2010-10-27, 05:58
Its me once again. I tell you I miss the days when I use to game. It was so much easier to make a choice on what I wanted.
Obviously I am using XBMC as for my HTPC. Going to use Windows 7.
What I am shooting for
1080P playback
HD 7.1 Audio
Smooth Blue Ray playback
6 Sata Ports
What I would like is a motherboard with onboard video and good hd sound coming out of an HDMI port to my Surround Sound Stereo system then to my TV.
Were I am struggling is picking a good setup that will give me what I want, but not go overboard. I have read a lot of information that states onboard video is just not capable of doing smooth Blue Ray play back. I have also read that a addon video card is over kill and is only needed for the purpose of gaming and tends to add more noise.
I want to build something fairly high end as I don't want to be upgrading less than 6 months down the road, but I don't want to go so hi-end that it could technically qualify as a gaming machine and spend a load of cash.
Finally I am stuck between Nvidia and ATI(AMD). I have always built AMD Nvidia combos, but I am not opposed to going with Intel Nvidia or AMD ATI(AMD).
I like what I have read about the ION systems, but I can only find CPU motherboard combos. No just plain ION based motherboards where I can pick my own CPU.
Perhaps I'm just to picky. Any input on this would be great. I have the case, hard drives, and blue ray drive already picked out. I just need the mothership to bring it all together. Choosing the memory and CPU is the easy part.
Obviously I am using XBMC as for my HTPC. Going to use Windows 7.
What I am shooting for
1080P playback
HD 7.1 Audio
Smooth Blue Ray playback
6 Sata Ports
What I would like is a motherboard with onboard video and good hd sound coming out of an HDMI port to my Surround Sound Stereo system then to my TV.
Were I am struggling is picking a good setup that will give me what I want, but not go overboard. I have read a lot of information that states onboard video is just not capable of doing smooth Blue Ray play back. I have also read that a addon video card is over kill and is only needed for the purpose of gaming and tends to add more noise.
I want to build something fairly high end as I don't want to be upgrading less than 6 months down the road, but I don't want to go so hi-end that it could technically qualify as a gaming machine and spend a load of cash.
Finally I am stuck between Nvidia and ATI(AMD). I have always built AMD Nvidia combos, but I am not opposed to going with Intel Nvidia or AMD ATI(AMD).
I like what I have read about the ION systems, but I can only find CPU motherboard combos. No just plain ION based motherboards where I can pick my own CPU.
Perhaps I'm just to picky. Any input on this would be great. I have the case, hard drives, and blue ray drive already picked out. I just need the mothership to bring it all together. Choosing the memory and CPU is the easy part.
