HTPC Motherboard Options

[S1ght]

Hey all,

So I'm in the process of seeing if it's worth building an HTPC but having some troubles finding a good motherboard. Basically I need a Micro ATX board that supports LGA 1155 and has optical out. From what I can see most of the Micro ATX boards will use HDMI out to give you your AV but I want to run an Optical Cable straight to my Z5500.

The cheapest motherboard I can find with this though is R1091

ASRock Z68M - http://www.wootware.co.za/asrock-z68m-usb3-lga-1155-intel-z68-micro-atx-desktop-motherboard.html

Does anyone maybe have any better suggestions for me?

Thanks in advance,
S1ght

 

[avid-dreamer]

Why micro ATX? Why not build a mini itx, what processor do you want to put in? would you have any other uses for it besides serving as a htpc

 

[S1ght]

Why micro ATX? Why not build a mini itx, what processor do you want to put in? would you have any other uses for it besides serving as a htpc

Mini ITX is tad too small. I am looking at putting 1 of those low powered Ivy Bridge i3s with a passively cooled Nvidia GT620 for video decoding. It's basically going to be my media/download PC that'll I'll be able to leave on. So basic programs will probably be XBMC,utorrent,sickbeard,Steam sitting either on Ubuntu on Windows 7, haven't quite decided yet.

 

[Pada]

Why is mini-ITX too small?

IMO your HTPC case would be too big if you're going for the micro-ATX (standard size) motherboard.

What do you want to do with Steam? If you're not going to be playing games, then you may also want to consider going for an HP Microserver N40L with a GT620...

 

[S1ght]

Why is mini-ITX too small?

IMO your HTPC case would be too big if you're going for the micro-ATX (standard size) motherboard.

What do you want to do with Steam? If you're not going to be playing games, then you may also want to consider going for an HP Microserver N40L with a GT620...

Micro ATX isn't standard size...I was thinking of coupling it with a case like this

http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=29&products_id=1476

Steam was just an idea for when I buy a game on Steam then I can rather download it on there instead of using my normal PC on all night.

 

[Pada]

Nowadays most office PC's use micro-ATX and not the standard ATX form factor any more. High end gaming machines still use ATX, since it allows for dual graphics cards.

Just remember to buy extra fans when going with a case like that if you're going for passively cooled graphics & CPU.