Integrated HD Motherboards, what do people think?

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Jaxson

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#67328 31-Aug-2010 10:38

Hi all,

Long time HTPC reader, considering taking the plunge.

I have an aging shuttle mini cube computer, AGP only, and a single tuner sat Ultraplus 980HD unit.
I'm thinking of scapping the lot and going HTPC.

I'd be looking for normal computer use (using TV as a screen) and using Win 7 Media Player for recording of TV, freeview HD twin tuner and one sat tuner as well.

What are your HTPC guys views on the integrated motherboards, with audio and video on board?
There were some a while back with HD video capabilities which on the surface looked a cheap but still capable way to go.

Oh, and does does ATI still have green screen problems etc that they had a while back?

Cheers, and thanks for your knowledge/views on this.

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#374812 31-Aug-2010 11:57

Personally I purchased a Mobo that had on-board video and then finished up using a external video card anyway (as per my sig).
I think they are still a bit borderline at this stage. It is possible to use them but a add in video card is still the way to go I think.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

Kraven

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#374815 31-Aug-2010 12:05

We use a Core i3 with an Intel DH55TC motherboard on Windows 7 Media Centre and it works flawlessly. Running a HVR-2200 tuner it will happily record two shows while playing back a third.

I'd certainly recommend a Core i3/i5 setup to anyone. Not sure if it fits your "cheap" requirement though...

Jaxson

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#374884 31-Aug-2010 14:03

Thanks guys.

This would be for freeview only really, and music and pictures etc.
I'm a fan of the hauppauge cards so would use the HVR-2200 and a single tuner sat version too.

I still think I'll keep a stand alone bluray player.

My receiver can accept hd audio decoded to lpcm and passed by hdmi. It can't decode the HD audio itself. I don't think this sort of stuff is that sorted now within windows media centre so I think I'll hold back on that part.

The good news there is that it will only be dealing with optical/dig coax 5.1 audio, so this should be fairly easy to work with/configure. Cheers.

Jaxson

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#375325 1-Sep-2010 14:55

This sort of thing:
http://www.notebookcity.co.nz/asus-m4a785g-htpcrc-amd-785g-matx-socket-am3-dual-channel-ddr2-1200-raid-vgadvihdmi-dual-output-supp

smac

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#375446 1-Sep-2010 19:33

I run an Asus P5N7A-VM - no issues what so ever with graphics performance. Stock chipset cooler is crap though, replaced that.

wreck90

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#375469 1-Sep-2010 20:23

Jaxson: Hi all,

Long time HTPC reader, considering taking the plunge.

I have an aging shuttle mini cube computer, AGP only, and a single tuner sat Ultraplus 980HD unit.
I'm thinking of scapping the lot and going HTPC.

I'd be looking for normal computer use (using TV as a screen) and using Win 7 Media Player for recording of TV, freeview HD twin tuner and one sat tuner as well.

What are your HTPC guys views on the integrated motherboards, with audio and video on board?
There were some a while back with HD video capabilities which on the surface looked a cheap but still capable way to go.

Oh, and does does ATI still have green screen problems etc that they had a while back?

Cheers, and thanks for your knowledge/views on this.

I'd wait a tiny bit longer if possible. Intel sandy bridge is on it's way, and it's integrated graphics is significantly more powerful (similar to ATI 5450 discrete).

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3871/the-sandy-bridge-preview-three-wins-in-a-row/7

Of course, they say there is always something better round the corner, but, surely this chip is the holy grail for home theatre.

tanivula

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#375522 1-Sep-2010 22:26

smac: I run an Asus P5N7A-VM - no issues what so ever with graphics performance. Stock chipset cooler is crap though, replaced that.

smac - what's the rest of your system like? are you using it for freeview HD?

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Zeon

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#375543 2-Sep-2010 01:07

I've just got an Intel DH57JG with core i3 and HD out on HDMI works perfectly. Also its mini ITX and if you coupled it with one of those Antec ISK 150 cases it would be ultra small.

Speedtest 2019-10-14

smac

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#375564 2-Sep-2010 08:05

tanivula:

smac - what's the rest of your system like? are you using it for freeview HD?

E5300 CPU, 2GB corsair ram, couple old 80GB sata 3.5" drives. Stock CPU cooler replaced with Mini NInja, chipset cooler replaced with HR-05, Q Technology 350W PSU, HVR 2200 tuner. All in an Antec 2480B case and a couple 120mm 5v fans. Can't see it, can't hear it.

Yes HD Freeview, (and music) but just DVD at the moment. Probably won't bother with blu-ray until my 728 TV blows up.

Nvidia chipset can be over clocked but I've never seen the need. I was getting occasional pixilation, however this seems to have been fixed once I switched off WIn7's playready (whatever the hell that was).

Jaxson

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#375580 2-Sep-2010 08:52

wreck90: I'd wait a tiny bit longer if possible. Intel sandy bridge is on it's way, and it's integrated graphics is significantly more powerful (similar to ATI 5450 discrete).

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3871/the-sandy-bridge-preview-three-wins-in-a-row/7

Of course, they say there is always something better round the corner, but, surely this chip is the holy grail for home theatre.

Yeah I've been waiting for a while now but there's technically no rush.
One of my main drivers is wanting to get a device that integrates freeview HD with satellite, for viewing and recording in one place. The only other alternative is the Hyundai AH3110 but I tried this and it was close to horrible.

There just seems to be features available on standalone devices that seem to take for ever to filter through into computers, which I find strange.

ie basics like Win 7 not having native bluray support (They did that back in the day with a lack of native DVD support in XP etc)

or more complicated bits like not being able to send the HD audio via hdmi for a receiver to decode.
I bought a receiver that can accept 7.1 lpcm if the player decodes it first, but it can't decode the 'unzipped' raw HD audio format if this is passed to it undecoded. To make this work with a htpc the htpc would have to be decoding the HD bluray audio and passing it to the receiver via hdmi. I can't see this happening any time soon.

The bluray stuff doesn't matter though, (as standalone players are now pretty cheap), but it would be nice to honestly just have the one box doing it all.

eXDee

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#375640 2-Sep-2010 10:51

I heard intel graphics does hardware acceleration, but didn't fully conform to the DXVA spec? by that i mean not every hardware accelerated codec worked correctly.

Anyone had this issue? Or does it accelerate with the win7 codec, the media player classic-home cinema codec and programs like VLC1.1 where acceleration is built in?

sultanoswing

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#375981 2-Sep-2010 21:07

Another issue I've been reading about is Intel HD chipset's inability to play 23.97 fps, rather it runs at 24fps, meaing frame jumps every ~20 seconds unless you set your monitor refresh to 60Hz. Now is that a problem on a fancy 200Hz refresh LED TV?

Hmmmm. May have to go for a separate graphics card after all.