need recommendation

[cheapgoose]

Hey guys, been out of the loop for awhile now. The AGP slot on my HTPC is took a crap. It's a Biostar M7NCG Nforce 2 mobo, the only one with MCP-T. The only reason I got this is because it has soundstorm. Everything including onboard video works, just not when I try to use it with an AGP card.

Anyway, it's gonna cost $30 + shipping to "try" to get it fixed. I'm wondering if I should just get a new mobo.

anyway, right now, it's got a mobile barton, it was running at around 2.2.

If someone can recommend another matx board that's good for HTPC, that'd be great. I wouldn't mind going to A64 if the price is right. the other components are 1 gig of Kingston HyperX 3200 DDR. oh yea, it's an antec aria case.

thanks in advance.

 

[Zepper]

The DFI KM400-MV should work well and doesn't cost much either - newegg had some "refurbs" at $34. if you don't like the "new" price. And the Abit VA-10 (if you can find one) has 6-channel Via sound (better than average) but it's been superceded by the VA-20 which has sunk back to Realtek. The DFI has Realtek and supports SATA, the VA-10 has Via doesn't have SATA.

.bh.

 

[crucibelle]

cheapgoose,

If you want to go A64, I think the MSI RS480M2-IL would be a perfect board for you. Check out the specs:

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

The price is good, as well. You could get an A64 3000+ to go with that for around $150, I think.

 

[cheapgoose]

thanks for the suggestions. anyone have anything to say about the onboard sound on the new A64 boards? Are they as good as sound storm?

thanks

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: cheapgoose
thanks for the suggestions. anyone have anything to say about the onboard sound on the new A64 boards? Are they as good as sound storm?

The only advantage SoundStorm would have for HTPC is the ability to output Dolby Digital to a decoder/receiver via SPDIF. SoundStorm still uses AC97 codecs for analog output such as Realtek ALC655, VIA VT1617, and C-Media CMI9739. With the availability of AC97 codecs offering optional SPDIF output and even Dolby Digital 5.1 RTCE (e.g. CMI9761A and CMI9780+), the only real advantage NVIDIA APU/SoundStorm has is in gaming performance (HW/DSP-based audio processing), which is usually a distant consideration for HTPC.

The NFORCE2 IGP you have should be more than sufficient for HTPC, but since your complaint is a bum AGP slot, I presume you are using a graphics card. You could replace your M7NCG with the updated "400" version for $62.00 delivered from Newegg. Alternatively, the M7VIG 400 from BIOSTAR will support your current hardware and uses the Dolby certified CMI9761A with SPDIF out.