Hi,

I'm just starting to order the parts for my system. I would like a motherboard with integrated Audio and TV Out for three reasons: I want to keep it simple, I want to keep it cheap, and I want to keep it small.

Below are two older boards that people have recommended in the past, which seem perfect. Unfortunately, I can't find any merchant who lists them who actually has them in stock. It seems these recommendations are out of date.

Chaintech 7NIF2 (3 PCI Slots, $90)
ASUS A7N8X-VM/400 (3 PCI Slots, $90)

Does anybody know anyplace who sells one of these boards, or if there is an affordable board still on the market with integrated Audio and TV Out? I need a motherboard with three PCI slots free -- two for Hauppage PVR cards, and one for a Wireless LAN card. I also need a motherboard that doesn't break the bank. Unfortunately, that eliminates the following:

ASUS P458L (Only 2 PCI Slots)
VIA M1000 (Only 1 PCI Slots)
VIA MII12000 (Only one PCI Slot)
Aopen i915GMM-HFS (Costs $280 !)

Any advice appreciated... I hope I don't sound unreasonable!

Thanks!
David

Have you tried ebay for these boards? I have the a7n8x-vm and it really is great for a mythtv box

Your 3 PCI slot requirement is gonna be quite hard since most modern boards with decent chipsets are starting to replace the PCI slots with PCI-E ones.

Keep an open mind here; you may not need 3 pci slots, only 2 for your tuners. That wireless lan card might be replaced with a usb wireless adapter.

Yeah, unfortunately I may have to keep an open mind. I'd rather avoid the external USB wireless adapter, though, because I'm trying to build (literally) a "set top box" -- one housed in an old CD changer. It wouldn't look so set top boxish with an external adapter hanging out the back.

Who said it has to hang out the back? You can take it out of whatever shiny case it's in (since your box sounds like a case mod anyway) and tuck it inside the box with the rest of the guts. Plug a spare usb pci slot breakout adapter into the motherboard and plug the usb wireless nic into that. It's all hidden.

Also you could use the hauppauge pvr-500 card. This card includes two seperate tuners on one card (one PCI slot). Basically the same as using two seperate pvr-250's.

Thanks for all the advice. I just won an ebay auction on a A7N8X-VM/400 motherboard, so if it works properly, I'll be set!