Six AMD 780G HTPC Motherboards To Choose From
I always get asked the question about which platform is right for building a HTPC. Almost all of the time the choice come down to either AMD or Intel.
With AMD’s 780G Chipset having been out for a while now is the perfect time to think about building that HTPC or to give your system a refresh of its hardware.
What makes the AMD the perfect choice for building a dedicated HTPC is their included onboard graphics on their 780G chipset motherboards.
With a dedicated graphics solution onboard it is easier than ever to build a HTPC that you can be sure will work and no more hunting around for the right graphics card to fit inside you HTPC case.
Below I have listed some of the motherboard manufactures which currently have products on the market which are using AMD’s 780G Chipset all of the boards listed below are Micro-ATX.
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ASUS BC-1205PT SATA Blu-ray Disc Optical Drive
Benchmark Reviews have posted their review of the ASUS BC-1205PT SATA Blu-ray Disc Optical Drive “What’s Blu-ray, if not a shining star? It seems like anything wearing the BD badge these days just seems to look better. But maybe it’s just me, and my desire to touch all new technologies. Either way, ASUS has done a good job of reining in my attention and keeping the carrot just within my reach. The retail package tells the consumer everything they would want to know about this product, and allows them to compare it side by side to other products which might be on the shelf.
Optical drives have very little opportunity to make a lasting impression. Sure, the ASUS BC-1205PT wears a Blu-ray Disc badge that stands out across the room but other than that the appearance is not different than every other drive with a black bezel. I still like my idea of having a glowing blue logo, just for added ‘wow’ factor, but I think that ASUS has done as much as they realistically could to make this an appealing product.
You might think that all optical drives are constructed the same, but you would be wrong. As a technician, I find myself replacing more optical drives then almost every other component (second only to the power supply unit). Although the drive tray action uses a rubber-band on pulley assembly instead of gears (sacrificing long-term longevity for noise reduction), the remainder of the BC-1205PT is solid… almost literally. This SATA optical drive seems to have a bit of heft to it, since it felt heavier than standard DVD-burners.
With the ability to read three different generations of disc media (four counting mini-discs), the BC-1205PT matches legacy CD read and write functions with the current standard of DVD single and dual-layer functionality, and tops it all off with a touch of Blu-ray Disc for the future. CD and DVD performance is notably slower than the average SATA optical drive, but this combo-drive has to make some sacrifices for housing a blue laser for BD read capabilities.”
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Corsair Dominator PC2-9136 4GB Memory Kit
Hardware Logic have posted their review of the Corsair Dominator PC2-9136 4GB Memory Kit “Corsair has given us one of the fastest and most reliable 4GB DDR2 kits available today. Where most 1066MHz kits top off, these heavy hitters are just getting started. The ability to hit 1200MHz at 2.1v left us satisfied and should be a reasonable goal for the owners of this RAM. Corsair’s lifetime warranty and excellent support is exactly what you look for when spending your hard earned dollars.
The Achilles’ heel of this product is the price. DDR2 has been severely discounted for several months now while this memory is easily one of the highest priced kits out there. This kit may only attract a specific group of consumers that are looking for the largest and fastest DDR2 kit they can find for their system and are willing to pay the premium. Also take into consideration that this kit does not give the same amount of overclocking headroom we are accostumed to seeing from the 2GB kits.
As you take a look at the ultra high end DDR2 kits available today, there are a select few that come in a 4GB flavor. Most are smaller 2GB kits that are prone to high failure rates or are not able to reach their rated specs. You can leave those worries behind. It took Corsair some time to get this kit on the market and a few months ago, the enthusiast world would have been drooling all over these modules. But now the question remains, is there anyone still willing to pay top dollar for DDR2?”
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Aeneon AXH860UD20 XMP DDR3
Benchmark Reviews have posted their review of the Aeneon AXH860UD20 XMP DDR3 “In summary of my experience with the Aeneon 4 GB PC3-12800 XMP DDR3 SDRAM Kit AXH860UD20-16H, I can conclude that this will be an excellent 1600 MHz kit for hardware enthusiasts wishing to overclock their system to its limit, or the performance-level system builder wanting to take advantage of the industries highest FSB setting. While the CL9 latency is not what I would consider great, I have to remember that higher capacity DDR3 require such long ‘Fly-by’ command times. Overclocking this kit was made simple by the added XMP functionality, but manually configuring the settings allowed much more performance. Ultimately 4 GB system memory kits will replace 2 GB version, especially as Windows Vista is adopted by users.”
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Biostar TF7150U-M7
Overclockers Online have posted their review of the Biostar TF7150U-M7 “I haven’t had much experience with LGA775 motherboards but the Biostar TF7150U-M7 has not failed to impress. By combining a nice set of features with an attractive price, Biostar’s T-Series will be getting another recommendation from Overclockers Online. HTPC enthusiasts will be pleased with this board thanks to its integrated GeForce 7150 chip which features HDMI output.
Though the 7150 leaves a lot to be desired in terms of gaming performance, it should be able to deal with video and multimedia just fine when it comes to using it in a HTPC.
All things considered, I would highly recommend the Biostar TF7150U-M7 if you are looking for the best value.”
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OCZ Freeze Thermal Compound
Elite Bastards have posted their review of the OCZ Freeze Thermal Compound “While OCZ’s name alone may well be quite a selling point for their Freeze thermal compound, it’s great to see that there’s far more to this particular product than just a well-known brand name. For starters its performance is, quite simply, excellent - A cut above the other thermal interface materials we’ve tested recently, with temperature drops noticeably improved over its rivals. Then there’s the fact that no burn-in time is required, which makes installation much more hassle-free, allowing you to see the cooling improvements you’ll be getting straight away with the worry of having to run your system for a certain amount of time before you get the best out of the paste. Throw in the fact that the Freeze thermal interface material is thin and easy enough to apply, and you have yourself a sure-fire winner.
If you’re looking for a negative to OCZ’s Freeze offering, it’s perhaps the fact that a single tube of paste holds less than some other equivalent thermal compound offerings, but unless you’re constantly changing CPU coolers or installing new systems I doubt that will be much of a concern to most. With a price of around £5 for a tube, it’s hardly ridiculously expensive either, so considering the performance it offers there’s little to criticise on that front either.
Overall then, there’s little we need to say about OCZ’s Freeze thermal interface material in closing, other than - Hugely impressive. Quite simply, it’s the best thermal compound we’ve had the please to test here at Elite Bastards thus far.”
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OCZ SATA-II 32GB 2.5-Inch SSD OCZSSD2-1S32G
Benchmark Reviews have posted their review of the OCZ SATA-II 32GB 2.5-Inch SSD OCZSSD2-1S32G “In conclusion, the OCZ SATA-II Solid State Drive is an excellent product for extending notebook battery life and increasing overall system performance. With prices much closer to affordable, gamers and hardware enthusiasts may also benefit from the new technology, and utilize the OCZSSD2 to power their high-performance computer system. The performance is difinately there, and the price has become less of an issue; so it might be time to give Solid State Drives a try! I highly recommend the OCZ SATA-II OCZSSD2-1S32G 32GB 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive, as it has set read speed records at a cost more in-line with enthusiast expectations.”
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Enermax Modu82+ 625W
PC Perspective has posted their review of the Enermax Modu82+ 625W “The new Modu82+ 625W power supply from Enermax delivered very good voltage regulation with clean outputs and excellent efficiency. On top of that, the Modu82+ 625W proved to be the quietest PC power supply we have tested to date in this power range. Throw in support for dual high-end graphic adapters, a compact chassis that will fit in most any ATX style case, and plenty of peripheral connectors and you have a very attractive PSU package! Note: If you prefer a PSU without modular cables, Enermax offers essentially the same units with fixed cables in the Pro82+ series. These new power supplies from Enermax should be of particular interest to anyone building a HTPC or silent PC.
My only complaint with the Modu82+ 625W power supply is the limited 3-year warranty, which seems a little out dated when many other high-quality power supplies are now offering 5-year, 7-year, or lifetime warranties.”
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Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080 UB
Audioholics has posted their review of the Epson Pro Cinema 1080UB “Epson’s former iteration of this projector was highly recommended by me last year. I can only recommend it more now that they have added more light output and updated the LCD panels to D7 technology. The reason this projector doesn’t get a 5 in value is simple - Epson has cauterized its own product by not making the Pro Cinema enough different from its Home Cinema counterpart. For an extra $2000 retail (which we acknowledge often ends up far less in terms of street value) it’s tough to justify the Pro Cinema as a purchase on a consumer level - even with the extra lamp and ceiling mount. For custom installers, however, the additional features are essential (and, ahem, billable) so in the end this becomes a great product for its intended audience. Epson seems to be working out the kinks in its convergence saga, and many retailers are coming up with guarantees to ensure that consumers don’t get stuck with a product they won’t be happy with.”
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ASUS Xonar DX PCI Express 7.1
Hot Hardware has posted their review of the ASUS Xonar DX PCI Express 7.1 “With the Xonar DX PCI Express 7.1 Audio card, ASUS aimed to deliver a more affordable upgrade to integrated audio than previous offerings, while providing an experience that rivals more expensive audio card options. We’d say ASUS has definitely attained that goal with the Xonar DX. The Xonar DX delivers significant improvements over integrated audio, inregards to both features and quality. We were quite impressed with the overall performance of the Xonar DX and in several instances could not distinguish the audio quality from that of the pricier Xonar D2 Ultra.”