF-9, IIRC) is one I've been watching for. . .

 

[NoToRiOuS1]

i just did a quick search on the gigabyte mobo you are talking about. everything it has looks perfect..except for one thing....the onboard sound. i really wish it would've been a 6 channel or something. but i think i might wait it out and just get this mobo and then get a soundcard later on or something. thanks for bring this mobo to my attention l00py. i was just about to by the foxconn mobo but i wasn't too keen on it. when you say this mobo will come out this quarter, do you know around what time it should be available? it says it was suppose to already be out by mid june but still there are no signs of it. lmk if you know anything about this. thanks in advance!

 

[paperfist]

hmm that board does look good and has 4 DIMMs which is very nice I googled it a bit and on one page it looked like they were for sale in Germany and another page showed it only had a 1600MHz HT which I though was odd. Isn't it suppose to be 2000MHz now?

Do you guys know if the base nForce4 chipset supports NCQ & SATA2?

 

[keeleysam]

Go for the MSI "RS480M2-IL". I have it in my aria and I love it.

http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/Vi...Desc.asp?description=13-130-485&depa=1

 

[LeoMael]

that's a cool board. will it work good for a HTPC? I'm not going to be doing any hardcore gaming on it (just PS1 and N64 emulation) and it will be used for watching some 1080i HD-MPEG2 and 720p AVC video.


EDIT: I would have least thought this board (MSI RS480M2-IL) would come with DVI-I video instead of VGA. I want to connect it to my samsung HDTV and it has a DVI port. Guess I still have to get a low-budget card.

 

[L00PY]

The main looming issue with the GA-K8NMF-9 is that it's using the "4X" (which paperfist noted). But until we see an actual release / more reviews, who knows how it'll pan out.

If you're not dead set on the NForce4 chipset, I do like the ATI XPress chipset a lot. I was very happy when MSI released their RS480M2-IL, but there have been enough issues with it that I decided to wait. The ATI board that I've been watching for is the Asus A8R-VM. I haven't heard anything if/when it'll ever be released though. The Gigabyte version doesn't look that bad either

And if you're looking to hook it up to your HDTV, I'd suggest spending the extra money and get one capable of HDTV out via components. The card I've been eyeing is the Powercolor R41AB-ND3D. The best price/(performance+features) ratio with a passive stock cooler I've seen so far.

It'll be a while before DVI-I for mATX on-board video becomes common. I think I've seen mention of it only on engineering / reference sample ATX boards (ATI's Bullhead or Sapphire's Grouper).

 

[LeoMael]

cool, I have a bit over a month before I build it. so I'll wait a few weeks to see how the MSI pans out or what else may surface. Thanks!

 

[ND40oz]

Originally posted by: LeoMael
that's a cool board. will it work good for a HTPC? I'm not going to be doing any hardcore gaming on it (just PS1 and N64 emulation) and it will be used for watching some 1080i HD-MPEG2 and 720p AVC video.


EDIT: I would have least thought this board (MSI RS480M2-IL) would come with DVI-I video instead of VGA. I want to connect it to my samsung HDTV and it has a DVI port. Guess I still have to get a low-budget card.

Which Sammy do you have? All the DLPs have a vga port in addition to a DVI/HDMI port. Also, you can buy a vga to dvi cable and just connect it that way.

And I would recommend the jetway -pro model over the MSI, unless you absolutely must have firewire. 32 megs of dedicated video ram on the board instead of shared ram.

 

[fishstickz]

I like the MSI, but the lack of dedicated RAM for video is a bummer. It is also targeted at HTPC users, although I use it for my main work/game/edit rig.

However, it can be a little loopy (had to RMA one)- trying to make it into a gaming workhorse felt a little like stuffing a V8 300+ HP engine in a Volkswagen Beetle.

Now that I have done it, however, it is very cool.

 

[LeoMael]

I have the TXP2675WH. Small TV to go into my dorm room at college. And I not going to be doing any major gaming on it. Just some simple emulation (N64, PSX, SNES) and watching anime and movies that I've encoded to 720P AVC.