Chipsets difference - inbuilt 720p vs PCI card

[lmartinefc]

Hi,

I have the choice of two motherboards, with very different video options. The first one (which I think I will choose) has the desired 4 x SATA port, with inbuilt RAID (will mainly be used for data etc) but only has a VGA. It does however offer a 32-bit PCI expansion slot (so I could put in my own low profile graphics card, 128mb) :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GIGABYTE-NM10-ATOM-D510-1-66GHz-M-ITX-OBS-OBV-GbE-NEW-/180491647469?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Motherboards_CPUs&hash=item2a0623f9ed - £85

OR

The second board offers no PCI, but does offer a PCI-E x1 (no graphics cards for this) and offers two mini PCI-e (which are useless, unless you going to install a slow chip SSD) but it does offer HDMI...which is limited to 720p...hmmm whats the point in that?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191719 - £105 + £9.99 shipping = £114.99

I am using a widescreen 22" monitor that is full 1080p HD. Which mobo would be best...the cheaper one, with a low profile DVI graphics card (i'm guessing this will output in true 1080p, says the max resolution is 1600*1200) or the more expensive zotac, that has no PCI (so limited expansion) but does have a PCI-e x1 and 720p?

The 720p would not allow to run at a HD resolution above this, but the PCI card on the cheaper MOBO would? (as it offers up to 1600*1200)...or can someone please educate me, not my strong suite! I can't imagine a new mobo would limit its output to 720p

Can someone please comment on the in-built chipset in each and see what the best choice for me is. Mainly data I use but I do watch films etc.

 

[rolli59]

This one has an acceptable VGA solution in ION http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173797

 

[lmartinefc]

Yes I have been looking at the Atom 330 instead of the D510...as they come with the ION chipset, native HDMI output etc....and offer RAID and DDR3 RAM. It seems the 330 has been developed alot more than the (newer) d510.

The only advantage of the d510 is the fact it offers hyper threading (so looks like 4 logical processors to the OS). Would i notice much (if any) of a performance increase over the 330?

It barely beats it in benchmarks, and i'm sure the ION would more than make up for the lack of HT

 

[lmartinefc]

Reviews have even said the 330 / ION combo beats the D510 / NM10 in most 'real world' tests...and can even play games on it. Although when doing benchmarks, the D510 has more raw power (but only a little).

So thinking for a better display, better gaming and better overall experience I should go with one of these bad boys (also comes with PCI and RAID...so I lose hyper threading but gain Nvidia ION) :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330397253028

 

[rolli59]

That is the reason I threw that at you. My son has a ASUS netbook with the 330 ION combination and he is very happy with it. (It plays his EVE online)

 

[lmartinefc]

bought an ASRock A330ION...plus a case...old HDD....nice setup for £135. Even has dual channel DDR3!! now to overclock to 2.1Ghz...any help??