Motherboard for HTPC

[svegus]

Trying to put together a HTPC for the family. Needs to fit he LianLi "silver box" case. Should be MicroATX.

Needs to have DVI, if possible also HDMI output.
Coax and Toslink or one or the other.

Built in Graphics card able to play 1080 high quality bitrate and BluRay content. (Not sure on this one, might be worthwhile getting 3rd party card) Most important is that is quiet, cannot have its own fan as it must be as quiet as possible.

Have been trying to figure out if AMD or Intel is the way to go, AMDs Phenom x4 quad core at 65W is seems good due to low heat dissapation. Any comments? Might there be new ones just up and coming I havent heard of that would be even better suited for this task?

I would appreciate any comments!

Thanks,

Sven

 

[saran008]

For CPU go for AMD Athlon X4 630 - Best for HTPC Purpose & Good VFM (Far better than Phenom II X4 XXXe Series)
For mobo GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
--with HDMI Output & Inbuilt ATI Radeon 4200 Graphics card which solves your HTPC purpose w/o adding extra GPU.
(Go for Gigabyte site GA-MA785GMT-UD2Hfor more specifications)

Hope this helps you.

 

[rwpritchett]

What's your budget? An AMD 785G setup as suggested will do just fine, though the new Intel Clarkdale processors plus H55/H57 chipsets are now the HTPC must have combo.

Here's an excellent combo on newegg for only $195:

ASUS P7H55-M PRO LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80616I3530 - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.323340

 

[Dougie Fresh]

The core i3-530/H55 mobo combination is cheaper that what I paid for my Phenom II X3 705e / Gigabyte 785G mobo combination right before the end of December. There's no doubt in my mind that if I'd waited a month that's what I'd have built instead. You're looking at over $150 alone for a AMD quad-core 65W "e" processor. Last time I looked the 605e was $185.

 

[Guest]

All these comments have been of great help budget is not such an issue at the moment, but its great to have the different options to compare with, I suppose that performance wise these platform are similar.

My next choice is what harddrive to use. Of course it needs to be as quiet at possible but I also need have a drive that is as fast as possible

 

[rwpritchett]

Well, if you truly want the fastest and quietest with no objections on price, you can't beat a SSD for OS/apps plus a large mechanical media drives.

Or, you can just get a large Samsung F3 which will save you money and are among the quietest and fastest mechanical drives.

 

[saran008]

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 - 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive is the best choice for a HTPC build.
It is the best quiet & fast HDD out there

 

[Dougie Fresh]

If my budget were "unlimited" (hah hah) I would still go Core i5/H55 or H57 right now for both the features (7.1 bitstreaming w/o a discrete video card) and, important to me, fewer parts. I'd put my money into a nice case, high quality efficient PSU and good wireless keyboard/remote. With how technology changes, especially in the HT world, I'd want the best bang for my buck so every year or two when I am refreshing the insides of my HTPC I don't feel like I am throwing money away. Spend money on the parts that won't become obsolete and get the best bang for your buck on the parts that will but still have all the features you want for today.