Derrick
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The I-N73HD is an excellent motherboard for building an HTPC or even a low- to mid-range gaming PC. It supports all relevant technologies needed for high-definition content playback, and is capable of serving as a small media server.
abit needs no introduction as a motherboard manufacturer because it’s well established and has pioneered many innovations that many take for granted today. Most of these innovations have in the past been aimed at the enthusiast crowd, but many of the technologies have filtered down to the low end and to abit’s home theatrecentric products as well.
The I-N73HD is one such product. Based on the NVIDIA nForce 630i chipset and featuring an on-board GeForce 7100 graphics accelerator, it’s ready for high-definition media playback.
Many boards feature HDMI connectors and on-board graphics and can be used for HD media playback, but they lack one thing: optical audio out (which the I-N73HD has). With optical audio you can enjoy full, uncompressed high-definition audio if the receiver you are connected to can decode the signal.
If not, you can still enjoy lossless digital audio via the on-board Realtek ALC888 audio controller, which supports up to eight channels. This is great to see on an HTPC motherboard as it makes it a complete solution (i.e. it doesn’t need an add-on sound card).
Install a decent processor, two gigabytes of RAM and an add-in graphics card, such as the ATI HD 3850 or NVIDIA 9600GT, and you can use the I-N73HD as a media centre PC or even as a respectable gaming platform.
With built in FireWire and Gigabit Ethernet, the I-N73HD is all one needs to build a decent rig that can do everything high-end motherboards have on offer.
However, there’s one problem that plagues the I-N73HD (which is not unique to this model but every other 630i-based motherboard): the Northbridge produces a quite a bit of heat, so it’s a good idea to have a well-ventilated case to keep temperatures under control.
Other than this, the I-N73HD is an excellent motherboard.
abit needs no introduction as a motherboard manufacturer because it’s well established and has pioneered many innovations that many take for granted today. Most of these innovations have in the past been aimed at the enthusiast crowd, but many of the technologies have filtered down to the low end and to abit’s home theatrecentric products as well.
The I-N73HD is one such product. Based on the NVIDIA nForce 630i chipset and featuring an on-board GeForce 7100 graphics accelerator, it’s ready for high-definition media playback.
Many boards feature HDMI connectors and on-board graphics and can be used for HD media playback, but they lack one thing: optical audio out (which the I-N73HD has). With optical audio you can enjoy full, uncompressed high-definition audio if the receiver you are connected to can decode the signal.
If not, you can still enjoy lossless digital audio via the on-board Realtek ALC888 audio controller, which supports up to eight channels. This is great to see on an HTPC motherboard as it makes it a complete solution (i.e. it doesn’t need an add-on sound card).
Install a decent processor, two gigabytes of RAM and an add-in graphics card, such as the ATI HD 3850 or NVIDIA 9600GT, and you can use the I-N73HD as a media centre PC or even as a respectable gaming platform.
With built in FireWire and Gigabit Ethernet, the I-N73HD is all one needs to build a decent rig that can do everything high-end motherboards have on offer.
However, there’s one problem that plagues the I-N73HD (which is not unique to this model but every other 630i-based motherboard): the Northbridge produces a quite a bit of heat, so it’s a good idea to have a well-ventilated case to keep temperatures under control.
Other than this, the I-N73HD is an excellent motherboard.