HDMI Motherboard

[mikepod]

Hi,

I would like to build up a media PC. It's function would mainly be to hook up to my Samsung 46" LCD (1080P)to play VOBs. I assume the best way to do this is through an HDMI port. The LCD also has a VGA connector on it (not sure of the resolution it supports). Integrated Video and Audio on MB would be nice. Would Vid and aud come out HDMI port? In synch?!

-It may act as a server or be hooked to a server. (XP Pro)
-It may be hooked to a Home stereo to play MP3s
-It may be used to play some games, nothing to graphic intensive
-May hook up a BluRay drive to it.

Any recommendations for a MB? MicroATX?

Thanks!

 

[sisley_111]

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, HDMI, DVI-D and D-Sub. Put an X2 4050e/4450e/4850e (45W) and 2 gig, will be a silent PC, capable of playing HD and output to 1080P.

Able also to play some game... If you need more power, take a Intel CPU on a P35 mobo and put a video card , like a HD3650 from ATI, with an DVI to HDMI adapter

 

[San Pedro]

The 780G boards are great for HTPCs. Don't expect to play games with the 780G at 1080p. I'm almost positive that your Samsung tv's VGA input will do full 1080p. My roommate's 42" Samsung did. I also like linux OSes for HTPCs.

 

[rsetter1]

FYI:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-780g-chipset,1785.html

 

[godless]

i'd only stick to mobo with onbaord graphics in your case, i wouldn't buy an extra card. try looking something from amd chipsets like the 780g like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090
or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131273

it has only hybrid tech so if you put in a graphics low end card from ati,you get extra performance, but for htpc, just the mobo is sufficient. and like sisley said, get one of the low power 45watt amd processors, it will do more than a fine job for your purpose.

 

[mikepod]

i'd only stick to mobo with onbaord graphics in your case, i wouldn't buy an extra card. try looking something from amd chipsets like the 780g like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090
or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131273

it has only hybrid tech so if you put in a graphics low end card from ati,you get extra performance, but for htpc, just the mobo is sufficient. and like sisley said, get one of the low power 45watt amd processors, it will do more than a fine job for your purpose.

Some comments I read from Newegg on the ASUS:
1)The sound over HDMI does not work with the drivers on the disk. Needed to uninstall ""sound-over-HMDI"" device and update ATI drivers to get it to work. No big deal, but it took some googling to figure this out.
2)Cons: No on board audio with XP I tried every driver out there just about.

Anyone else experience any of these?

Can I expect to get DVD multi-channel sound out of this? 5.1 or whatever.
Sorry I am not up on all the latest technology involved.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[mikepod]

You guys are awesome!

Can anyone recommend a sexy case? Smaller is better, that's what I tell my wife too.

Known working memory?

What processor models from AMD?

 

[nvalhalla]

I like the Antec Fusion cases. Comes in black and silver, big volume knob and LCD screen make it look like an A/V component.

Any DDR2-800 RAM will be fine, just buy what's on sale.

Any of the 4000 or higher CPUs will be fine too. I use 4200+ in my HTPCs and with "cool and quiet" on they are silent.

Go with the Gigabyte 780g over the Asus. It's better all around.

 

[nvalhalla]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100014

Great ATSC tuner. Comes with a remote too, always important.

I recommend Vista Premium for HTPCs. The media center is perfect, I have used many others and none perform as flawlessly as the one that comes with Vista. The only problem is that it doesn't do Blu-Ray, at least not without hacks.

 

[godless]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856171003
just saw this at newegg. it has an older 680g chipset, but i'll try to find some reviews of this barebone.

 

[mikepod]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856171003
just saw this at newegg. it has an older 680g chipset, but i'll try to find some reviews of this barebone.

How about http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856171003
for $50 more?

 

[sisley_111]

The 690G isn't as good as the 780G. In fact it is 2.5x time slower in 3D and does not support full hd decoder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_700_chipset_series#Integrated_graphics.

Since the 780G consume less, and is far more poewrful, built the HTPC by yourself. Find a good case, take this mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090, a low power CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103255&Tpk=4850e or other 4x50e series, 2gig of DDR2800, any kind, quiet HD, seagate 7200.11, and you're in business.

 

[mikepod]

The specs on newegg call out RAM "DDR2 1066 " which is PC2-8500?
Isn't DDR2 800 25% slower?

 

[shoota]

yes but it's cheaper and you won't notice much of a difference in speed with the tasks you are going to be doing.

 

[mikepod]

Would the GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H support a BluRay drive and obviously playback?

 

[sisley_111]

Yes, because it's a 780G ATI chipset will full HD decode support in the IGP. Read this http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3258&p=1 and you're to understand why I'm pushing with 780G for a HTPC solution. Blu-ray uses MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), and VC-1 as video encoder. the 780G has a built-in decoder and deload CPU. The result is a lower CPU usage->lower temp->lower noise. The IGP consumes maximum 10W...

You can also plug up to 3 screen from this mainboard (HDMI, DVI-D and D-sub).

The mobo is just a suggestion but this board support all Phenom, up to 125W like the 9850. It's Gigabyte and it's superior to Asus. You can save some cash if you go with ECS, MSI... but it's at your own risk

 

[mikepod]

I can't devote the time required to stay on top of all the stupid models of processors. What is the next line of processors above the "AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor"
I would like to use XP Pro on the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H board.

 

[mikepod]

I can't devote the time required to stay on top of all the stupid models of processors. What is the next line of processors above the "AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor"
I would like to use XP Pro on the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H board.

Is "AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor" a good choice?

Am I wasting my money if not running XP 64 or Vista?

 

[sisley_111]

In fact, the line with an "e" at the end is for energy efficient. Since you are going to use it for movie playback, I thinked it was better to use a lower power processor.

Of course the Brisbane 65W processors are quiets too.More powerful but with more heat dissipation. You can also buy an after market cooler.

If you're going to put it in a slim case, you will need more fans with a 65W CPU -> more noise. And remember, the cooler you will choose should fit in the case. I think the stock cooler of the 4850e is low profile.

The 4850e is more than enough if not going to do other thing than bluray playback and light gaming.

On the other hand the final choice of your parts is up to you. My recommandation is only based on the needs you described in your first post.

For the OS it's up to you. With 2Gig, XP and vista will run fine.

 

[mikepod]

Here are the parts have/am ordering:

MB $100 GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090

RAM $70 G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231144

Processor: $87 AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103255

Bluray Drive $130 LITE-ON Black 12X DVD-ROM 32X CD-ROM SATA Blu-ray DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-4O1S-11 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106227

Case $50 IN WIN IW-BT610T.300BL Black Steel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case 300W Power Supply - Retail
link

SATA HD, I had a 400Gig Seagate lying around.

Although I gave all Newegg.com links, Chiefvalue.com has better prices in most cases plus still no tax in New York. Chiefvalue is a sister company of newegg.

I'lll keep you posted...

 

[mikepod]

OK....
I got everything together.
Loaded Vista Ultimate and updated all mother board drivers.
Loaded PowerDVD that came with the Lite-on Bluray drive.
Tried to play a Bluray disk and all I got was the opening screen of the movie. The timer on the PowerDVD screen was updating as though the movie was playing, but the only Video I got was the opening shot. I did not have any speakers plugged in, so I can't tell you if the audio was working.

Any ideas?

 

[nvalhalla]

hdcp? what tv are you using?

 

[mikepod]

I finally got off my ass and got it running. Works great. I ran the HDMI off the mother board to the TV (Samsung LN-S4696D) I couldn't get audio to work on the HDMI. I didn't waste much time on it because the optical out port on the motherboard worked with no problems. I ran the optical out from MB right into the amp.

Bluray worked great on the optical drive. I also watched a bunch of stuff from Netflix on demand. Watched Heroes season 1 looked great, much better than I expected.

I ripped 1 bluray disk (Harry Potter) to the hard drive (AnyDVD HD). I couldn't figure out an easy way for PowerDVD to play it. There is a shipload of files on a Bluray disk. I wasn't sure what file to point to. I pointed to some in the "stream" directory, but it stuttered annoyingly on playback. Got to do some research there.

The screen looks great even as just a PC monitor.

All this with the onboard graphics.

Recommend this system to anyone! Prices have come down quite a bit since I originally bought the stuff.