Biostar H61 ITX mobo $56 AR FS

[Zap]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138327

Biostar TH61 motherboard

$79.99
-$14 instant discount
-$10 rebate (exp.10/12)
FREE shipping
=$55.99

Intel H61 chipset for desktop Sandy Bridge CPUs
4x SATA II
USB 3.0 (including front headers!)
mini ITX form factor
PCIe x16 slot

This looks pretty nice for a cheap HTPC. Pair it with a Celeron G530** for a nice $110 mobo/CPU combo.

**Celeron G530 is a dual core Sandy Bridge CPU like the Core i3, but at lower 2.4GHz, 2MB instead of 3MB cache, no QuickSync for the integrated graphics (similar 3D performance to HD 2000), no Turbo and no Hyperthreading.

 

[DaveSimmons]

> Pair it with a Celeron G530

^ that would make a great media playback combo, a 2.4 GHz SB should be fast enough for decoding any HD content that the HD2000 GPU can't do in hardware.

Not as low-power as an AMD E-350 but much faster for software decoding and also better for general use. Much, much faster than a puny Atom.

 

[Zap]

Not as low-power as an AMD E-350

You'd be surprised. The 65W TDP is for ALL the desktop Sandy Bridge CPUs, even the top end ones with HD 3000 graphics and a gigahertz faster. Heck, had a system running a desktop 7200RPM HDD with a Core i5-2500K and was web browsing around 27W. I think a slower dual core Sandy Bridge would be within spitting distance.

I'll find out! I ordered this motherboard, and ordered a Celeron G530 from eWiz/SuperBiiz for $48 (coupon code FALLSALE for $5 off).

I've got an Asus and a Sapphire E-350 ITX boards to test against.

 

[SirJangly]

> Pair it with a Celeron G530

^ that would make a great media playback combo, a 2.4 GHz SB should be fast enough for decoding any HD content that the HD2000 GPU can't do in hardware.

Not as low-power as an AMD E-350 but much faster for software decoding and also better for general use. Much, much faster than a puny Atom.

I built this mobo + celeron g530 last night, and it handles 1080p like a champ.

 

[jalaram]

Which is better: this h61 or the Foxconn h67 here?

 

[Zap]

Which is better: this h61 or the Foxconn h67 here?

Not considering price, which can change depending on the deals...

The Foxconn board has SATA 6G on two ports, plus one SATA II port, plus one eSATA port. Potentially it can take a bigger CPU cooler while using a graphics card, but with Sandy Bridge and no overclocking who needs a bigger cooler than stock?

The Biostar board has four SATA II ports. It also has a VGA output (if you need such a thing), plus optical SPDIF, plus USB 3.0 (including headers). It also touts potentially higher end audio.

I think the big issue is do you want SATA 6G or USB 3.0.

 

[mikeford]

Hard to predict how useful USB 3.0 is going to be, OTOH HTPC doesn't put much of a demand on drives. I've been trying to stay with AMD, but I guess I have to look into this one.

 

[Zap]

Well, got my Biostar board in. Anyone else order one? I'm still waiting on the CPU from eWiz.

 

[rbk123]

What CPU are you going to plop into it?

 

[Zap]

I mentioned it in my second post, a Celeron G530. It is a dual core Sandy Bridge CPU. Think of it as a Core i3 2100, but a couple hundred MHz less, 2MB cache instead of 3MB and no HyperThreading. Oh yeah, and no QuickSync.

 

[Zap]

Just tested the motherboard and CPU (Celeron G530) and it works. BIOS is old school, but does have a neat fan calibration that tells you (but doesn't fill in for you) optimal values. I had some Adata low voltage RAM and it doesn't detect properly, runs at 1067MHz instead of 1333MHz, and CAS 7 instead of CAS 9. I don't know what it is doing for voltages; RAM says 1.25-1.35V on the label.

Not too shabby for $104 after rebate for mobo+CPU. The miniscule retail box cooler keeps the CPU cool enough and is very quiet around 1000RPM with just a bit of fan ticking from both that and the Seasonic 300W SFX PSU I have it hooked up to. Once inside a case and in a typical environment, I'd say that this combo would be completely inaudible for most people.

EDIT: Just looked at the rebate form and I have to say that it is rather draconian. You have to fill in the rebate AS WELL AS register on their site. You have to cut out the whole barcode section of the box, not just the UPC. Also, you have to write certain information on the back of your envelope. I don't see what else they can do short of, well, shorter postmarked-by dates (I'm looking at you, OCZ) to reduce redemption rates.

 

[Zap]

Did anyone else buy this? I got one and the motherboard works fine (in my limited testing) but the rebate form would not print out for me. Yes, that's right, this one single PDF would not print out, but all others will. Bizarre. Is anyone else seeing this problem? I eventually used Google Docs to preview the PDF, and saved the preview as a PNG and printed the PNG.