[sebbelcher]

Hi folks,

I really need some help finding a motherboard for my HTPC, I'm transplanting a lot of my old main rig into a SFF box. I've searched high and low for the right motherboard but nothing seems to exist that meets my requirements, which are:

Form factor: micro-ATX or Mini-ITX
CPU Socket: LGA775
RAM: preferably DDR2 so I can reuse existing 4GB of RAM but I don't mind forking out for some DDR3 if the board meets all the other requirements.
Expansion: Must have PCI-E x16
Interfaces: Must have SATA RAID and AHCI

Its the last requirement that seems to be the stumbling block for all the boards out there, 99.999% of the socket 775 ITX/uATX boards come with Intel ICH7 chipsets which DOES NOT SUPPORT AHCI or RAID.

I have found ONE product that meets the requirements, the ZOTAC G45ITX-B-E however, firstly it is impossible to get in the UK and secondly, it appears that it is a massive turd: http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/sh...p?t=347386

SO please, if you know of an SFF LGA775 mobo with RAID support, tell me about it!

Thanks.

[sebbelcher]

Actually, I should clarify, there are several mobos that do meet this requirement like the ASUS P5B-VM DO - however they are all out of production and impossible to buy. I need something I can buy!

[sebbelcher]

I take it all back, ASUS as usual have the perfect board, this thing is a low-cost HTPC dream:

http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5QEM/

Core2Duo support, DDR2, onboard HDMI with X4500HD or PCIe 2.0 for a discreet graphics solution. Perfect.

[sebbelcher]

I spoke too soon, you can't buy it any more. In fact, for some weird reason it seems to be virtually impossible to buy an Intel G45 chipset based motherboard anywhere right now.

There are loads of G41, G43 based boards, but they lack the PCIE2.0 and the ICH10 RAID support. What happened to G45?!?!

[numb7rs]

Ebay?

[sebbelcher]

Ebay?

Seriously, I've been looking... nothing on eBay UK. I've been researching for about 8 hours now, and I'm fairly certain this is an exhaustive list of all the LGA775 mATX motherboards with PCI-E 2.0 and Intel RAID support EVER produced:

ICH10R
Intel DG45ID
DFI LANPARTY JR P45-T2RS
Foxconn G45M-S
Gigabyte GA-EG45M-UD2H
Asus P5Q-EM / P5Q-VM DO

ICH9R:
Intel DG33TL
Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R
Foxconn G33M-S
Asus P5E-VM

Not a single one of any of those is available anywhere for retail. On eBay there is a couple of Asus boards available from the US - but they are selling for more than their original 2008 retail price... painful but it might be my only option.

[numb7rs]

That sucks.

I think the problem might be that RAID is seen as a high performance thing, used in gaming PCs or servers. mATX boards aren't usually chosen for either of these, so tend to have the lower end of the chipset spectrum.

[PANiCnz]

Why do you need RAID so badly? Intel's onboard RAID is fairly average. Why not just buy a PCIe or PCI RAID card?

[Burke]

can you ge asrock in UK?

here is one