mATX help

Godfather1138 · Jan 2, 2008

I am in the process of planning a SFF LAN build, but have no clue what chipsets I should be looking for on the mATX boards. I would like the keep the price as low as possible, and overclock-ability is not an issue as this will just be a back-up and LAN rig.

I will be putting my E6600 in this.

Please no ASUS suggestions as they are the reason this project is happening now, rather than later.

Godfather1138 · Jan 3, 2008

Nobody has ANY suggestions? Or did I rub everyone the wrong way by saying no ASUS?

ratbuddy · Jan 3, 2008

Not sure what you mean pricewise, but this is a good board on a budget..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128061

Personally, I'd take the step up for another $40 to the GA-G33M-DS2R. It's what I run, and it's the best mATX board you can buy at the moment, in my opinion at least. There's an Asus board with HDMI and S/PDIF built in that costs a little more, but I prefer the expansion layout of the Gigabyte board - the Asus goes PCIe x1, X16, x1, PCI. Gigabyte goes X16, PCI, PCI, X4 (open ended to accept x8 and x16 cards.) More useful IMHO.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128053

If you just want el-cheapo, try this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128078

If you want super-cheapo then here you go.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186135

Again, I highly recommend the G33M-DS2R.. Best mATX (or any format) board I've ever owned.

Evilsizer · Jan 3, 2008

ECS or a gigabyte board would fit the bill.. something with G33/G35 based and they do have some ocing features as well.

Godfather1138 · Jan 3, 2008

Didn't see this in time, but this is what a friend and I decided on:

MSI P6NGM-FIH

Feel free to bash me if I made a bad decision. The HDMI wasn't something I really cared for, but after thinking about it I thought it might come in handy if I ever make this a cheap HTPC.

Evilsizer · Jan 3, 2008

Godfather1138 said:
Didn't see this in time, but this is what a friend and I decided on:

MSI P6NGM-FIH

Feel free to bash me if I made a bad decision. The HDMI wasn't something I really cared for, but after thinking about it I thought it might come in handy if I ever make this a cheap HTPC.

nothing wrong with that board for a HTPC setup. the only down side i know of with nv7000 boards is the chipset can only do single channle memory. esc has some nice cheapies of those as well. comparing the amd vs intel 7000's i would say for a HTPC go the amd route since you get 4gigs of ram.

there are so many choices now for matx boards now a days. its hard to go wrong with a choice for one.

Godfather1138 · Jan 3, 2008

Crap, I didn't notice the single channel RAM issue. I was going to throw a set of Ballistix on it for now b/c they are just laying around. Unless dual is fine on a single board. I've never done it before so I don't know.

Evilsizer · Jan 3, 2008

really your not losing that much performance with single channle vs dual. the big gains with that were with P4 where they needed the extra ram bandwidth. Core 2 is so effective i dought for HTPC type of work , you will be hard pressed to notice. the only places i can see where it would be a bigger deal is with encoding A/V and 3d rendering. Just depends if this computer was for a biz where encoding is done all the time then i would tell ya to return it. since its not i wouldnt make to big a deal out of it, though some will. seems that when NV was doing the 7000's for intel cpus they couldnt get the memory controller to work correctly in dual channle mode.

ratbuddy · Jan 3, 2008

Godfather1138 said:
Didn't see this in time, but this is what a friend and I decided on:

MSI P6NGM-FIH

Feel free to bash me if I made a bad decision. The HDMI wasn't something I really cared for, but after thinking about it I thought it might come in handy if I ever make this a cheap HTPC.

Er, you gave us less than 24 hours to respond.. If it's not too late, cancel that and get this one instead..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188021

Same thing, better brand..

If it's too late, yeah, that'll do just fine if you aren't gonna put an add-on video card in it..

Godfather1138 · Jan 3, 2008

Why do you say if I'm not going add a video card? I plan on putting a 7950GX2 on it that is laying around here.

And sorry for the short notice, but there were about 8 active threads in here while I was waiting for a reply to this one. I needed this ordered today so I did what I had to.

Godfather1138 · Jan 3, 2008

I was looking back at the one I got, and it is listed as accepting dual channel. Am I missing something? Or are they just saying, it works, just not as dual channel?

ratbuddy · Jan 3, 2008

Godfather1138 said:
I was looking back at the one I got, and it is listed as accepting dual channel. Am I missing something? Or are they just saying, it works, just not as dual channel?

Odd, it says accepts dual channel on newegg's site, but I coulda swore I saw somewhere that 630i doesn't support it. Either way, you really won't be able to tell a difference between single and dual channel memory..

As far as the add-on video card, you already paid for integrated 7150 graphics. If you were gonna use an add-on card, might as well have gone with an Intel chipset with weaker integrated graphics..

The board you guys went with isn't horrible.. Just not optimal. I'd say it's 7/10 for the money, not bad at all..

Godfather1138 · Jan 3, 2008

Ok, you had me scared for a min. there. What you are trying to tell me though, is that I picked a great board for when I decide to turn this into a HTPC b/c I can remove my card and be very happy with the on board graphics for movies and such. Correct?

Evilsizer · Jan 3, 2008

i looked at the newegg posting no where does it say dual channle. i see where it says 2x240pin dimms, now if that board had dual channel the dimm slots would not be the same color, they would be different colors.

as far as the HDMI though, you should know that you can only use that with the onboard graphics. if you want HDMI from the 7950GX2 you will need a adapter.

imo the 7000 is a good choice for a HTPC setup, i want to test one to see if it has the unlinked mode for ram.

Godfather1138 said:
Ok, you had me scared for a min. there. What you are trying to tell me though, is that I picked a great board for when I decide to turn this into a HTPC b/c I can remove my card and be very happy with the on board graphics for movies and such. Correct?

for video playback both will be the same but the ability to oc the 7950GX2 is a good thing. In that from past test Purevideo from NV relays more on GPU speed then the number of pipes or shaders. since i dont have one to mess with, i dunno if the onboard graphics can be oced. would be neat if you could....

Godfather1138 · Jan 3, 2008

I was saying that in the specs there is a line "dual channel supported: yes"

as far as the HDMI though, you should know that you can only use that with the onboard graphics. if you want HDMI from the 7950GX2 you will need a adapter.

Yes, I know this. I was talking about using the hdmi if i decide to make it a htpc, and remove the GX2.

ratbuddy · Jan 3, 2008

Godfather1138 said:
Ok, you had me scared for a min. there. What you are trying to tell me though, is that I picked a great board for when I decide to turn this into a HTPC b/c I can remove my card and be very happy with the on board graphics for movies and such. Correct?

Sorta. The EVGA woulda been a greater board for HTPC just cause it's cheaper and from a more reputable manufacturer. I woulda thought maybe they were both made by the same OEM 'cept that the PCB sizes listed are a little different.

But yeah, removing the video card, that mobo could still feed a HDTV quite nicely. Decent HTPC board, for sure.

Godfather1138 · Jan 3, 2008

and I would have gone with the EVGA had I seen it. I was looking at the EVGS and for some reason the ones it was showing me were considerably higher priced. Oh well, thats what happens when you are pressed for time.

mATX help

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