[owens2000]

I'm looking for a HTPC to replace my aging ATV1.
Idealy I want a silent, small, neat and tidy from factor which includes HDMI and an S/PDIF out port.

I love the look of the Akasa Eular case but I can't find a thin mini-itx board with S/PDIF out.
Does one exist?

Cheers

[Starstream]

Take a look at Solidrun CuBox-i i2ex (dual core) or i4pro (quad core).

This is a mini Arm computer like the Raspberry Pi only faster with more features, it has everything you need and an optical SPDIF output. It runs Openelec same as distro that runs on the Raspberry Pi & PC's from micro SD card. Use Win32 Disk Image Writer to burn img to SD card and plug into the device.

If your not averse to running Windows you can buy a USB sound card with SPDIF for next to nothing and just plug that into your HTPC, problem solved. Linux compatibility however I'm not so sure on.

[tavoc]

This board has spdif out: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Q1900TM-ITX/

I am using it myself. But you need an adapter from 3,5mm optical (HD Audio Jacks: Microphone / Front Speaker (Supports SPDIF Optical)) to normal spdif.

[Dougie Fresh]

Just beware the Q1900TM-ITX is not compatible with the Akasa Euler case because of the heatsink design.

The ASRock H81TM-ITX has a SPDIF header on the motherboard which you could hook up to something like this but the Euler doesn't have a expansion slot to mount the SPDIF outputs so you'd need to DIY something.

[owens2000]

This board has spdif out: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Q1900TM-ITX/

I am using it myself. But you need an adapter from 3,5mm optical (HD Audio Jacks: Microphone / Front Speaker (Supports SPDIF Optical)) to normal spdif.

Thanks for the tip with the S/PDIF connector on this board.
I was looking at the full mini-itx version previously ( Q1900-ITX ) but couldn't find a 'sexy' case to go with it :-). Since the Heatsink is built into this board it wont fit the Eular.

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Just beware the Q1900TM-ITX is not compatible with the Akasa Euler case because of the heatsink design.

The ASRock H81TM-ITX has a SPDIF header on the motherboard which you could hook up to something like this but the Euler doesn't have a expansion slot to mount the SPDIF outputs so you'd need to DIY something.

Thanks.
I suppose I could just get a HD audio jack to S/PDIF adapter mentioned by Tavoc which would do the job.

[Matt Devo]

assuming you'll be using either Windows or OpenELEC, the Turtle Beach USB/SPDIF (optical) adapter I list in the ChromeBox wiki works perfectly out of the box

[Dougie Fresh]

If you're looking for a recommendation I've used both the ASUS H81T/CSM and ECS H81H3-TI motherboards and they both work great. The one caveat with the ASUS is I was not able to get a Haswell Refresh CPU to work even with the upgraded BIOS. The 9-series thin mini-ITX motherboards haven't come out yet. Your best bet is to go with a pre Haswell Refresh CPU for one of the 8-series thin mini-ITX motherboards.

[owens2000]

assuming you'll be using either Windows or OpenELEC, the Turtle Beach USB/SPDIF (optical) adapter I list in the ChromeBox wiki works perfectly out of the box

Great tip, cheers

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If you're looking for a recommendation I've used both the ASUS H81T/CSM and ECS H81H3-TI motherboards and they both work great. The one caveat with the ASUS is I was not able to get a Haswell Refresh CPU to work even with the upgraded BIOS. The 9-series thin mini-ITX motherboards haven't come out yet. Your best bet is to go with a pre Haswell Refresh CPU for one of the 8-series thin mini-ITX motherboards.

Thanks for the info both boards look like good candidates.