Mainboard w\ integrated NVidia graphics question

kavau · Post by **kavau** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:21 pm

I am planning to build a new media center PC. For this purpose, I am looking for an ATX or micro-ATX mainboard that satisfies the following requirements:

Socket 754/939/AM2
Integrated NVidia graphics with DVI-out
3 or more PCI slots

I've been searching the websites of many major mobo manufacturers, but couldn't find any product with these three features. Almost all mainboards with integrated graphics are micro-ATX these days, and therefore feature only 2 PCI slots, which isn't enough for the setup I have in mind. The few exceptions I found were lacking DVI-out.

If anyone can point me to such a mobo, I'd be forever grateful!

Thanks
Klaus

niknik · Post by **niknik** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 2:06 am

I think you'll find a lot more options by going with a "regular" graphic card.

You'll find several Nvidia passive cooled solutions out there, from the lowly's 6200 up to the 7600.

I myself am waiting for a AGP 7600GS 512Mb from MSI (it was the only model with passive cooling and still good enough to play some 3D games) with dual DVI outs for my media center.

matt_garman · Post by **matt_garman** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:21 am

Have a look at the Gigabyte GA-m55plug-S3G.

I haven't used one myself, but they do look promising. I got the reference from this thread, which also has a link to that board's manual.

If you work the filters right on newegg, you'll find there are a handful of boards that meet the "full ATX" plus "onboard graphics" criteria. They're few and far-between, but they do exist.

Matt

autoboy · Post by **autoboy** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:04 am

matt_garman wrote:Have a look at the Gigabyte GA-m55plug-S3G.

I haven't used one myself, but they do look promising. I got the reference from this thread, which also has a link to that board's manual.

If you work the filters right on newegg, you'll find there are a handful of boards that meet the "full ATX" plus "onboard graphics" criteria. They're few and far-between, but they do exist.

Matt

That board does not have DVI out. You might be better off going for a dedicated graphics card if you need 3pci slots. You could also consider getting the usb version of whatever that extra pci slot is for.