[mythtv-users] good microATX board

[Anthony Vito]

On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 10:53:42 +0200, Johan Eriksson
<mediacenter at eriksson.net> wrote:
> 
> I am using the Biostar M7NCG-400 (mATX nForce2), which supports
> undervolting of the CPU (which is why choose this MB). I am using
> it with a XP Barton 2400+, Kamakaze Cooler, Seasonic Tornade PSU
> in a Coolermaster 620 BX1 case. Silent and stable (with GF5200,
> PVR-350 and Asus TV/FM).
> 
> I haven't tried the S/PDIF output yet (available through on-board
> header).
> 
> /johan
> 
> PS For more undervoltable (quiet) MBs, have a look at (only a few mATX):
> 
> http://www.silentpcreview.com/Sections+index-req-viewarticle-artid-69.html
> 

 I am using a Abit-VA10. I purchased it because I've always liked Abit
boards, and have never had any issues with them. It's a nice board,
but I purchased a mobile XP for it, thinking that the good people at
Abit would never NOT put overclocking options like multiplier settings
on one of their boards. Saddly, I was wrong. The mobile XP only came
up at 800Mhz because it defaulted to the lowest setting. I got the
chip running at normal speed with one of these
http://www.anthonyvito.com/PKlabel.jpg .. I have two of them because I
used to overclock my dual Athlon machine, they are called "Golden
Sockets", the intercept the FID pins and set the multipler. Fun hack..
It works, but without soldering more dipswitches I can't adjust the
voltage like I want to. I have a wish to undervolt the mobile chip and
really get it's power usage down. It's nice to hear you've had a good
experience with the BioStar board, I'll be buying one now.

 As far as myth support... I use this board with a pcHDTV and a FX5200
doing XvMC. I could not for the life of me get the built in unichrome
chipset to do XvMC or viaslice accel. The VA-10 has an optical out for
the built in audio, which is a really nice feature. The board is very
good Abit quality, just not what I needed. I'm going to try out the
BioStar, I'll let you know how it goes. I'm hoping to use the built in
gfmx for XvMC.

anthony.vito