hey all, my media PC knowledge is a little out of date ned some input please whats the best CPU/mobo combo for HTPC nowadays. features it must have are: HDMI with audio (onboard) the more PCI-e slots the better but not essential fairly cheap < £70 maybe ideally not a realtek audio controller but thats also optional if it a good board. cheers in advance Adam
Out of curiosity, why do you need so many PCI-E slots if you're going to be using onboard graphics and audio?
Well, that was my first thought, but a ton of TV tuners are still PCI-based. Besides, most people have a set number of tuners they have in mind for an HTPC build. I think I've only ever seen anyone use 1 or 2 (record on one, watch on the other), so what could he possibly want more than two tuners for? Idk. Just wanted the clarification.
full ATX isnt a requirement as im pretty open to options. A good board stable board is more important than a few extra PCI-e slots. That board doesnt look too bad IanW whats the blu-ray playback like ?
Well, graphics is Nvidia 9400 equivalent, but I don't have a blu-ray reader on it (stand-alone player instead). Besides, blu-ray playback is "problematic" under Linux due to lack of a decoder library! I can say that X264 files run smoothly, as I installed a Core2Duo E4400 & 2GB RAM.
hmm well this will probly have E5300 + 2GB i reckon so should be ok i guess really wanna see who the blu-ray playback is cause thats the whole point. ill have a browse aruond for a review of that board
Can I recommend this one from Scan - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigabyte-GA-MA785GM-US2H-785G-AM2plus-AM3-PCI-E-20-DDR2-1200-SATA-3Gb-s-SATA-RAID-mATX-HDMI It's got onboard ATI graphics via the 785 chipset, one of the better onboard audio options, firewire, supports ddr2 for cheaper memory and all current AMD CPUs (AM2+ and AM3 support). I understand the 785G chipset is the most powerful onboard available at the moment. All headers seem well placed (except for legacy IDE, floppy etc) and as it's uATX you get the option of smaller cases. All this and it's only £65.
