plz recommend: mATX with HDMI

So one of my mothers closest friends called me the other day saying he was in the market for a computer. He's never had one before, but is very keen and a fast learner. The only requirements he has of the machine are that it can rip and store his DVD collection, burn DVD's and edit video. He will be getting an LCD monitor to go along with the PC, but he would also like to be able to set it up on his HDTV via HDMI.

Small problem is he lives in Vancouver, I live in Winnipeg. About 2300kms away. I'll be ordering the parts and having them shipped here, doing most of the build, then shipping him one box, so it flat out needs to work.

My requirements of the mobo are as such:

- onboard video with PCI-E slot
- at least 2 pci slots
- onboard 5.1 sound
- HDMI output
- DDR2
- preferably an Intel chipset with some OC options
- S/PDIF a plus
- mATX
- DVI

Price isn't a huge factor, but I'd like to stay under $100 if possible.

Let me know if I'm out of my element here, thanks.

*edit*

After reading through this thread, it seems I am way off on price for these features. Should I be aiming more at $150? Really like the look of the P5E-VM HDMI, will have to do some thinking on the price and the single PCI slot. Opinions still wanted.

i would skip the P5E simply because its G33/G35... you linked to a thread where i posted a newegg link to the Gigabyte G43/G45 boards with the features your after. i would post up 2 others from newegg but neither seem to have ocing features. one being the asrock g43HD board and the other a Supermicro. i would suggest one of these 2 but if you still want to stay at $100 or close then this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128354
or if you want for under $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128353

now keep in mind the G45 comes with the HD video chip. which does Bluray hardware decoding.

Thanks Evil, much appreciated.

I think I am sold on either one of those. Besides the aforementioned HD chip, is Intel Raid the only difference between the G45 and G43?

I am trying to think of a use for the HD chip. I can't see my mothers friend putting a Bluray drive in any time soon, any other applications you can think of that may put it to use?

Thanks again

yea thats it, i forget it had raid on the G45. well the G43 would still be able to do dvd hw playback since that was added a while ago. if she isnt doing much with the box then G43, but then i would ask why not set her up with a Atom box? like this asus pc, everything she needs minus the monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220002 <--black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220001 <--white
both only $349, i would how ever pick up another 1gig so-dimm since they come with 1gig of ram for XP.

Yeah, those are real nice, and would actually work well for my mother.

My mothers friend however would not tolerate such an emasculated machine. He is new to computers, but he has done some video editing at a friends house who knows what he's doing, so he's had a taste of what's possible. He's got a brand new digital video camera so video editing is a top priority.

So far the build on paper looks like so:

e2160
GA-EG43M-S2H
2GB OCZ Plat
Hitachi Deskstar P7K500GB
Samsung 203S DVD
Corsair 450VX
Silverstone Sugo SG02B

Comes to about $540 with taxes and shipping. Keeping in mind I'm in Canada and prices are always a bit higher up here, I think It's pretty good. For sure I'll be on the lookout for deals to bring the price down further and I am always open to suggestion.

*edit* also wanted to add that I will be clocking this machine for him. It should sit nicely at 333fsb for 2997mhz.

will you be ordering from NCIX then? whats the target in terms of money spent and the type of usage beyond video editing?

Yeah, ordering from NCIX. Prices are good, shipping is decent, and I only get 1 tax (5% general sales tax, no 7% provincial sales tax).

Basically, there is no set budget, but I get the impression he wants to keep everything under say $800-900 with a monitor that he'll get locally.

The computer will be used as an everyday internet/email box, eventually a PVR, video editing, photo manipulation (not heavy Photoshop stuff, but he does have a camera that can shoot in RAW, so there will be some of that), and to rip/store/play his DVD collection (or parts of it). He's the adventurous sort, so I could see him trying all kinds of things, but I don't see him as being much of a gamer.

then the only changes i can see is going with the G45. as you said he is adventurous and may want bluray support down the road maybe? on the ram you choose is that cas4 or cas5. if you simply go PC2-6400 get the cas4 over cas5, trust me it will make a difference. i would suggest then also switching from the E2160 to the E7200 at least. for the small cost difference if his proggies can use SSSE 4 instructions. your talking 15mins cut from encoding just from using SSSE4. then to further increase performance stick to a small oc for him at 333fsb then watch him smile at a uber fast small box. the cost should only go up roughly 100,maybe closer to 80.

the sound chip on the board from what i have read supports DD pass thru on the optical output. been a while i may be thinking of another board, need to double check. if not a good add-in card for just that feature isnt much cost, can use usb.

I could go with the G45 and stay on budget. At NCIX it's about a $30 diff I think.

The E7200 would be another $50. Again, not the end of the world.

Ram is CAS4 no doubt.

A sound card was in the cards down the line. That's why I needed 2 PCI slots, was thinking one for sound if needed, one for a capture card.

What have the e7200's been clocking like on default volts?

well later ones have been getting worse at tring to hit little over 3ghz. i blame that on E7300's coming out, maybe you get lucky! either that or pick up a E7200/E8400 from the classies. either way i dont see why the E7200 cant do 333fsb to match the E8500 in clock speed.

Cool, I'll have to convince him to let me try my hand at one.

Thanks again for your help and advice.

just remember Padmods on gigabyte boards = NO NO. they wont take the new fsb from pad modding is what im saying. its what i would use if giving someone a oced box and didnt want to run over everytime they had to reset the cmos, LOL. there are some asus boards but only one PCI slot the other is PCIE 1x. Creative and some others do now have PCIE x1 sounds cards, though i would prolly use a usb one first.

I just did something like this for someone.
P5Q-VM is a nice board. 7.1 onboard, no need for sound card.

did this for $636 before tax and ship, all from Newegg.
ASUS P5Q-EM LGA 775 Intel G45 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
LITE-ON Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-16D3S-04
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-05
APEVIA X-QPACK2-BK/500 Black Aluminum Body/ Front Mask MicroATX Case 500W

turned out to be a very nice system.