Which Micro-ATX motherboard?

[Gusbf]

If I should buy a new motherboard it has to be micro-atx. I have found the following three:

1) P4S800-MX MicroATX Socket 478 / SiS661FX / 3PCI-1AGP / IDE133

2) P4S8X-MX MicroATX Socket 478 / 661GX / 3PCI-1AGP / IDE/SATA

3) P4RD1-MX MicroATX Socket 478 / ATI / 1PCIE-2PCI-1PCIE / IDE/SATA

It will to be build into a small HTPC with either a Pentium M processor or a Mobile Pentium 4M processor.

Which one would you prefer?

 

[Zap]

Not familiar with #3. I currently own #2 and have owned three of #1. #1 is discontinued, but was a nice board. #2 has SATA but the chipset does not "officially" support 800MHz FSB. Both will support mobile Celerons and mobile P4, but #2 has some minor problems with mobiles. Neither will support Pentium M. Pentium 4M (if same as mobile P4) will be supported. One problem with mobile P4 is that it will run at 12x multiplier so maximum clock speed will be around 2.4GHz.

 

[gaidin123]

I would suggest taking a look at the MSI K8NGM2-FID. Yes this is for Athlon64 CPUs rather than the Intel ones however it has everything onboard that you will likely need including DVI, vga, svideo, and component outputs. With 1 hard drive, an A64 3200, 1GB DDR400, 1 80GB sata drive, cool n'quiet turned on the system in an Aspire Qpack with the default power supply takes 53 watts at idle.

So, if you haven't already bought parts for a new Intel system I'd recommend that board with a 3200+ CPU. Please check out the official thread on that mobo that renethx started here.

Gaidin

Edit: OOS at newegg right now but it's $85 at newegg.

 

[Gusbf]

Thanks for both replies, they were very informative.

#1: If nr.2 doesn't official support 800 FSB how will it work with a modified Mobile Pentium 4M = 200 FSB? As I read your reply you suggest nr.1 but I have resently bought two SATA-harddrives, so I would appreciate one with SATA-connections.

#2: How will you rate the integrated graphic-card (GeForce 6150 vs. ATI X300). The reason is that I may use the HTPC also for a little gaming but not serious gaming.

About the CPUs. You will prefer a A64 3200 instead of a Mobile Pentium 4 M 2.2Ghz or a Pentium M 1.6Ghz (clocked to 2Ghz). How will the videorending work, which one will be the best solution? I know that the TV-signal will be done by the Hauppauge-TV-card but I refer to converting normal video-signal such as backup of DVDs and homemade video-creation from my digital-camera.

 

[Zap]

For the Asus P4S8X-MX board, the SiS 661GX chipset that it uses is not "officially" rated for 800MHz FSB use. Asus just advertises it as an overclocked mode guaranteed by them. That board has a MAXIMUM of 200Mhz FSB in BIOS, so the CPU 800MHz bus speed is top, meaning your CPU choice won't ever go over 2.4GHz with it. The P4S800-MX uses the SiS 661FX chipset which does officially support those speeds, and BIOS has up to 250Mhz setting. The SATA comes from the Southbridge choice. As I mentioned, I think the P4S800-MX has been discontinued since it has mostly disappeared from the popular vendors so this may be a moot issue.

The geforce6100/6150 and ATI X300 are IMO reasonably equal. Some reviews put one above the other but that gets reversed by the next web site. Who knows? Probably one does better in one benchmark while the other does better in the next benchmark. I do know that if you plan to overclock, there is one choice for the ATI and that is the Jetway 210GDMS Pro, and one choice for the 6100 and that is the Biostar Tforce (though new socket 939 version has broken onboard network, 754 seems to work fine).

If you are using as HTPC, what interface does your TV use? Few of the boards have DVI or TV-out so you have to shop carefully.

If you haven't already purchased any parts and were looking to the mobile P4 for quietness, then the mobile A64/Turion will be to your liking, or even any of the 90nm chips not overclocked and undervolted. I have tested my Sempron 2600+ on a Tforce board undervolted to 1.125v and it ran great and didn't error out in Prime for the duration I let it run.

 

[RobsTV]

Originally posted by: Gusbf

#2: How will you rate the integrated graphic-card (GeForce 6150 vs. ATI X300). The reason is that I may use the HTPC also for a little gaming but not serious gaming.

Yes, as Zap stated, both onboard are fairly close in gaming.
But if you ever plan on using onboard TV out, the Jetway A210 with ATi wins by a HUGE margin.
(other onboard ATi x300's should be fine as well).
HTPC's are what I do, so every TV out is tested and tested.
nvidia has always lacked very badly in TV out area, but ATi has been great.
The two 6150's I tested were terrible for TV-out (in comparison to ATi).

An example of why TV out may be desired is what I do here.
Sunday NFL football. Use VGA out to 100" DLP for OTA HDTV, and use TV out to 35" Mits for DVB-S. Watch local game in HD and other desired city with CRT, all on the same PC, at the same time.

For semi-serious gaming and better multi-monitor support, best results are obtained by dropping in a $100 PCie video card, such as ATi x800.

Look at my sig for CPU's in use. For desktop's, get an Opteron.
Cool running and the fastest bang for the buck.
(I also use laptop P-M with OTA HDTV and DVB-S).

 

[Gusbf]

Thanks for both of the inputs. It has been very helpfull so far. I think I will read some topics about AMDs 64 and Sempron and then maybe come back here to make some questions if I have any.

 

[koolzb]

I have Foxconn 6100K8MA uATX.
Currently I am able to run Venice 3000+ from 1800 default to 2502MHz @1.600v Priming stable.
Look here: http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/3967/2502mhzprimestable10ktest3cpu1.gif