Pentium M HTPC looking for advice

A

Az Syndicate

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 15, 2002
Messages
393
My current HTPC is a Dual PIII 800 in an old Dell Precision 420 running Sage TV. It is big and loud. New Entertainment Center does not have room for the tower and the wife does not dig the noise.

Current Rig -
  • PIII 733 x 2
  • 776 RAMBUS
  • 16gig SCSI U160
  • 2 port SATA PCI card (SCSI died)
  • 250 SATA
  • 1gig
  • Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500MCE

So here is what I am thinking, and where I would love some comments. I want to run a Pentium M system for heat/power/noise issues. I would love this AOpen XC Cube MZ915-M Intel Socket 479 Barebone. It has Sound and YPbPr output. I desperately need the YPbPr output for my HD TV. The HDMI port is already used by DVD player, so I can't use DVI and the TV needs the YPbPr for a digital signal . The main issue with this system is that my Hauppauge Card is too tall. I would love to find a SFF system that has built in YPbPr out and can fit my PCI Hauppauge card. I have not found one.

So now I am looking at This motherboard Aopen i915 that I can put my into its own case.

I would have liked to use a SFF case but the motherboard is MicroATX not able to fit. Is that correct? If so what case would work with it?

Is Pentium M the way to go for my heat/power/noise concerns?
 
Is Pentium M the way to go for my heat/power/noise concerns?
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Sure but the largest barrier is the huge price tag on s479 mobos, just take a look at Newegg. If you want something that is just a low powered and a bit easier on the wallet then I'd go with a Turion64 setup and a good mobo that supports them.

On the other subject I wouldn't go SFF or atleast I wouldn't go with such tiny setups. I would go with a MATX s754 mobo, a Turion64 chip (on Newegg they start at about $150 I believe) and Antec's NSK2400 case with PSU.
 
If you're set on the PM (I like the other poster's idea for the AMD setup), then you could consider an Asus board with their CT479 adapter to allow the use of a Pentium M. Check the specifics though as I'm not sure if all Pentium M's are supported.

as for boards with YPbPr built on, I think I saw a couple Nvidia 6150 based boards with it...but that was a long time ago and they may have just been concepts and not production boards.
 
Oh, one more thing; the Intel IGP is just barely capable of driving an HTPC while the 6150 chipset is just about perfect for it (too bad they don't have any s754 6150 mobos).
 
It's got some OC/UC options too? Nice, I'll have to pick one up and try it out at the end of the month. Any idea on Turion support?
 
So it looks like the 6150 would be great, however I can't find one the does socket 754, darn it all.

I have/did not consider an AMD solution. I am not sure the 64bit AMD chip will be better than the Pentium M chip. I will have to do some research.

They have a hudge thread AVS Forums on 6150 mobos and also at anandTech

So as of right now I have a lot more reading to do.
 
CrimandEvil said:
It's got some OC/UC options too? Nice, I'll have to pick one up and try it out at the end of the month. Any idea on Turion support?
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Good question Crim, can't really say but it's a recent release, i'd be surprised if Turion's weren't supported. I might get one and throw my 3100+ that came with my outpost/ECS combo.

I goofed up on the product description btw, it doesn't come with an spdif bracket, it might have the pins on the mobo though....
 
I was strongly leaning twoard that board, until I saw it only has 10/100 LAN. Gig is important to me as I have cat5e through-out my house and a gig router and a gig switch connecting it all.

It also seems that I really need to use a 6150 solution for its HD playback features. After reading the AVS forums they say the 6100 does not cut it for HD playback. I want to stay away from installing a graphics cards when I only want to watch TV and Video.

So I am pondering a socket 939 MSI that is getting rave rewiews at AVS forums and Anandtech forums and then undervolting the processor. When I start thinking about this route I then wounder if I should wait and get an AM2 mobo... blah. Those Tourions looked like a great option.
 
Yeah, that board is pretty well regarded for HTPC usage. Theres also an AM2 version coming out later, couple one with one of the low power AM2 chips later this year and you might have exactly what you're looking for.
 
Az Syndicate said:
I was strongly leaning twoard that board, until I saw it only has 10/100 LAN. Gig is important to me as I have cat5e through-out my house and a gig router and a gig switch connecting it all.

It also seems that I really need to use a 6150 solution for its HD playback features. After reading the AVS forums they say the 6100 does not cut it for HD playback. I want to stay away from installing a graphics cards when I only want to watch TV and Video.

So I am pondering a socket 939 MSI that is getting rave rewiews at AVS forums and Anandtech forums and then undervolting the processor. When I start thinking about this route I then wounder if I should wait and get an AM2 mobo... blah. Those Tourions looked like a great option.
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Hmm, that's somthing i never thought of, does that jetway 6100 have the same HD playback features as a 6150 mobo(?) It may not mean much but it seems to have all 6150 parts onboard, minus the 939 socket, and it has definitely broken the 6100 mold. Good point you raised though, personally i'm going to hold off purchasing until i can research it's HD playback capability.

I built my cousin a hybrid multimedia rig using that same MSI mobo btw, I swear he'd make love to it if he could :D. He tends to torture his setups with heavy gaming, encoding, capturing, ripping, archiving, multitasking etc and he hasn't had a problem with it yet.
 
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