Good SFF HTPC Motherboard to fit into Small form factor Dell GX280 case

[davery]

Hi people. i'm currently running a Dell GX280 (small form) as my media PC. But want to replace the motherboard/cpu/video card, just wondering what would be good choices to put in it.

Obviously, all parts need to fit into a Small form factor case.

Anybody got any ideas? greatly appreciated

[logifuse]

I think it uses an mATX mobo with no slots in the last 2 PCI slot locations.

Not sure if a standard mATX will fit in (even with the PCI ports not being used) due to the powersupply.

Anyway, I'd recommend against re-using a Dell case - the power switches don't seem to work with standard motherboards. Also, the front panel connections are all non-standard.

There is a mini ITX board that has a GF8200 onboard: Jetway.

Justin

[becje01]

I'm also interested in this...I'm using a SFF GX280 as the cabinet under the TV is very shallow (a Silverstone GD02 might fit if I didn't have any cables to plug into the back of it, but it'd be dicey - WAF would drop significantly if I try to replace furniture - that's going TOO FAR)...

My P4 works for nearly everything, but the fan is NOISY and it seems to spend a lot of it's time mercilessly flogging the CPU...I'd love to go for an AMD 4850e based replacement but finding a case is proving problematic, and the GD02 seems touch and go if you want to have an optical drive & a CPU cooler...

[logifuse]

Originally Posted by becje01

I'm also interested in this...I'm using a SFF GX280 as the cabinet under the TV is very shallow (a Silverstone GD02 might fit if I didn't have any cables to plug into the back of it, but it'd be dicey - WAF would drop significantly if I try to replace furniture - that's going TOO FAR)...

My P4 works for nearly everything, but the fan is NOISY and it seems to spend a lot of it's time mercilessly flogging the CPU...I'd love to go for an AMD 4850e based replacement but finding a case is proving problematic, and the GD02 seems touch and go if you want to have an optical drive & a CPU cooler...

There's a Jetway 780G board that looks good too - the northbridge is passive.

For the GD02, the Scythe Shuriken looks like a winner.

Justin

[davery]

Okay, so pending the feedback I've received about the Dell GX280 case and the likelihood it wouldn't take to new MOBO etc. very well. I'm looking at the following.

Keep my current USB Tv Tuner (Leadtek Dongle Gold), 500gb WD SATA HDD, 2gb DDR2 633mhz RAM, CD Writer/DVD ROM. and put it together with the following.

Midi ATX Case ASUS Vento TA-B4 (400W PSU Silver-Black) - $66

MotherBoard Intel S775 Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H - $95

Intel Pentium Duo Core E5200 - $109

The motherboard has onboard Nvidia 7100 chipset, and 8ch HD audio.

I would assume it, but can anyone confirm that this setup would be HDCP, and provide 1080p output? (reason being is that further down the track i will be adding a bluray drive to the equasion)

Any other feedback regarding the above setup?

[becje01]

Can't remember the GX280 RAM specs, but have you checked if you can use your existing RAM with the new components?

[john2069]

Why not go with the ultimate SFF PC ... the Mac Mini?

[davery]

The ram is DDR2, new motherboard is DDR2, so shouldn't be a problem.

Mac Mini, No thanks. Ultimate?? Not sure about that, although for the amount you pay, they'd want to be.

[Astrotoy7]

whoa....Awesome stuff logifuse! embedded 8200 and AM2 support on a mini-itx. Im usually pretty up with hardware goings on but totally missed that one ! I blame all those freakin Atom based mini-itx that have flooded the market

Here's my fave mini-itx case:
The Nexus Psile


available at pccasegear. Price is $299 but that includes the slimline slotload drive.

mmm...minimalism.

anyone got a local source for one of those jetways?

astro