[LaTropa64]

GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H AM2 AMD 690G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard


Onboard Video is ATI Radeon Xpress 1250. It supports VGA, DVI, HDMI and Component connections.

You can get it and a Dual Core AMD 4200+ (65W) for less than $150. I'm told the 4200+ can easily be overclocked to 3.0GHz on the stock cooler and I know some people have even taken it to 3.6GHz.

Will the integrated graphics be the issue? It seems like most people are using NVIDIA instead of ATI.

[LaTropa64]

If anyone is interested, here's the entire HTPC I was planning to build:

• SAMSUNG SH-S203B 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - $29.99
  
• IN WIN IW-BT610T Black Steel MicroATX Case 300W Power Supply - $49.99
  
• Western Digital WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive - $42.99
  
• A-DATA ADQVE1908K 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2 800 Dual Channel RAM - $34.99
  
• GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H AMD Motherboard - $148.98 (combo price with CPU)
  
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Brisbane 2.2GHz 65W - $0.00 (combo price with motherboard)
  
• Subtotal (add all items): $306.94

I already have a twinhan remote control and usb eye that I'm hoping I can make work with it... if not, I'll have to spend another $40 on a Windows Media Center remote.

I'm just going to run Vista on it for now (the compiling SVN to run in linux and everything is a little beyond my skills) but it would be great if it could still run XBMC for when I do get around to figuring out the whole linux thing.

[SneakerElph]

Well, you're probably going to have problems with that motherboard, if you use the onboard video. ATi and Linux don't get along well. That is probably going to change when ATi gets their opensource drivers out, but until then Nvidia is the way to go. if you could find a mobo with an integrated GeForce 6200 you'd easily be in business.

[gateway69]

this is the video card im using, its fan less, has hdmi, dvi out and a SPDIF Connector, which you plug into your SPDIF on the motherboard and should then get audio and video via HDMI (I haven't tested that part yet).


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814127301

what im finding with all my test on my system amd 64 x2 3800+ is that cpu power is really really needed right now to do proper 1080p content...

[LaTropa64]

Thanks for the info on video cards.

what im finding with all my test on my system amd 64 x2 3800+ is that cpu power is really really needed right now to do proper 1080p content...

but is the 3800+ still enough to play it or do you have problems with frame dropping?

[gateway69]

as of right now some 720p stuff works but cpu is pretty pegged, and 1080p clips drop alot of frames with this cpu.. we are going to try the last version in the 939 chip set the 4800..