Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (
More info?)
Thanks! You have certaily given me alot to think about and to research. I
have read every opinion about microATX versus a full sized board so I don;t
know what to do at this point. Haven't even thought about "under" clocking
to conserve power and reduce heat! Always had the opposite goal which is
why I have so many fans running in this computer case I am using now. HTPC
does present some interesting challlenges. I am sure my first one will not
be the best one. Or even a good one! Thanks again for your input.
Ted
"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
news:nospam-2411041906300001@192.168.1.177...
> In article <lM5pd.145768$R05.19069@attbi_s53>, "TMG" <tmg06@attbi.com>
wrote:
>
> > I am lookin at the A7N8X-E MB for a HTPC. Any ideas or thoughts or
> > alternate recommendations??? Thanks!
> > TMG
>
> Many respondents will probably suggest their favorite microATX
> board, but if you have room for a full size board, then that is
> a good choice. Combine it with Mobile 2500 or 2600, so you can
> adjust the multiplier for the right combination of power
> consumption and performance.
>
> This is the model of processor I am using, and with a Zalman
> 7000A AlCu for cooling, it never gets warm. (The only way you
> could do better than this, is to shop for a motherboard that allows
> undervolting, as Asus boards won't allow you to arbitrarily
> drop Vcore below a certain level. There may be some other brands
> of Nforce2 motherboards that allow it. For a HTPC, you might be
> able to use a low multiplier, then use closer to the rated voltage
> for a mobile, to reduce power even further. A "35W" Mobile
> processor would make this aspect of performance even better.
> You can always hack the motherboard for a lower voltage, but
> I didn't enjoy my modding experiences that much, as the parts
> on the board are so tiny and soldering on there is no fun.)
>
> I use the 2600+ XP-M at 1.65V, 200x11 multiplier = 2.2GHz
> In P.R. ratings, this mild overclock is equiv. to >3200+
> I've never wasted time trying to reduce the voltage, but with
> the mild overclock, I bet stable lower voltage operation is
> possible.
>
>
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-436&depa=0
>
> These are all the Mobiles on the Newegg site. Shop around for
> the best price (severe line wrap...) :
>
>
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=property&catalog=343&propertycodevalue=4181,%200,%200,%200,%200,%200,%200,%200&minprice=&maxprice=&mfrcode=0&DEPA=0&order=PRICE&InnerManu=1028
>
> RAM is the most annoying aspect of buying an Nforce2 board. I
> am using Ballistix PC3200, but cannot give you a good reason
> why a premium RAM is required. A recent poster is having trouble
> with some Corsair PC4000, so for the time being, I would suggest
> a low latency RAM. Running at DDR400 in dual channel mode, is
> the best performance point, while you could use a single stick
> of a lesser RAM at perhaps 180MHz, then adjust the multiplier of
> the Mobile to compensate. Memory bandwidth is all important to
> AthlonXP, as the core is starved for data all the time. While
> it is fun to overclock the AthlonXP, for a HTPC, overclocking
> won't add much to the experience.
>
> The main advantage of buying a motherboard without integrated
> graphics, is you can shop for a video card that does everything
> the HTPC needs. Right now, I have a lowly FX5200 I've been testing,
> and it has "almost complete" DirectX9 support in hardware. There
> are some low end ATI cards that are DirectX8 in hardware. But all
> of them have some form of IDCT (inverse discrete cosine transform)
> support, which helps with DVD playback. And, in my testing last
> night with some games, the fanless FX5200 runs pretty cool for
> such a pathetic 3D performing card. The cool operation is an
> important factor in being able to drop case fan speeds.
>
> The next level of support, is in further video decoding features.
> ATI has hacked its shaders in the 9600 to provide support for
> some other playback features. Nvidia now has a full video processor
> block in its 6200/6600/6800 family, of which the 6200 is PCI
> Express only (a shame, as it would have been perfect for a HTPC -
> bad marketing on Nvidia's part - they should have replaced the
> AGP FX5200 with an AGP 6200...). The status of the video processor
> on the 6800 is still unclear, and I would look for user confirmation
> that HDTV playback is using minimal processor resources, before
> buying one of those. That leaves the 6600, and the only issue
> you might have with it, is exactly how hot it gets and how bad
> a fan it uses.
>
>
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2238
>
> Power for 6600GT. A vanilla 6600 may have lower numbers, but
> won't be able to match a Fx5200 for cool operation:
>
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce6600gt-oc_3.html
>
> You should do a lot of reading about the various video cards,
> as selecting a clear winner is tough. My choice of the Fx5200
> was a casual one (price).
>
> My machine is not an HTPC, but is just an ongoing experimental
> build I've been playing with. I'm not really into multimedia,
> so buying some version of MCE is not in the cards for me.
>
> There are probably some private forums where HTPC construction
> is discussed, and they will be a better source of info than
> a motherboard group, for this kind of thing.
>
> For Nforce2 issues and RAM selection, I recommend the forums of
> nforcershq.com .
>
> Have fun,
> Paul
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