Please recommend me MicroATX mobo with HDMI that is capable of 1080p playback

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shebalord

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Oct 13, 2005
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Hi ppl,

I'm trying to build a HTPC to play my 720p/1080p mkv files. Can anyone recommend me a MicroATX motherboard with onboard video and HDMI output that can handle the 720p/1080p movie files without an additional video card? Also, I need the onboard HDMI port to send audio as well. I will be connecting the HDMI to my Samsung LN40A550 LCD.

I have picked out some parts for the build:

Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600 Brisbane 2.9GHz

Thermaltake LANBOX Lite VF6000BNS

CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX 520W

Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

I'm open to advice/suggestions as well.

Thanks!
 
Don't bother with the 5600+ since it's outperformed by the cheaper X2 7750 whose performance is roughly equal to the E5200:
$60 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 CPU

Anyway, for AMD, just about any mobo based on the 8200 or 8300 chipset will have the exact features you want (audio through HDMI and capability to playback HD content without a video card). So I recommend this mobo:
$75 - Asus M3N78-VM GeForce 8200 HDMI mATX Motherboard

Also, check out this case/PSU combo to save some cash:
$116 - Antec NSK2480 mATX case with Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU
 
Thanks for the reply!

The reason I chose the 5600+ was because it uses 65w instead of 95w like the 7750. I was trying to keep power consumption and heat down as much as possible. But I guess 65w vs 95w doesn't make a big difference in power consumption/heat...right?

Also, which is faster? 7750 vs E5200?
 
i second the ASUS suggestion. It's what i have. (well, the EM, which has an 8300 instead of 8200)
 
Asus P5E-VM HDMI if you want to go Intel. Although I'm not sure if the HDMI port will pass audio and the mobo might be discontinued. I haven't seen it around lately, though I haven't really looked. Otherwise it's a freakin great mATX board. Mine's been running for almost 2 years solid as a desktop and is fixing to be retasked as an HTPC.
 
P5E-VM? Are you joking? lol. It scores about as bad as it gets when it comes to 1080p playback. The best choices for the Intel side are nvidia 9300/9400 based boards for the HTPC market.
 
I 3rd or 4th the Asus M3N78-VM recommendation. Recently built a low end box with one and tested it's HD playback...

I put a X2 4050e in mine (OEM version currently $35 delivered at Newegg) using vanilla PC2--6400 5,5,5,15 memory it o'c to 2.6GHz easily with only +0.1 core increase. Probably even that wouldn't be needed for faster X2 CPUs but the 4050e starts at lower voltage than some.

Decodes 1080p fine and idle/full load power is about 60W/105W at the wall (with a modest 65 to 75% expected efficiency from the PSU that's about 40W min., 80W max) with nothing else in the box but a HDD, DVD, single case fan and I added very small slow chipset fan strapped on with nylon wire ties just for the heck of it as I set the case fan airflow quite low and didn't want to think about it again if the ambient temp rose for whatever reason, the chipset is the only part that got remotely close to hot but it's also partly due to using 3rd party rearward facing CPU 'sink instead of one that suck in towards the board and blows out on the chipset 'sink, and having it spin at sub-1000 RPM most of the time.
 
Last edited:
w1retap said:
P5E-VM? Are you joking? lol. It scores about as bad as it gets when it comes to 1080p playback. The best choices for the Intel side are nvidia 9300/9400 based boards for the HTPC market.
Click to expand...

Umm... Scores are all fine and dandy, but I haven't had any trouble with 1080p on my P5E-VM HDMI. I guess YMMV, but I'm happy.
 
epimetheus said:
Umm... Scores are all fine and dandy, but I haven't had any trouble with 1080p on my P5E-VM HDMI. I guess YMMV, but I'm happy.
Click to expand...

While I don't put much faith in HQV the G35 was just garbage for things like Blu Ray playback and moderate/high bitrated x264 material. Intel admits this too, hardware was borked so it doesn't produce the best image quality (which is where "scores" comes into it) nor can it decode H264 partially, correctly.
 
You can get the faster WD3200AAKS drive for the same price:
$55 - Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
 
epimetheus said:
Umm... Scores are all fine and dandy, but I haven't had any trouble with 1080p on my P5E-VM HDMI. I guess YMMV, but I'm happy.
Click to expand...
No, no they aren't "fine and dandy". They're horrible scores compared to nvidia and amd/ati counterparts, even when put up against their last generation chipsets from two and a half years ago. When recommending a piece of hardware to someone, it isn't about what makes you happy.. it's about what the latest best option is. Recommending something that is obsolete and scores lowest in head to head tests is misleading.
 
shebalord said:
Thanks for the reply!

The reason I chose the 5600+ was because it uses 65w instead of 95w like the 7750. I was trying to keep power consumption and heat down as much as possible. But I guess 65w vs 95w doesn't make a big difference in power consumption/heat...right?

Also, which is faster? 7750 vs E5200?
Click to expand...

You can just undervolt the 7750 to get the power consumption down,

7750t.jpg
 
^ Then mod your bios so the new default speed is what you want.

On the other hand, I have to say that if you are playing content on a player w/codec capable of HD decoding acceleration, you really do not need to consider the CPU at all, any modern single core cpu at stock speed is fast enough if you have GPU acceleration working, it's all a matter of what you are trying to play, how versatile this HTPC is versus the cost now to have more features vs the cost later when CPUs have once again risen substantially in performance.

A side note, there is no real need to stay at stock speed. The AMD x2 cpus are binned for performance per voltage, so as long as you pick a board where your target speed isn't needing over roughly 250MHz FSB, it should be a walk in the park to o'c whatever dual core cpu you choose. Personally, if I set up a system where it should normally run at something other than bios defaults, I list the changes needed on paper should the bios ever need reset, battery die, etc, and tape that to the left side panel on the case.
 
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