Rec. for Q6600 LGA 775-compatible Motherboard for HTPC

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gctseng

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Apr 16, 2013
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Hi All,

I have a Q6600 and an ATX case that I want to use for running HTPC/Ubuntu server (providing light services like file and print server). It'll need to be able to handle 4 HD's and DVD/Blu-ray Player (so at least 5 SATA's, though I can get an external card--but I don't need RAID), as well as a decent graphics card just to output to HDMI.

I don't mind buying used, or something that's a year or two old. I just love my Q6600 so I don't want to get rid of it.

Built-in networking and video is not necessary, though would be nice to have built-in networking.

Old motherboard (XFX MB-N780-ISH9 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI Intel Motherboard 3-Way SLI Support) died, and I felt it was overkill for what I need now.
 
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Matsushima

Matsushima

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Mar 6, 2013
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Most of the boards of that generation have only 4 SATA. G31 chipset and above can support your processor.
As for the graphics card, an AMD 6570/6670/7750 will do fine for a HTPC or a nVidia GT620/630/640
Asus P5Q has eight SATA and 4 DDR2 slots. Only the high-end motherboards had more than 4 SATA and even then some had 4. Gigabyte's GA-EP45-DS4 also has 6 SATA slots and 4 DDR2 slots. Probably every board in this era had networking.
 
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Deleted member 217926

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There is really no such thing as recommending an LGA 775 board anymore. You are pretty much stuck with the few still on the market. So if you can find one that meets your specs get it.
 
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Inferno1217

Inferno1217

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Jul 16, 2008
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This http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157359 is your best choice. None of the available boards have more than 4 SATA connections so you will have to add one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124013 assuming you have all SATA drives.

For a video card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102994
 
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spawnkiller

spawnkiller

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Jan 23, 2013
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You can still buy a new G41 motherboard, that will do fine for a HTPC (4 SATA, 2 RAM slots, 1 PCI-e) and many retailler have some in stock

Any recent card (and even older one like AMD's HD5xxx or NVIDIA's GT4xx series will do)

I would suggest something like a HD5750 or 5770 (easy to find on ebay and maybe even new as they were very popular)

For the other sata i would recommend something like an External USB enclosure as the only new boards i found are G41 and only 4 SATA and USB 2.0 speed will be enough for music, movies, etc...
 
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gctseng

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Apr 16, 2013
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I'm thinking I'll only need 4GB or RAM, but maybe should get 8 if it's just cheaper that way.

If the board has IDE, then I don't mind having only 4 SATA ports.

I guess the only other thing is the power supply. My friend has said that it's better to have one that's rated 30-50% higher than what you need so that the PS will run more efficiently at the level I'm going to be using. Is there a good way to calculate this, assuming 4 relatively recent SATA 3TB drives (not green, but the ones that are "recovered" from an external Seagate drive), the video card, processor, etc. Again, I'm not thinking there will be much being done on the system in terms of transcoding, etc., but I may put an LDAP and mail server too.
 
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Matsushima

Matsushima

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The power supply can be around 400 watts to 500 watts, 350 watts maybe. If the best graphics card you are using is the 7750. BUT MAKE SURE YOU GET A GOOD BRAND POWER SUPPLY!!! Corsair, Seasonic and XFX are the reliable brands.
About the IDE/SATA, most boards at that time had IDE so you have an IDE drive?
 
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Matsushima

Matsushima

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Most of those so-called 'technologies' that don't have a clear explanation don't really mean anything.
IDE is a slow interface these days and you would be better off with a SATA boot drive, although that would not matter a lot for your needs.
However, some motherboard BIOS in this era cannot support hard disks of exceptionally large capacity, such as 2TB+. Check the manufacturer's website for BIOS updates.
Even my AM3+ board from MSI does not support disks of 2.2TB or greater without a BIOS update.
 
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