Questions on Micro ITX boards

[yannifb]

OK ive never worked with micro itx boards, and i want your opinions on this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153173&Tpk=mini%20itx%20785

Which will be put in this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112227&cm_re=lian_li-_-11-112-227-_-Product

The purpose of this is a small form factor HTPC with 2 gigs of ram, which brings us to the problem. Where are the ram slots on that board? It says it uses 200 pin SO-DIMM ram (does that inhibit performance?). It may be because ive never worked with so dimm or micro itx boards, but i cant seem to find the slots.

Also if anyone knows of another micro ITX 785g board please point it out

 

[mindless728]

OK ive never worked with micro itx boards, and i want your opinions on this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153173&Tpk=mini%20itx%20785

Which will be put in this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112227&cm_re=lian_li-_-11-112-227-_-Product

The purpose of this is a small form factor HTPC with 2 gigs of ram, which brings us to the problem. Where are the ram slots on that board? It says it uses 200 pin SO-DIMM ram (does that inhibit performance?). It may be because ive never worked with so dimm or micro itx boards, but i cant seem to find the slots.

Also if anyone knows of another micro ITX 785g board please point it out

look in picture 3 on newegg, the gray bar (thin rectangle) is the slot, the sticks are mounted parallel with the board (and they stack, one is below the other)
there shouldn't be a performance hit, its just the laptop ram size as opposed to using the desktop (to reduce size)

personally i'm not a big jetway fan, but there really isn't much choice for AMD in this form factor, though if you really want to go AMD, maybe try to up the form factor to micro ATX

have you considered going with an intel based HTPC (there are a few mini ITX LGA1156 boards), and they usually have a full pci-e slot for expansion (not pci or pci-e x1), and the onboard of the new cpu's would be plenty for an HTPC

Intel Board and CPU
Intel BOXDH57JG LGA 1156 Intel H57 HDMI
Intel Pentium G6950

 

[mindless728]

The G6950 is BAD, even the Phenom X2 555/Athlon X2 255 beats it.

Better off getting an E6500 and a G45 board.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116093
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500049

or a i3 530 + H55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115222&cm_re=i3_530-_-19-115-222-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500043&cm_re=Intel_ITX-_-13-500-043-_-Product

in what, gaming, no crap, for HTPC it would be plenty, mine is running an Athlon II X2 240 and i get no frame lose

 

[yannifb]

look in picture 3 on newegg, the gray bar (thin rectangle) is the slot, the sticks are mounted parallel with the board (and they stack, one is below the other)
there shouldn't be a performance hit, its just the laptop ram size as opposed to using the desktop (to reduce size)

personally i'm not a big jetway fan, but there really isn't much choice for AMD in this form factor, though if you really want to go AMD, maybe try to up the form factor to micro ATX

have you considered going with an intel based HTPC (there are a few mini ITX LGA1156 boards), and they usually have a full pci-e slot for expansion (not pci or pci-e x1), and the onboard of the new cpu's would be plenty for an HTPC

Intel Board and CPU
Intel BOXDH57JG LGA 1156 Intel H57 HDMI
Intel Pentium G6950

Hmmmm... that Intel board is actually really nice. And if that Pentium's IGP is as good as the 4200 then i may switch to this... you think a 220W PSU is enough for that mobo and PSU?

 

[mindless728]

if its a good 220w PSU, then yes, but why not get one that has a bit more power in case you want to add more, and this should be easy since the case supports standard ATX boards

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W

its $45, and probably much better quality than the 22w you are thinking of

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-x2-555,2540.html
Have Fun.

Table of contents
* 1 – AMD's New CPU Portfolio And The New Phenom II X2 555
* 2 – The New AMD CPUs: Speed Bumps For Free
* 3 – Clash Of The $100 Dual-Core Titans
* 4 – How Not To Overclock A Clarkdale
* 5 – Test Systems And Benchmarks
* 6 – Benchmark Results: Synthetics
* 7 – Benchmark Results: Encoding/Productivity
* 8 – Benchmark Results: Gaming
* 9 – Power And Temperature Benchmarks
* 10 – Conclusion

hmmmm, i don't see HTPC tasks in there (maybe encoding, i doubt he will be doing it on this machine), then there is also the form factor he wants, AMD doesn't really have anything good in the mini ITX form factor

if it was micro ATX, i would agree that AMD would be better (cheaper) and probably slightly better IGP (nothing worth writing home about though)

 

[yannifb]

Ok now that i look again the e6500 combination looks good, if it handles blu ray fine. The only problem is the Intel system is a bit more expensive, since the Athlon II x2 240 is $52 (OEM-i have an extra AM3 cooler). Then again the intel mobo has built in wifi... Aagh im confused

 

[yannifb]

if its a good 220w PSU, then yes, but why not get one that has a bit more power in case you want to add more, and this should be easy since the case supports standard ATX boards

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W

its $45, and probably much better quality than the 22w you are thinking of

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112227&cm_re=lian_li-_-11-112-227-_-Product <- this case supports micro atx?

And now im leaning toward those intel ITX boards... they are much simpler.

Now, should it be the e6500 and this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500049&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

Or the G6950 and this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121401&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

 

[mindless728]

You could drop down to a E3300 and save some, the performance difference isnt That big if you are only doing HD playback.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116264

that is not a bad choice, though i don't know how good the GMA 4500 is HTPC since they revamped it and added a lot of HTPC features to the newer IGP in the Clarkdale series

though there are some NV 9300 boards that are better than the GMA 4500 for HTPC

 

[mindless728]

he GMA4500HD handles bluray just fine though.

wouldn't know, i never used one (or even read a review on the 4500, but i have seen a review of the new IGP vs the AMD IGP's and it fairs pretty good)

 

[mindless728]

I have the mobile one in my laptop and it handles h.264 and 1080P in general perfectly, with CPU utilization in the 15%-20% range..

good to know, my laptops have had discrete chips (GeForce 4 Go 420, Radeon Mobility x1600, Radeon Mobility HD5650)

@OP, i would use the E3300 and an mini ITX board with the GMA4500

 

[yannifb]

good to know, my laptops have had discrete chips (GeForce 4 Go 420, Radeon Mobility x1600, Radeon Mobility HD5650)

@OP, i would use the E3300 and an mini ITX board with the GMA4500

The 1mb less of l2 cache won't have any big perf hit? If not im going with the e3300

Also, one last thing

Can anyone recommend ram for this board?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500049&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=