how much processor can this powersupply with this motherboard handle?

Are you using a dedicated video card as well? If so, which one?
 
Kind of a different 1155 board with that GT 430 built in, so I can see why you are curious. According to a review of the stand alone version of the GT430 over at Guru3D.com the TDP of that chip is 49 watts ( http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gt-430-review/2 ). Since the GT430 still has 1 GB built in, I would think the integrated version would be pretty similar to the stand-alone version in terms of power needs.

Combine that with a 65W TDP processor and you are to 114W TDP. A little Scorpio laptop drive only consume something like 2 watts if I remember right. The motherboard is going to have it's own demands, but they shouldn't be too high. Overall, I approximate that you will be at ~130W when running all out (which you won't be doing all of the time). That should be just fine.
 
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Giving it a little more thought, you would actually have a bit more room than what I posted above. The 65W TDP of the sandy bridge processors includes the integrated HD 2000/3000 graphics. If I remember some of my sandy bridge reviews, something like 20-30W of the processor's TDP is actually for the graphics side of things. Since you wouldn't be using that, the processor would never take it's full 65W.
 
I'm wondering what the GT430 can do that the HD 2000/3000 can't. Didn't Intel mostly fix the 23Hz issue in drivers?

The ISK 300 can take a low profile card. Why not use a cheaper motherboard and a PCIe graphics card?
 
I had similar thoughts to Zap on this but tried to go through the possibilities in my mind. The main advantage of the GT430 is better gaming performance. It still isn't going to be stellar but it is better than HD 2000/3000. In terms of half-height cards, about the only thing that will beat it is going to be a Radeon 6570, though probably not by much, especially since all of the 6570s I see on sale are the DDR3 version instead of the DDR5 version that is used in all of the on-line benchmarks.

One advantage of this Zotac board is that you would still have a pci-e x4 connector to use if you had something in mind.

The only other Z68 itx board out there right now is the another model by Zotac that has the regular pci-e x16 slot for the graphics card. That one costs $50 less than the one listed by the poster. A little on-line snooping finds that you can get a low profile GT430 for about $50 after rebates, so that's pretty much a wash. What else does the Z68 chipset offer? Well SSD caching, but it doesn't sound like that's going to be used. Also CPU overclocking, but that's probably out as well since we are talking about non-K CPUs if we are limiting things to 65W. So would an H67 chipset work just as well for this purpose?

Overall it's kind of a curious motherboard. For HTPC use I think I would just stick with the H67 or even H61 chipset just to save cost. In that case I would probably just stick to the HD 2000/3000 graphics. If I was wanting to make an itx gaming box with the Z68 chipset, I'd probably go with the $169 Zotac board with a regular pci-e x16 slot. That way I could get a more powerful graphics card that was a better match for a K processor. That would mean a different case and power supply though. I'm not much of a believer in overclocking on an itx system, though, due to space/airflow/etc. If I wanted an overclocked gaming rig on 1155, I think I'd just move up to a matx system. A person can still make a pretty nice gaming box using an H67 itx board, though, just no overclocking.

Anyway... the main thing I keep coming back to is the pci-e x4 slot being the only real advantage. That might be useful for somebody, though it seems like kind of a head scratcher given all that's integrated into the board. Makes me wonder if the OP has other reasons that escaped me?
 
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DesertCat said:
The only other Z68 itx board out there right now is the another model by Zotac that has the regular pci-e x16 slot for the graphics card. That one costs $50 less than the one listed by the poster... So would an H67 chipset work just as well for this purpose?
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ASRock makes a Z68 ITX board for cheaper than the Zotac by a good amount. And yes, H67 would probably be fine, unless the SSD caching made/broke the deal.
 
Yeah, good point. I was going by what I was pulling up on Newegg but the ASRock must be sold out. Doh! :eek:
 
It probably sold out because:
1) Cheaper
2) Doesn't have reputation for failing
 
DesertCat said:
Anyway... the main thing I keep coming back to is the pci-e x4 slot being the only real advantage. That might be useful for somebody, though it seems like kind of a head scratcher given all that's integrated into the board. Makes me wonder if the OP has other reasons that escaped me?
Click to expand...

i was under the impression that that GPU was more powerful than it actually is...
 
Looks like a pretty solid build to me. My only question mark is on the CPU. If you are just trying to keep your power usage minimal, that would certainly do the trick. If you are just trying to keep it under the constraints of what you think the PSU in that case will handle, I'd go with the regular i3-2100 and save $10 (and run at a faster speed). Yes, it's rated as a 65W TDP processor but that's including the integrated graphics which have about 30W of that TDP reserved for them. Since you will be using a dedicated video card, the integrated graphics on the cpu will essentially be turned off and the TDP for the actual CPU portion of an i3-2100 is about 35W (this is based on a review from x-bit labs). So... you are still going to way below what the 150W PSU can deliver. Even with the i3-2100 and the dedicated video, you are probably pulling less than 100W.
 
DesertCat said:
Looks like a pretty solid build to me. My only question mark is on the CPU. If you are just trying to keep your power usage minimal, that would certainly do the trick. If you are just trying to keep it under the constraints of what you think the PSU in that case will handle, I'd go with the regular i3-2100 and save $10 (and run at a faster speed). Yes, it's rated as a 65W TDP processor but that's including the integrated graphics which have about 30W of that TDP reserved for them. Since you will be using a dedicated video card, the integrated graphics on the cpu will essentially be turned off and the TDP for the actual CPU portion of an i3-2100 is about 35W (this is based on a review from x-bit labs). So... you are still going to way below what the 150W PSU can deliver. Even with the i3-2100 and the dedicated video, you are probably pulling less than 100W.
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I think i just might go with an i5 2300

But what I'd really like to find a slightly higher powered video card that can hang with the A8's integrated GPU abilities but with the half height constraint that seems like it's not gonna happen.
 
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