Modern motherboards and integrated graphics?

student · Post by **student** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 4:55 am

What happened to onboard VGA? Why have most new motherboards omitted it?

Anodyne · Post by **Anodyne** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 5:54 am

You generally find it on mATX boards. I can't remember the last time I saw integrated VGA on a full ATX board (if ever).

If you aren't going to use your PC for video-intensive work (ie, gaming, video editing, etc.) then the onboard VGA is probably sufficient...also quiet! But don't skimp on system RAM, because the onboard VGA eats some of it up.

KorruptioN · Post by **KorruptioN** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:36 am

Anodyne wrote:I can't remember the last time I saw integrated VGA on a full ATX board (if ever).

The Indel DG965WH has it, along with a lot of other Intel 965 based motherboards. 965G graphics in a full ATX form factor.

autoboy · Post by **autoboy** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:46 am

This Gigabyte full ATX board has integrated graphics for AMD systems. AFAIK, this is the only one. All other integrated boards are mATX. Integrated graphics is pretty good as long as you don't play recent games.

NeoNSX · Post by **NeoNSX** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 6:51 pm

autoboy wrote:Integrated graphics is pretty good as long as you don't play recent games.

... or use a really high-resolution monitor.... or mind people laughing at you when they find out you use integrated... or.....

Scrooge · Post by **Scrooge** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:53 am

What I actually want is a high-quality mATX board withOUT integrated graphics, so it can overclock well. And with all solid-state capacitors. Giant heatsinks on the north and south bridges would be nice as well. Too bad no one seems to want to make this...

rei · Post by **rei** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:50 pm

It wouldn't be feasible to make it since the target market is admittedly quite small. It's small enough for a normal umatx board, where stuffing the board to the gills with integrated components is -desired- and a necessity.

SebRad · Post by **SebRad** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:24 pm

To Scrooge, which processor family do you want board for? On the AMD side the Nvidia 6100 series chipset does have integrated graphics but supports PCIe x16 slot for upgraded graphics and, I believe, performs about the same in such configuration as non-integrated Nvidia chipsets.
Biostar make/made "T-Force" boards in s754 and s939 that are good overclockers, Iâ€™ve seen reports of raising bus speed from 200 to 300+ MHz. The most desirable mATX board I've seen is Abit NF-M2 (socket AM2), Nvidia 6150+430, heat pipe chipset cooling (not really needed but nice), DVI and VGA out (supports dual screens) and highly overclockable by all accounts.
Haven't looked into the Intel side recently to know what if anythingâ€™s on offer.
Seb

Scrooge · Post by **Scrooge** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:43 pm

I am actually open to either processor family for computers. However, the nForce4 has data corruption issues (a quick Google of "nforce data corruption) can provide plenty of verification of this, otherwise the NF-M2 would be my clear choice. This is why I went with the K9AGM-FID, along with the reported lower power consumption/heat. However, I would prefer something from a more reputable brand and with all solid-state caps.

I would like to have an mATX Conroe solution with no IGP. The huge issue with these is the IGP and network shut down when you hit around 320mhz from 266mhz for the FSB. And again, there are no solutions with all solid-state caps in mATX for either processor family. Even an IGP that is not used is using energy and generating heat, as I recall from SmilingCrow's comparison.

Yes, I acknowledge that this is a small target market. I used to be rabidly against mATX until I realized that I never used more than 4 cards total, counting modem, video card, sound card, and additional IDE, which was before network for broadband and HD Audio onboard. Just no need anymore, and almost no one I know ever really upgrades...

rei · Post by **rei** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 3:39 pm

you just have to not install the nv ide drivers :/

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:21 am

SebRad wrote:Biostar make/made "T-Force" boards in s754 and s939 that are good overclockers, Iâ€™ve seen reports of raising bus speed from 200 to 300+ MHz. The most desirable mATX board I've seen is Abit NF-M2 (socket AM2), Nvidia 6150+430, heat pipe chipset cooling (not really needed but nice), DVI and VGA out (supports dual screens) and highly overclockable by all accounts.

Seb

That's correct, but opt for the AM2 socket to get DDR2 vs. DDR. The Abit board seems to have cooling for the mosfets as well, which the T-Force boards seem to bypass, but this is addressable.

The one neat thing Biostar does is have a 2.2V VDIMM jumper to get things started with memory that won't run at 1.8volts. Your northbridge may require extra cooling as well.