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Small Form Factor Would like some advice on a new mobo

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Shagbag, 12 May 2008.

  1. Shagbag

    Shagbag All glory to the Hypnotoad!

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    I'm looking to upgrade my gaming PC. I'm currently using a proprietary form factor PC - the Philips LX1000.

    It's fine for my gaming needs as I only play Counter-Strike:Source and don't see myself playing any new games for the forseeable future (I'm not a hard core gamer). The problem I have is that the LX1000's NVIDIA 6600GT drops frames when the gameplay gets intense. I want to upgrade the graphics but this will mean upgrading the entire PC as the LX1000 is a fixed-system design with no upgrade options (save for RAM and HDD).

    I would like to keep things SFF, and I have a socket-939 Opteron 144 still in its original packaging, which I want to (finally) make use of. I know this limits my options quite a bit but I would appreciate some feedback on what mobos I should consider.

    So far I've failed to find any s939 mini-itx boards and a handful of mATX. I know Shuttle makes some models that accommodate the s939 Opteron but they're quite expensive in comparison to mATX.

    I would also like something that maximises its useful life. By this I mean I could use the mobo as a home server in 3-5 years if I decide to upgrade to a new PC. More than one ethernet port would be handy and Gigabit, if possible. Onboard graphics would be useful although I won't need anything more than 2D as I'll be using an NVIDIA PCIe x16 card which I'll take out when it's time to use it as a server.

    Any advice will be appreciated.
     
  2. Hazardous

    Hazardous What's a Dremel?

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    Given that your options are already somewhat limited, it would be an idea to list the ones you've already looked at, to prevent getting suggestions for those same boards :idea:

    ASRock 939N68PV-GLAN:

    NVIDIA® GeForce 7050 / nForce 630A MCP Chipsets
    Supports Dual Channel DDR400 with 4 DIMM slots, maximum capacity up to 4GB
    Integrated NVIDIA® GeForce7 Series (NV44) DX9.0 VGA, Pixel Shader 3.0, Max. shared memory 256MB
    1x PCI Express x16 slot
    Hybrid Booster - ASRock Safe Overclocking Technology
    Untied Overclocking : During Overclocking, FSB enjoys better margin due to fixed PCIE/ PCI Buses
    Dual VGA Output: Support DVI-D and D-Sub ports by independent display controllers
    Supports HDCP function with DVI-D port, to enjoy better quality with High Definition HDCP Encryption contents
    NVIDIA® PureVideo™ Ready
    Supports Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
    4x Serial ATAII 3.0 Gb/s, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5, JBOD), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions
    Chipset embedded HDMI Audio which supports HDMI signal through DVI-D port by using DVI to HDMI adapter (not bundled)
    7.1 CH Windows® Vista™ Premium Level HD Audio (ALC888 Audio Codec)
    Windows® Vista™ Premium 2007 Logo Ready
    ASRock DVI/H I/O: 1 x VGA/DVI-D Port, 1 x VGA/D-Sub Port
     
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