Athlon Micro ATX motherboard

[Crowdx42]

Hi again,
well my system is running quite good with the XCard I got last week and encoding across the network BUT I am thinking I would really like decent playback on the video card output and so I am looking at changing over to a smalled micro atx format with an Athlon 1800 xp cpu.
My question is which Micro Atx board to get, I would like something with decent sound BUT also something relatively cheap cause I have already spent a lot on the setup to date.
So anyone got any specific suggestions?
I personally have run Epox, Abit and Gigabyte boards and all run great. Have no experience with any of the Micro Atx formats though and so looking for help.
Patrick

[stanger89]

The only Athlon chipset I would recommend is the nForce, as for manufacturer I've had very good luck with Abit (but no uATX boards) and very poor with MSI. Asus would probably be good, something like the A7N8X-VM. Just keep in mind you probably won't be happy with onboard video and will want an AGP card, which will limit your case options.

[Crowdx42]

Looking at the ASUS nForce 220-D A7N266-VM AA board. Seems like a good choice, gonna run it with an Athlon 1800xp, it is the front runner at present. Here is a link to it http://usa.asus.com/mb/socketa/a7n266-vm/overview.htm
What you think? Cost is $57.99 at NewEgg.
Patrick

[Chilli]

I just replaced my old motherboard with the A7N266-VM AA I bought from Newegg ($55). If you're running XP, installation is a breeze.

The new system is very stable, and it's been running 24/7 for about 2 weeks now. I've running Athlon 1Ghz, 512MB PC2100, Radeon 7200, SB Live 5.1, PVR350, Sage 2.0.12 and WinXP Pro SP1. The 350 behaves very well with the nForce chipset!

I'd say go for it.

[Crowdx42]

Cool. I think it comes in at the cheapest Nforce chipset and also has a decent set of features.
Patrick

[Amontillado]

Also have the A7N266 VM, think its a very good board. It is one the few micro atx boards that has an agp slot and 3 pci slots wich gives you ample upgrading options.
I have it running with a 250 and 350 installed (-15 chips) and use the onboard sound since it is actually much better than the sound card i had before (terratec 128)

[Crowdx42]

Well I just ordered the Asus board with an Athlon 2000+ retail cpu (1800 was oem and cpu fan cost more than to go with retail 2000+ )
So should have delivery early next week. Will be cool to have a fast machine running as the PVR, can still have my XCard and also add in a second PVR 250 if I want to. The 3 pci slots was my prerequisite with the micro atx board and the nforce chipset is a bonus.
Patrick

[m0ng00se30]

Kinda late on this post... but leadtek makes nforce2 MB microATX I think its a NIF2... I had one for my first HTPC its a good board.

AGP, 3 PCI only negative was it has a fan on the chipset... mine was NOISY had to yank that off!!

Just wanted to metion it in case someone else came along!

--Mike

[Crowdx42]

Well I normally buy from NewEgg and they only have an Nforce3 Leadtek board.
Have been comparing the XCard output to my Ati Vivo 64 card and the XCard is considerably better picture than the Vivo. Is this going to be the case with all video card tv outs or are newer cards better?
Patrick

[m0ng00se30]

I have a 9700 AIW, and I think the output it pretty good. I haven't seen an XCard tho. But most hardware decoders should look better I think!! The ATI took some tweaking to get it just right on my not so new TV...but I have hooked it up to my fathers 50" hitachi with Component, and at 720P things look amazing!!

At some point I think the ATIs took a big step forward in the TV out realm.. maybe it was the Theater chip that made the improvments, but usually as technology moves forward quality improves.

- Mike

[Crowdx42]

I am wondering does anyone have a direct comparison with the XCard and video cards tv out. I am gonna try an 8500 tv out when I get the new board to compare with the Vivo. I would like the option to watch either with Xcard or video out, at present the Xcard will not play PAL dvds due to it being set to region 1, that kinda stinks.
Patrick

[davey_fl]

I'm running 2 shuttle mn31n and this board is great. I went with it because it is one of the few uATX boards with the Southbridge MCP-T chipset, allowing me to do true Soundstorm spdif out without having to worry about using propietary Realtek junk.

[Maladin]

While the A7N266-VM is a fine product, bear in mind this is based on the nForce1 chipset. If you want nForce2, you'll want the A7N8X-VM. The former is limited to 266 MHz FSB while the latter supports 400 MHz. Both support TV out through a riser card which is sold seperately.

[Crowdx42]

Just looking for a decent Micro ATX box with enough pci slots for expansion, no need for cutting edge.
Patrick