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n30_mkii

n30_mkii

n30_mkii

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I have my old venice 3000+ still, and thought i might pop it in some sort of HTPC. Just wondering what the best Mico Atx 939 board is? Hopefully they are fairly cheap now?
 
The Biostar TForce 6100 is much better than the M9 if you can find one. Otherwise, the DFI Infinity RS482 is very good. Foxconn also do some reasonable 6150 based mATX boards.
 
p4radox said:
The Biostar TForce 6100 is much better than the M9 if you can find one.
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Indeed - before I recommended the M9 I had a quick look at all the usual suspects for a TForce and I couldn't find one. They are extremely rare now. Definitely a better board. I'm not that fussed on DFI as they always seem to be at the top end price-wise. Foxconn are an excellent board and they make one suspiciously alike to the Biostar (who don't make their own stuff).
 
WJA96 said:
Indeed - before I recommended the M9 I had a quick look at all the usual suspects for a TForce and I couldn't find one. They are extremely rare now. Definitely a better board. I'm not that fussed on DFI as they always seem to be at the top end price-wise. Foxconn are an excellent board and they make one suspiciously alike to the Biostar (who don't make their own stuff).
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I tried to find a TForce recently and ended up on an auction site where there were a few being sold. I didn't realise Biostar didn't make their own stuff though!
 
p4radox said:
I didn't realise Biostar didn't make their own stuff though!
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You know the EVGA 680i board? Or the BFG 680i board? or the ECS 680i board? All the same board, made by Foxconn. All Biostar's are Foxconn too.
 
WJA96 said:
You know the EVGA 680i board? Or the BFG 680i board? or the ECS 680i board? All the same board, made by Foxconn. All Biostar's are Foxconn too.
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I know Foxconn make a load of stuff, but I didn't realise Biostar's was made by Foxconn too. I've seen Foxconn branding on a load of stuff in the past, I think some Dell motherboards I saw had Foxconn logos too.
 
If you look at their website they make some staggering claim - something like they make just about every motherboard ever - or something. They certainly have 50%+ of the motherboard market. $6 billion turnover per year. That's enormous!
 
squiffy said:
rock stable
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A very under-rated feature in my experience. The last thing you want is the board crashing half-way through a movie. And it has happened to me on several occasions :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for all the help....I have had a quick read through some other forums and am thinking of one out of these two:

MSI K8NGM2-FID

DFI RS482 INFINITY

I know the DFI lacks SATA2 but thats not a biggy, people have said it has USB problems too? Any info on the MSI board? Or a better alternative? Would prefer all features to be on the mainboard if possible!

And then use a Dual Tuner as its for a HTPC... Less heat and noise, + Low power consumption...
 
I'm not sure about the issues you mentioned, but you won't be able to overclock very well at all on the MSI, but the DFI 482 is pretty much on par with its bigger brothers in terms of overclocking. Whether this is important for your HTPC I don't know, I just have a habit of overclocking everything within a 2km radius of me. :)
 
Why do you need to overclock a HTPC? I use CAQ and it copes perfectly, and goes back down to 1.1ghz. The 4400X2 HPF is at 1400rpm on the 3700+ and runs well under 30 degrees.

It's not a gaming machine, so no need to overclock, unless the existing CPU is stuttering playing HD.
 
squiffy said:
Why do you need to overclock a HTPC? I use CAQ and it copes perfectly, and goes back down to 1.1ghz. The 4400X2 HPF is at 1400rpm on the 3700+ and runs well under 30 degrees.

It's not a gaming machine, so no need to overclock, unless the existing CPU is stuttering playing HD.
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No I agree completely. It's just if I was buying a HTPC I'd overclock it for the sake of it. Or even underclock it. Just anything to say I've modified it. The DFI board would also be very helpful if the OP wants to underclock as it has full Vcore adjustment.
 
p4radox said:
I'm not sure about the issues you mentioned, but you won't be able to overclock very well at all on the MSI
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Not true at all, the K8NGM2-FID was 1 of the best 939 mATX - you can overclock upto 250 in the BIOS & after that it's Clockgen time.
 
BUFF said:
Not true at all, the K8NGM2-FID was 1 of the best 939 mATX - you can overclock upto 250 in the BIOS & after that it's Clockgen time.
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Yeah but compared to about 320 max on the TForce and even higher on the DFI it is relatively poor. The MSI is a good stable board though. :)

edit: it's actually possible to boot at 370 on the Biostar.
 
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i would go for the Foxconn 6150K8MD-8KRS if your making a
HTPC. but its not a clocking board. but for a media build its a nice
board to go for.

it as a lot onboard like

- NVIDIA GeForce 6150 + nForce 430
- 4 x Sata2
- 7.1 Sound
- dual channel ddr400
- Passive chipset cooling
- IEEE 1394a
- TV out
- DVI interface
- gigbite lan
- 8x usbs
- 1 x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x1, 2 x PCI slots

what more could you ask for :)

for full specs visit:
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/Product/motherboard_detail.aspx?ID=en-us0000157
 
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you can still get a TForce 6100-939 tho if you know where to look :)
i cant say where tho as its a uk retailer.
 
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