matx x58 ... now or wait

[bbq]

My current HTPC is failing in all sorts of wierd ways, and the wife is losing patience.

I an considering rebuilding it from scratch with an i7-920... but I am limited to a mATX form factor.

with ASUS and DFI having mATX boards, do I go with one of these (which one?) or wait for the x58 mATX boards from the other makers to come out.

I want the PCIe-4 for the DVB-S card, and would look at re-using the 4670 in one of the PCIe 16 slots.

The single PCI slot might be used for a NOVA-t-500 dual DVB-T card... if needed.

My aim is to run Vista ... or possibly test out the win7 beta.
cheers

[Infinite]

If your just using it to watch TV, then you seriously dont need the raw power the Core i7 has.

A £120 Intel/AMD build should handly it easily.

<waits for CAT-THE-FIFTH copy-paste job, LOL>

[staffsMike]

AMD is your friend

Nice 780G and X&#163; 720BE will do you nicely if you want a lot of power. A low power x2 will do for an HTPC though.

[bbq]

If your just using it to watch TV, then you seriously dont need the raw power the Core i7 has.

Good point - Currently I run an Athlon x2 4500. this does ok, but I was thinking about HD reception/recording - plus DVD encoding, and envisage it struggling.

part of the reason for my question was ... do I go overkill now ... or buy something inbetween now and potentially upgrade in 2 years time.

cheers

[staffsMike]

You are describing the above AMD system. Cheap and powerful with the X3 black edition

[bbq]

Thanks

Do you have any specific recommendations for mATX boards...
cheers

[staffsMike]

This is what I would have
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150278

Comes with every video output you can imagine, VGA, DVI, HDMI and Displayport

[Infinite]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...che-95W-Retail

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...SATA-RAID-uATX

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-(...d-CAS-5-5-5-18

SOmething like this?

[scaryjim]

If you're a power-hungry mad-person, then you probably want a Biostar TA790GX XE. It's a 790GX board (so faster graphics core), has sideport memory, and of course has that infamous SB750 that can *potentially* unlock the fourth core of a Phenom II X3. At only &#163;77 it's an absolute bargain (just don't buy them all, I want one!)

[bbq]

Any reason you wouldn't go with the MSI/AMD Maui motherbaord? MSI 7411?

(just asking - I think you have convinced me the phenom is plenty enough, and the 780G/790GX Motherboards look great.)

cheers

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

<waits for CAT-THE-FIFTH copy-paste job, LOL>

staffsMike and scaryjim beat me to it by a day!!

I would definietly go for the Phenom X3 720 and the ASUS M3A78-EM. The Phenom II has very low idle power consumption too.

The ASUS M3A78-EM has DVI,HDMI,Displayport and VGA outputs:

http://www.asus.com/Product.aspx?P_ID=KjpYqzmAd9vsTM2D



The Biostar mATX also looks to be really nice for the money too:

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en-us/...n.php?S_ID=375

It has plenty of display outputs too!!



http://www.canardpc.com/news-28577-B...2_integre.html

[bbq]

hehehe

I am getting the message ... so another quick question (since ASUS website is not very helpful for comparing features.)

What is the difference between the M3A78 and the M4A78 ... I am assuming the M3A vs M3N is AMD chipset vs NVidia Chipset... (EDIT: duh .. just seen the M4A78's are all full ATX ... so this question is mute)

and then in each of these, there seem to be various flavours like -VM or -EM or -CM ... any significant differences? they are all the same price (+/- &#163;5 or so)

at &#163;40 quid more would the Phenom II X4 920 work? or does it simply not add enough to the X3 720?

Cheers

[staffsMike]

-EM seems to be the best.

I have a 780V -VM though which is very nice indeed quality wise. I would get the -EM now though.

The 4th core wont do a lot for you I dont think, The X3 seems to hit higher clocks and uses less power so that would be ideal for an HTPC which also needs some grunt for encoding etc..

[bbq]

-EM seems to be the best.

I have a 780V -VM though which is very nice indeed quality wise. I would get the -EM now though.

Has the advantage that eBuyer has this on rapid delivery option ... if I'm quick

Saying that they don't have the 720 only the 920 on the same delivery plan.

cheers

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would stick with the Phenom II X3 720. The Biostar 790GX has faster integrated graphics though and it maybe able to unlock your CPU to a quad core if you are lucky!!