Motherboard onboard GPU chipset shootout!

Ok, I'm down to the wire on picking a motherboard. I just purchased 3 AMD
Athlon LE 1620 Processors, so I'll be using the AM2 platform, and buying 3
of whatever I get. I'm going to make my mind up on which motherboard to get
by the end of the month. (January 2008 A.D.) I had been intending to buy an
Asrock board, but haven't found one with the newer chipsets available.

The main thing I'm having trouble on is picking an onboard GPU. I thought I
had made my mind up on the Nvidia 6150, but today did some reading and found
out about some newbies:

New contenders:

http://www.fpslabs.com/news/latest/a...nch-in-january
(ATI RS740 - about $40/$60, RS780 for $90/$120)

http://www.betanews.com/article/NVid...ips/1190737131
(Geforce 7 onboard GPU)




What I was considering previously: (up until this morning, actually!)

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MB-...8c02c01eae699d
(AMD 690G onboard graphics)

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/chi...50-gf6100.html
(Nvidia 6150 onboard video)


I really would like the capability of adding an HDTV down the road, and
hooking it up
without having to buy anything extra.

Anyone have thoughts on which chipset should win my dollar?

As far as use, I probably spend 75% of my time encoding mpeg2 to mpeg4.
(h.264 using Nero Recode), watching TV on my TV tuner card, or watching
recorded programs. 20% of my time is spent browsing the web and playing
casual games. (essentially puzzle and older strategy titles) The other 5% is
probably spent listening to MP3's.

For all practical purposes, this should probably be considered a Home
Theater PC.

Thanks!

On Jan 1, 7:07 pm, "OhioGuy" wrote:
Ok, I'm down to the wire on picking a motherboard. I just purchased 3 AMD
Athlon LE 1620 Processors, so I'll be using the AM2 platform, and buying 3
of whatever I get. I'm going to make my mind up on which motherboard to get
by the end of the month. (January 2008 A.D.) I had been intending to buy an
Asrock board, but haven't found one with the newer chipsets available.

The main thing I'm having trouble on is picking an onboard GPU. I thought I
had made my mind up on the Nvidia 6150, but today did some reading and found
out about some newbies:

New contenders:

http://www.fpslabs.com/news/latest/a...-launch-in-jan...
(ATI RS740 - about $40/$60, RS780 for $90/$120)

http://www.betanews.com/article/NVid...grated_GPU_Mar...
(Geforce 7 onboard GPU)

What I was considering previously: (up until this morning, actually!)

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MB-...7f15b549c15a31...
(AMD 690G onboard graphics)

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/chi...50-gf6100.html
(Nvidia 6150 onboard video)

I really would like the capability of adding an HDTV down the road, and
hooking it up
without having to buy anything extra.

Anyone have thoughts on which chipset should win my dollar?

As far as use, I probably spend 75% of my time encoding mpeg2 to mpeg4.
(h.264 using Nero Recode), watching TV on my TV tuner card, or watching
recorded programs. 20% of my time is spent browsing the web and playing
casual games. (essentially puzzle and older strategy titles) The other 5% is
probably spent listening to MP3's.

For all practical purposes, this should probably be considered a Home
Theater PC.

Thanks!

Avoid Asrock since they don't have a reputation of low quality.

Check out Gigabyte, they have superior sound chips, Realtek 889A on
many boards. I have recently built a HTPC using Gigabyte a
href=http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/
Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2579GA-MA69GM-S2H (rev. 1.0)/a.
Excellent motherboard. It plays HD quite decently (using hardware
accelerated codec from cyberlink). You will need Vista to run HDCP
encrypted media.

If you want to run Linux, avoid 690G, or any ATI graphics. Then you
will have to wait till April for new chipsets from Nvidia. Their
current IGP chipset has only single channel memory, not enough for
full 1080p playback. But if you are running Linux, HD is out of the
question anyway.

On Jan 14, 5:54 pm, wrote:
On Jan 1, 7:07 pm, "OhioGuy" wrote:



Ok, I'm down to the wire on picking a motherboard. I just purchased 3 AMD
Athlon LE 1620 Processors, so I'll be using the AM2 platform, and buying 3
of whatever I get. I'm going to make my mind up on which motherboard to get
by the end of the month. (January 2008 A.D.) I had been intending to buy an
Asrock board, but haven't found one with the newer chipsets available.

The main thing I'm having trouble on is picking an onboard GPU. I thought I
had made my mind up on the Nvidia 6150, but today did some reading and found
out about some newbies:

New contenders:

http://www.fpslabs.com/news/latest/a...-launch-in-jan...
(ATI RS740 - about $40/$60, RS780 for $90/$120)

http://www.betanews.com/article/NVid...grated_GPU_Mar...
(Geforce 7 onboard GPU)

What I was considering previously: (up until this morning, actually!)

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MB-...7f15b549c15a31...
(AMD 690G onboard graphics)

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/chi...50-gf6100.html
(Nvidia 6150 onboard video)

I really would like the capability of adding an HDTV down the road, and
hooking it up
without having to buy anything extra.

Anyone have thoughts on which chipset should win my dollar?

As far as use, I probably spend 75% of my time encoding mpeg2 to mpeg4.
(h.264 using Nero Recode), watching TV on my TV tuner card, or watching
recorded programs. 20% of my time is spent browsing the web and playing
casual games. (essentially puzzle and older strategy titles) The other 5% is
probably spent listening to MP3's.

For all practical purposes, this should probably be considered a Home
Theater PC.

Thanks!

Avoid Asrock since they don't have a reputation of low quality.

Check out Gigabyte, they have superior sound chips, Realtek 889A on
many boards. I have recently built a HTPC using Gigabyte a
href=http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/
Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2579GA-MA69GM-S2H (rev. 1.0)/a.
Excellent motherboard. It plays HD quite decently (using hardware
accelerated codec from cyberlink). You will need Vista to run HDCP
encrypted media.

If you want to run Linux, avoid 690G, or any ATI graphics. Then you
will have to wait till April for new chipsets from Nvidia. Their
current IGP chipset has only single channel memory, not enough for
full 1080p playback. But if you are running Linux, HD is out of the
question anyway.

Avoid Asrock since they have a reputation of low quality. Slipped on
my keyboard :-)

wrote:

Avoid Asrock since they don't have a reputation of low quality.

Avoid Asrock since they have a reputation of low quality. Slipped on
my keyboard :-)

Then you won't mind if the officer gives you a field sobriety
test.

I'd rather have Asrock than ECS because at least Asrock is designed by
Asus, and they always use good capacitors in the CPU voltage regulator.