Asus E45M1-I DELUXE

[Alistair]

Thinking about this board for my HTPC.

Anyone using a dual core fusion setup for a HTPC?

Wondering if this would be capable for HD TV Recording, 3d & bluray playback & 1080 mkv playback?

I have a slightly more powerful system atm ( see Alistair's System opposite). However, would really like to try a completely silent & if possible smaller footprint.

Any thoughts?

[Redsharan4]

Alistair,

I hope I can answer part of your question here!

I am using the E35M1-I Deluxe, or its predessesor(Spelling!)

This is the only Motherboard to fulfill my HTPC needs.
I've tried I3 (65WTDP) with ASUS ITX Mobo with no success and ZOTAC H67 (2nd Gen LGA 1155 CPU I3 2120) and all have failed (Not Major) but working with Windows Media Centre..

Blu Ray Discs and Streamed HD content is flawless in my opinion, I have four Test benchmarked HTPC, and even at a CPU of 1.6Ghz dual, it is the only one.

I can record HDTV (BBC1 HD, ITV1HD and CH4 HD) with no issues.(TBS6891 S2 Sat card) USB HDTV stick (PCTV T2).

So I am looking forward to the release of this Mobo, if its predessesor is this good then the E45M1-I Deluxe Must be good, (Thinks this offers HDMI 1.4a as well so will support 3D TV...

HOPE that Helps..

Stuart..

[Alistair]

Thats some really good feedback thanks Stuart

It will have to be HDMI 1.4a for me to give it a go.

Just really like the idea of low power & silent. Don't get me wrong my current setup works great but would like to try amd again.. its been a while

[Redsharan4]

Alistair,

Hi again, just wanted to add some additional info:

That's my next step for HTPC, the nice thing about the ASUS is the passive heatsink, the only noise I have is the PSU fan, (using Thermaltakes Q elements mini ITX case, but plan to move it to one of Antecs ISK300 150W case in silver. I think noise could be improved by changing PSU FAN or reducing FAN speed using a diode etc. E35/45 uses 18watts only , so not compromising PSU too much.

The problems found with other Mobo was heat! Using WMC(Win7) I found that switching between Blu Ray Playback and live TV caused jittering on the picture resetting WMC cleared the problem.

Also transition from WMC applications i.e. Live TV, Music, Photos was rubbish.
Lots of little niddly problems occuring that required resets.

I think one of the main issues is probably the integrated GPU with Clarkedale, and Sandybridge I3 weren't up to the task..

Will keep you posted as things progress:

Cheers again ..

Stuart..

[Alistair]

Cheers Stuart Look forward to more feedback. I use dvbviewer pro to do my recording duties & potplayer to playback the recordings

[Alistair]

Managed to get one of these & am running it now. More than capable for my needs & does 3d bluray without issue.