GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H HDMI Motherboard--2 questions

[chopsuey2468]

Hi there, I have two quick questions about this motherboard.

1. In the feed back section on newegg people say there is no optical drive option. Is this true? So I can't use DVD/CD burner/player? Is there a better option that has optical drive?

2. I will be using a 32' 720 LCD TV as a moniter, and doing lots of streaming video and picture and video editing/burning. Will the on board graphics card be ok for that big of a screen(I will be playing a few games as well, but am not picky about great resolution or anything, as long as on lowest settings is playable)? Or should i buy an additional one?

link to motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128458


Buying in 2 weeks, ~600$ budget, here is my plan:


Processor
- AMD Athlon II X3 445 Rana 3.1GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX445WFGMBOX


Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard




RAM
- Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3B1K2/4GX


Power Supply
APEX AL-D500EXP 500W ATX12V Power Supply




Hard Drive
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive



cd/dvd player/burner
- ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM


Case - tbd




Any comments, critiques or anything would be awesome, my first build and am really new to this stuff, but spent the last week pouring over guides, stickies, and FAQ's.

 

[rolli59]

It has both PATA and SATA connectors, that is what optical drives need!
If you are casual gamer then I suggest at minimum HD5670 or GT240 GPU the onboard is not good for any gaming.
The PSU selected is crap here is a couple of cheap options http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194038
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139017

 

[bilbat]

What they are referring to on the Egg reviews is has nothing to do with optical drives, they are talking about the lack of an optical audio output from the on-board sound system. Here's a pic of an optical (TosLink) cable, with a pack of smokes for an idea of scale:

..and here's some info on the hookup. These are generally found on medium to high-end audio equipment, like a home theater 5.1 or 7.1 setup.

You'll find a pretty comprehensive test/review of the 4250 graphics core included in the 880G here.

I agree with rolli; your power supply is a major backbone of your system - you don't want to scrimp there... I often mention the fact that people who build their own systems tend to get a longer service life from them than folks who go with pre-configured setups from say, Dell or HP - they don't generally give the ipression that they're obsolete due to more demanding operating systems and programs as fast - but that requires that you have a PSU that will live a long life, and will have a bit of 'extra juice' for whatever gizmo pops up in a year or two that you just can't live without. IMHO the place to go for power supply reviews is JonnyGURU...

 

[chopsuey2468]

Thanks, this really helps a lot. I'm going to go with a better power supply for sure then, along w/a graphics card. So I don't have anything to worry about with the optical audio output if i'm just using an hdmi? Thanks again!

 

[walterm]

The Optical Out (or In) is mostly obsolete as it only carried stereo signals, and only to a stereo/home theatre receiver supplied with the "right" connection. Has nothing to do with HMDI.
It is intented as the "perfect" way to transfer digital signals without distortion, like optical phone lines. With the present digital chips its a purest affectation.
Check for combo deals, motherboard/ram, etc. Will you need Operating System?