Max Builds an HTPC Part III: The Motherboard

Posted By: Max Zuckerman | Nov 21st, 2008 @ 12:37 PM | 24,178 Views | 25 Comments

Formats:

It seems that you all have strongly leaned towards the Intel camp for this HTPC build… although I’m not sure I’d totally discount AMD for this space, your arguments are sound and we’ll continue on this premise.

Some of you think the Core i7 is the place to be, but there seem to be more of you recommending we stick to the Core 2 Duo/Quad which I think makes the most sense as well.

So, time to choose the motherboard!

Your pointers:

Stick with Intel, the chipset is up to you
Consider the board’s capabilities… specifically if it can be passively cooled (no fans) or if it will require a honkin’ big fan which may be a source of noise
Power requirements… do you want something that’s hungry or light on the power needs? Remember, this may be on considerably more than your normal PC (although I admit my PC is on considerably more than the average person’s, haha)

Ooook… hit it!

Tags: max builds a pc series, maxbuildsMediaCenter, motherboard

Rating:

Lloyd_Humph2

If you stick to a 775 socket (rather than the i7 socket) then the Asus P5Q seems decent. I plan to get one for my rig, it's got a slew of ports and 8 SATA sockets with RAID - perfect for a media center. It also has two PCI-E 2 slots, and plenty of those internal expansion, for video cards, tuners and sound cards. It's ATX, which means it should fit in most of the suggested cases too. Plus, plenty of RAM slots, for some extra memory - even if 4 is standard, I figure I'm supposed to /sell/ a product here, not try and make you hate it Tongue Out

DylanC
Loving Vista

As Lloyd Humph said, the P5Q sounds nice.

You can't go wrong with 8 SATA ports in a Media Center. When it comes to a media center, I want to have as much hard drive space as possible.

ElusiveEagle519

For my Quad-core beast I just built, I found the Asus P5K Deluxe offered one of the best price/components ratios. I have also had great experiences with Asus, so really any Asus P5 series board will do the trick nicely for a good price. The P5K Deluxe specifically comes with LGA 775, 1333/1066MHz FSB, Intel P35 chipset with Intel ICH9R, up to 8GB dual-channel DDR2 1066 MHz (4x240 pin), 2 PCI Express (1 @ x16, 1 @ x4), 8-channel audio, SATA, ATX, and 24-pin power. This board also has 8 SATA sockets.

Qwerty

If this is supposed to be an HTPC, I would go with intel DG45IG, actually I think is the one pictured above. It has integrated HDMI, 8 Channel Audio, Gigabit, etc... And remember, this is supposed to run cool, as it is an HTPC and not a Gaming PC, so I'd keep the integrated graphics, a core 2 duo 7200, 4GB of memory and a large disk, or two smaller ones in raid 0. As for the price difference between the core 2 duo and other pricier CPU people wanted to use, I would use it to build a Home Server PC, that would keep all my recorded TV in Media Center, my movies and my music and would also backup all my computers around the house.

Lloyd_Humph
Somewhat eviler than Skeletor

In reply to Qwerty

#Nov 22nd, 2008 @ 4:53 AM

Well, if it's a media center, it would have some decent gaming abilities. Media includes games, remember. A nice 3870x2/4870. I've got a 3850 in this, handles really nicely. And it was cheap! Smiley

Qwerty

Actually, I don't have an HTPC, I have what I like to call a Media Server, that is a computer with Windows Vista Ultimate, Two TV Tuners, 4GB and a small 120GB Hard Drive, that sits in a room, next to my HomeServer. All my recorded TV is automatically copied to My HomeServer (which has 1,5TB disk space). So the Media Server and the Home Server, are serving an Xbox 360 (second one coming soon), 3 notebooks and a XP Media Center desktop. So all the gaming is done in the Xbox 360. In my current setup, I don't need a graphics card at all. And By the way, the 360 is connected to a beautiful 37" LG Full HD Smiley

campusK0der

In reply to Lloyd_Humph

#Nov 22nd, 2008 @ 5:13 AM

I agree, sounds like a nice board and something along the lines of ATI 3850, I am a hardcore NVidea fan, but color reproduction and sheer history of Video targeted cards, ATI range sounds like a winner too.

8SATA ports is where you want to be aswell.

So my vote is for the ASUS P5* series boards

cameron

a word from the weary i have found asus, and mobos in general, to be a mixed bag so check all the reviews u can; before u buy

aeoth

In reply to Lloyd_Humph

#Nov 22nd, 2008 @ 5:13 AM

Well, its a 'home theater PC', with theater implying more along the lines of video in the form of movies or tv, rather than games.

The G45 chipset (that used in the DG45IG) works well for the intended use of h264/VC1 accelerated decoding from my testing, although apparently it has issues with HDMI repeaters, and picture quality - not that i have noticed.