Office / HTPC PC Questions - Budget MB Recommendation Needed

timmyotule · Post by **timmyotule** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:34 pm

I'm working on a computer for my brother that will be primarily used in his office. The most strenuous things it will be doing is editing home movies from an HD camcorder. He would also like it to hook it up to his HDTV in another room and use it as an HTPC.

Here's what I'm currently looking at:

- Case / PS: NSK4480 - Already ordered
- CPU: E7200 - Would the extra $70 for quad core matter much for video editing? Maybe save $50 and get an E2180 and overclock it?
- RAM: 4GB Corsair Dual Channel Kit
- Video Card: HIS 4670
- Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB
- OS: Vista Home Premium OEM
- CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Alpine 7
- Case Fans: Possibly replace Tri-Flow and PS Fan with Nexus fans
- MB: Need something with S/PDIF Out and reliable

Most of the motherboards I've found at on Newegg are $100+. Are there any basic reliable boards out there for a decent price? I'm looking at this Gigabyte motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128356 but no reviews makes me a little nervous.

Maybe I could scrap the video card and go with a integrated graphics card since he rarely games anymore. What IGP MB can run dual monitors, one HDMI and one DVI / VGA, together and accelerate all of the new codecs.

Thanks for the input.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:11 am

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... k=P35-DS3L under 85$. Has been rock solid in my use in game rig. All solid caps, SPDIF out, 6 USB 2's in back panel. 2 headers for internal use. Layout is very good. Its no frills, no thrils rock solid basic board. Its also decent overclocker what I've heard but I haven't yet overclock my gamerig yet.

Lacks raid and firewire. Neither is problematic. Has pretty cool northbridge. A lot cooler than newer P45-series.

What's best in P35-DS3L is the fancontrol. My AMD board cannot control well the fan speed. It throws 1300 RPM fan around 800 RPM minimum. While my P35-DS3L drops my Scythe S-flex 1200 rpm model minimum is around 450 rpm's per minute.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 6:01 am

timmyotule wrote:Are there any basic reliable boards out there for a decent price? I'm looking at this Gigabyte motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128356 but no reviews makes me a little nervous.

I am not sure about the P31 motherboard, but I bought their cheapest G31 motherboard for $41 (open box). It had no trouble running a E7200 overclocked to 3.8GHz with 4GB of DDR2-800.

I think the E5200 is the best Intel processor deal right now ($13 more than the much slower/hotter E2180), but any of the Pentium Dual Cores will limit your memory performance on most motherboards. My $75 Abit IP35-E runs my E2140 at 3.2GHz with cheap DDR2-800. Just a few P35/G33/etc. motherboards have this capability. Though if you find one of those motherboards and a used $50 E2140--that is probably the best performance deal of all (probably why I still have mine.)

The E5200 + G31 would be nice though--twice the L2 cache matters, and should make up for a slower FSB. The E7200 just doesn't offer enough to justify twice the cost for me. If you can often take avantage of four cores the Q8200 is a good deal.

timmyotule · Post by **timmyotule** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 9:34 am

I was looking at that P35 Gigabyte but it isn't in stock right now. They have the P45 one for about the same price after a rebate. Is the heat of the P45 really an issue?

Thanks for the tip on the E5200. We'll go with that CPU.

The Gigabyte GA-EG31M-S2 would be great but it's lacking a Coax S/PDIF out. Any other recommended boards around the same price with Coax out?

He may want to skip the video card all together to begin with. If so I take it the 9300 boards are the one to go with for integrated graphics. Any specific recommendations for those boards.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 9:57 am

timmyotule wrote:Any other recommended boards around the same price with Coax out?

You can add Coax output to pretty much anything with a simple bracket.

If so I take it the 9300 boards are the one to go with for integrated graphics. Any specific recommendations for those boards.

The Geforce 9300 is the only decent IGP for Intel, but it doesn't seem that great (high power consumption.) Unless you can get one very cheap (<$75) it makes more sense to get a cheap G33/P35/Q35/Q33/G31 motherboard and a cheap video card (Radeon HD 2400/etc.)

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:31 am

Heat is not really issue with P45 but it uses more energy than P35 so it also will be hotter.

Greg F. · Post by **Greg F.** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 6:47 am

QuietOC wrote:
timmyotule wrote:Any other recommended boards around the same price with Coax out?
You can add Coax output to pretty much anything with a simple bracket.

If so I take it the 9300 boards are the one to go with for integrated graphics. Any specific recommendations for those boards.
The Geforce 9300 is the only decent IGP for Intel, but it doesn't seem that great (high power consumption.) Unless you can get one very cheap (<$75) it makes more sense to get a cheap G33/P35/Q35/Q33/G31 motherboard and a cheap video card (Radeon HD 2400/etc.)

What am I missing here? 9300 high power consumption?
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3432&p=11

timmyotule · Post by **timmyotule** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:26 am

Here's what I've told him to get with his $600 budget:

NSK4480 - $67
E5200 - $78.50
Samsung HD103UJ 1TB HD - $107.90
Vista Home Premium - $99.75
HIS 4670 - $82.90 AR
Corsair 2GB x 2 Kit 800 DDR2 - $36.25 AR
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 - $21.99 AR

Gigabyte GA-EG31-S2 - $55.75
or
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L - $80.25

Shipping $44.89

Using the less expensive motherboard and building a S/PDIF bracket it puts him right at $600. The EP43-DS3L will put him $20 over if he gets the Xigmatek. I told him he should get that now and then purchase a Nexus fan for the PS and replace the TriCool that comes with the case if he wants it to be quieter.

Thanks for the help. Let me know if there are any suggested changes to the setup. He'll be ordering this weekend. BTW This is all from MWave. They had the best prices + shipping to Alaska that I could find.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 9:02 am

Greg F. wrote:What am I missing here? 9300 high power consumption?

The Anandtech review of those specific motherboards doesn't tell you the chipset consumption.

Yes, the Geforce 9300 chipset looks to use more than the G35 (11W) > G45 (9W) > G31 (7.4W) > G33 (5.75W). It might use less than the G35 + ICH9R (~15W idle), but that is no feat. The Geforce 9300 IGP is basically a Geforce 8500GT/9400GT (14W whole card)--much higher idle power use than a Radeon HD 2400 (7W whole card) or 780G (<1W).

Seeing as you can get a faster Geforce 8500GT/9400GT video card for $20, the Geforce 9300 motherboards aren't really worth much--unless you want something really small.

Office / HTPC PC Questions - Budget MB Recommendation Needed

Office / HTPC PC Questions - Budget MB Recommendation Needed

Re: Office / HTPC PC Questions - Budget MB Recommendation Ne