Morning all,

I've been running my Mythbox FE/BE stand alone box under my TV for a while now. The GF has complained aobutthe noise of the fans pretty much from day one and the appearence of the old beige box I am using.

I have finally dceided to build a seperate low profile FE.

I am struggling to find a suitable mobo.

I currently have a Geforce5200 using s-video to a crt 32" widescreen.

I want to re-use the geforce card so that meants an AGP slot. Though onboard to s-video would be a suitable alternative.

I also want to have an oprtical out. (Have a sound card for that tho.)

And wireless network. (Have a Netgear WG311T for that).

So in all I want min 2 PCI slots for expansion.

I've found this:

I've looked at a number of UK sites, but I'm not having masses of luck seeing what I'm looking for - especially with a suitable chipset and AGP slot.

Suggestions please.

Oh, and btw...
I've had a look at these online retailers:
www.dabs.com
www.overclockers.co.uk
www.ebuyer.co.uk
www.scan.co.uk

The some possilbes are:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=332463 (only has vga out...)
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=316592 (wrong chipset - anybody had any luck with one of these?)

Regards Chris

Thaks for any input.

_________________
Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)

Well, I'll add to this myself:

I've found a MSI K8TM-ILSR at http://www.computersupermarket.com/ProductDetails.php/147/139
to go with a 64 bit sempron. It has a IR sensor header which would be good.
My only concern is hows the VIA K8T800 chipset work with Myth? Anyone?

Or a socket A mobo with a Asrock K7S41 FSB400 http://www.computersupermarket.com/ProductDetails.php/144/388 which according to tier 1 just works.

I'll keep on looking... any thought please feel free to chip in anytime.[/url]

_________________
Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)

I'm not sure on this one, as I have a Chaintech mobo that I bought refurbished, and I just kept having problems with it; couldn't run it over 133 without problems, can't run the video at 8X (card supports it but MB doesn't seem to like it), bios beeps on booting quite often, memory checked good, using a FX5200 + 350 & 500, Athlon 3200, so I'm I not sure that I didnt' get a board that came with problems too. I think I'd stay away from boards that use "shared" memory; that's kinda' silly anyway, with a 256MB video card.
I went to an Abit NF7, but that's not what you want.
I'm looking now too, because I had purchased a nice case that only takes a micro board, and I'd sure like to use it.
Will post again after I look around.

Have you all tried NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... rd&Ntk=all

Abit NF-95 AMD
Abit IS-85 Intel
Asus A8N-VM AMD

These are just a few of the micro mobos I found.
I'd like to get one with the NForce chipset, but the biggest drawback on many
of these boards is that they only have 2 PCI slots; I'd like at least 3, but could possibly make do with 2.

Hi mal1ch1,

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately as I am a UK resident NewEgg isn't the most straight forward to use. Looking at their knowledge base they ship overseas to service personel (I'm not sure what the acronym APO and FOS are but I'm guessing Airforce Over Seas and Forces Over Seas) but unsure about us in civvy street. As for the time window they quote (4-6 weeks) I think I'll be trying to buy over here in the UK.
But a useful place to look for potentials.

Some mobos you'd suggested I'd already seen, but I was trying to steer away from PCI-E boards as I want to use my AGP GeForce 5200 - it has all the connectors I need vga, s-video and DVI for those later upgrades to hi-def tv when it finally makes it's way over here.

Regards
Chris

_________________
Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)

By the way, what case did you get I'm thinking of getting a Silverstone Lascala SST-LC11M HTPC Case (Silver) as seen here http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc11m.htm.
It's got the 3 slots for the 2 pci cards and the AGP card and it has a nifty little digital display.
- Again the GF factor - she want's to have the time displayed and what station we're watching on it etc...

_________________
Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)

The asus a8n-vm csm is a good mobo but be prepared for quite a bit of work getting it all working (atm all the boards with that chipset involve a bit of work)

If you don't mind second hand, theres the asus a7n8x-vm - socket A, 1 x agp, 3 x PCI.

I have built knoppmyth machines with both of these mobos.

I purchased the Antec NSK2400 tophee, which is a nice case, but doesn't have the features you mentioned.
The mobos mentioned above sound good, as I've had good luck with Asus mobos; but, I've had the Abit NF7 that's performed well too (not micro).
Good luck on the hunt, I googled on cases 'over there' and came up with quite a few. Let us know what you decide to build, 'would be interested to know, as I may be building another unit soon (if I can afford it !).

That A8N-VM has onboard DVI out using PCIe. Looks really great on my LCD!

the install for it is getting easier too.

You can get the optical out for it from asus

http://estore.asus.com/shop/

_________________
R5F27 | M2NPV-VM | 4600+ 65W AM2X2 | CORSAIR TWIN2X1024A-6400 | 2x HD-5000 |
DVI to HP LC3700N