Recommend me a MATX Mobo please :)

n3x

n3x

n3x

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Surrey
I wanna build a kinda backup secondary rig / media centre and i'd like some people to recommend some decent matx motherboards that include onboard sound/gfx, and if possible a spare pci-e slot for my 7800. Socket 939 so i can stick my oppy in there if need be :)

any ideas?

edit: oh yeah and tv out would be most usefull aswell ;)
 
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Biostar Tforce 6100-939

Socket 939, 4x dimm slots, Pci-expressx16 slot, pci-expressx1 slot.
Onboard Geforce4 6100nvidia graphics card, 2 sata for raid/ide. Rock solid mobo that clocks very well!!! Plenty of Bios support from the Rebel Heaven. Supports all known skt 939 cpus and is pretty cheap at £48inc vat.
Also passively cooled for quietness in HTPC systems.

I have both skt939 and skt754 versions, best bargains I have ever bought!!

Rob H
 
I've got the biostar and it's very very good. Easy to overclock too.

Have a look at the Foxconn 6150 board too, it has fairly good overclock potential, and a few more features.

The DFI Infinity RS 420 looks very good too, perhaps equalling the Biostar for overclocking ability.
 
ocuk sell the Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 nForce 6100 Micro ATX that seems to be an ok mother board
 
ACESHIGH said:
Yep, the Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 nForce 6100 Micro ATX is a pretty good, reliable board.
Click to expand...

The NB heatsink might obstruct 3rd party VGA coolers like the Zalman VF700. It's not that good for overclocking either. It does seem very reliable though.
 
cheers for the info guys.

it doesnt look like it but can anyone tell me if any of these boards have tv outs? if not is there another way of plugging out to your tv without spending out on another gfx card?
 
used to have an msi matx mobo called the RS480M2
this was skt 939, with 4 onboard sata and onboard ati x200 graphics inside the northbridge. This has a s-video output next to the ps2 ports on the mobo itself, very solid motherboard but no overclocking options though. At times I wish I never sold it but a guy bought it off me from ocuk forums and he loves it in his HTPC.

Try this link to the official msi website

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=639

I think they have newer version out now called the rs482m2 whicj uses a 90micron process on the northbridge.

Rob H
 
the foxconn has a S-Video TV-out cable/bracket.

from the PCSTATS review linked in my foxconn thread: -

The nVidia GeForce 6150 chipset supports High Definition (16:9) playback thanks to PureVideo, but the Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS motherboard only sports a S-Video output. It makes the Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS slightly less attractive for use as a HTPC motherboard, which would seem to be the ideal application for a Geforce 6150-based miniATX motherboard. If you watch movies mainly on your monitor, you can still enjoy the benefits of the GeForce 6150's HD accelerator there.
Click to expand...

i've not used it so can't comment on the performance.
 
mr whippy, that foxconn board looks a damn fine HTPC mobo with that tvout and the enhanced 6150chipset as well. Best price I seen is£55inc vat, very good price.

Rob H
 
Super Tigers said:
mr whippy, that foxconn board looks a damn fine HTPC mobo with that tvout and the enhanced 6150chipset as well. Best price I seen is£55inc vat, very good price.

Rob H
Click to expand...

i paid £53.66 inc vat but from a competitor so not gonna name.

i suspect it would be good for a htpc.
i'm using it as my main system board though.
built a rig primarily for heavy numerical research stuff.

i've also got one of those gigabyte socket 754 mATX boards with the 6100 chipset in a rig for the wife. that's decent too.

i think any of these 6100/6150 boards will probably be up to htpc duties, just really a question of working out which combination of the other features you really need most.

for the wifes rig, the main criteria was a cheap solution for an office machine.
for my rig, the sata raid 0/1/0+1/5 controller and slightly better graphics spec clinched it. (and i doubt i'll need a PCIe x1 speed slot).

though in honesty the onboard graphics aren't gonna be upto playing games at high res very well. ok for strategy type stuff but no use for FPSs. and i do want to be able to use my rig for games as a secondry role. so i've ordered a gfx card already.

for my uses, maybe i didn't need this board and could have gone another route, but i fancied trying something that hadn't already been done before by everyone else round here ;)
 
I've been looking at these Ati chipset boards, p4radox I take it you meant the DFI RS482 INFINITY, which is basically the same board as the MSI RS480M2 mentioned by super tigers.

n3x if you are looking for good options on the gfx then it's worth noting that the DFI specs say that it has a DVI output onboard which the MSI doesn't.
Although the bad layout of the DFI would make it a real pain to use in my case :(
 
tim_enchanter said:
I've been looking at these Ati chipset boards, p4radox I take it you meant the DFI RS482 INFINITY, which is basically the same board as the MSI RS480M2 mentioned by super tigers.

n3x if you are looking for good options on the gfx then it's worth noting that the DFI specs say that it has a DVI output onboard which the MSI doesn't.
Although the bad layout of the DFI would make it a real pain to use in my case :(
Click to expand...
Yeah sorry, I meant the 482;)

It will be better than the MSI for overclocking.
 
dont go foxconn! mine one was faulty lol, the onboard gfx carshed my cp wenever i played games. my amte got the same board had the same problem. Also their divider is is set, 133,166,200,etc . If it wasnt faulty its a good baord.

forgot to mention the lack of manual as well....... they gave u a A1 size poster thingy as a manual. Its all on the CD so if u want help u will ahve to have another PC to acess the file.
 
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