Need a good HTPC board.

Joe42

Joe42

Joe42

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Joined
18 Jan 2005
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Requirements are:

-Graphics with dvi, or cheap enough that i can afford a card.
-5.1 sound, or cheap enough that i can afford a sound card
-micro atx
-939
-pci-e
-can overclock
-Budget £60

Any ideas?

Been considering ASUS A8N-VM-CSM NF430 but it doesn't overclock and it doesn't seem to come with the bracket needed to get 5.1, it only has 3 audio jacks.
 
I don't think the 5.1 onboard is much good to tbh. I use this board with the HDA Digital X-Plosion 7.1 DTS Connect PCI Dolby Soundcard to provide the sound output. CPU is an x2 3800 using the onboard graphics.

The board is fine for a HTPC, but I only use it as a dedicated HTPC, have the seperate machine for gaming on etc. For a HTPC box you don't really need to worry about overclocking. I have had the box since last October and it has been rock solid. Other people on the forums have had problems with the board but I don't know when the got their's. Providing you get the add-on sound card then I have found the board to be excellent for a HTPC.

If I was building a HTPC at the moment I would use the Abit iL-90MV. Is an intel 479 board but has the advantage of onboard hdmi for hooking up to the HDTV, along with the SPDIF for the sound output. Another good plus for the board is that the sound is Dolby Master Studio Certified, so I wouldn't need the addon sound board. However the board is over £120 so probably more then you are looking to spend. However with the sound, hdmi and a Core skt479 which will be nice and cool you would have an excellent HTPC system.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Problem is, i'm upgrading another machine to an x2 3800+ and putting the 3200+ from that in the htpc. And since it overclocks ok it would seem a waste to keep it at stock. So the board has to be 939.

The audio on that asus is soundmax hd audio... is it really not much good?
The other problem is they don't include the bracket required to actually get 6 channels, which renders the sound useless and the bracket is impossible to get hold of.

So if i don't need to overclock i can get that asus and a cheap sound card, but i would really like to be able to get my moneys worth from the 3200+...
 
I read there is no vcore and the fsb doesn't go much above 225 or something around that?
Which would be a bit of a waste of a 3200+.

I'm looking into the Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 atm.
 
I think i've found my board. All the foxconn ones have vcore and vdimm options in the bios, which no other 6150 or 6100 board seems to have.

The Foxconn Winfast 6150K8MD does everything i want.
It has dvi via the onboard 6150, it has hd audio via the Realtek ALC880, and it has overclocking options and vcore up to 1.55. Perfect.

Review here if anyones interested.
 
I believe the msi has no vcore adjustments, other than that its fine. There are a number of boards that are fine except for no vcore or other overclocking options. I've also found a lot of these boards require a separate audio header to get 5.1 and spdif which is impossible to find.

But the foxconn does have vcore adjustments. Unfortunately i'm struggling to find one in the uk.

The biostar has no dvi as its 6100 only not 6150. I have to have dvi for plugging into an hdtv.

Does anyone know what the 6150b is and what the difference is between it and the 6150 if there is one?
 
I have the Asus A8N-VM CSM

-Graphics with dvi, or cheap enough that i can afford a card.
No problem here

-5.1 sound, or cheap enough that i can afford a sound card
You can use onboard, digital output bracket isn't included. Not using either, dedicated soundcard

-micro atx
-939
-pci-e
yup, yup yup

-can overclock
Not a good clocker at all. However it's stable, but it does have a hoggy performance from S3 standby problem (restart and ok)
 
Well, i bought a similar foxconn to the one i said i would get as that one wasn't available in the uk. Just have to hope it has the same bios as all the others with vdimm and vcore and decent overclocking options.

Its the Foxconn 6150BK8MC-KRSH

It does everything the asus mentioned above does, but it also overclocks.
The only issue i have with it is i don't know if it includes an spdif header, but if not i should be able to make one with a spare phono connector or buy one.

DFI Infinity RS482 looks good, but i wonder how it overclocks?

Edit: Just spotted a problem with the dfi. No hd audio, just standard ac 97. Other than that it overclocks better than the foxconn. So for people with a sound card this is better, but nothing seems to beat the foxconn for a budget htpc build.
 
Last edited:
Joe42 said:
Edit: Just spotted a problem with the dfi. No hd audio, just standard ac 97. Other than that it overclocks better than the foxconn. So for people with a sound card this is better, but nothing seems to beat the foxconn for a budget htpc build.
Click to expand...

Is there any advantage in going for HD Audio (or even a separate sound card) over AC97 if I intend to use the SPDIF digital out, connected to an A/V amp, to replay AAC files?
 
Good question. I intend to use spdif myself, as the only way i can get prologic 2 (stereo upmixing to 5.1) is via a decoder in the speakers.

I would think the quality of the sound card or chip would have the same affect either by spdif or analogue audio jack, in which case the hd codec is better than the standard ac 97.
 
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