There is now some anecdotal evidence that the new AMD 780G based motherboards are "perfect" with their onboard GPU insofar as BluRay playback is concerned. the feedback is from the Missing Remote forums. The person in question is saying that CPU usage on any HD playback never goes bast ~20%. He is using an X2 5400+ so I would bet that

This is a huge development if this is properly tests to be so. From a complexity, power consumption and ease of assembly perspective, this could be the very best development for HTPCs.

As I type I found this!!!!!!!!!

There is one review of the only widely available 780G board out there and there are a LOT more reasons than just the video to like this board:

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2008/giga...8GM-S2H/g1.htm



This information is enough to make me very glad to not have bought a discrete vid card yet. There is ample evidence that shows that this board and an X2 4200 would be MORE than enough for any dedicated HTPC. That means for RAM (2 GB), CPU and Mobo, you can buy in for no more than $200!!! This is an AMAZING deal!!!

Even with the misses in the HQV HD tests, there is always the possibility that a BIOS or driver update will fix these issues. Remember that these new boards are just coming out so there are bound to be things that need to be tweaked a little bit.

Yep, I've been following this closely as well.

I'm just waiting to see what the 8200 IGP boards look like. So far they don't seem to have as good backpanel I/O options.

It pays to wait!

In particular, did you notice that there is at least one of EVERYTHING on the atx breakout on that Gigabyte board?

Looking at the manual, the only thing I can see wrong is the total lack of component video out. However, that should not be much of an issue for many people.

Yeah, I noticed that.

Right now I'm leaning towards a 780G based board since most of them seem to have one or both of coax/optical audio built-in. If the graphics don't work out well then I can always add a video card of my choice.

Just read a nice review of the 780g over on pcper and looks like a winner. They finally have a new southbridge (SB700) that addresses the old issues. The hybrid solution is interesting as it allows you to even get some minimum gaming power for 50$ more. Almost makes me wish I had waited instead of getting the 790fx board.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/..._780g_chipset/

Maybe not the perfect chipset, but the first one to get it "all right". Plus the arrival of the new SB is long overdue.

Lots of people, including me, have been waiting for boards based on theis chipset.

I'm probably going to build a new HTPC in a month or so using it.

I've read almost all the threads from begining to end and things are many opinions have changed. So I'll put up the specs of the system i'm planning to build and hope to hear some feedback on it.

Main system use, (operated on a 40" sony xbr4)
1) play blu-ray (without a hic-up)
2) play every possible video format (downloads off the net)
3) display pictures
4) play music without having to turn on the t.v

mobo: gigabyte ga-ma78gm-52H AMD 780G
cpu : X2 6000+
ram : 2GB
HD : 1TB WD RE2-GP
psu : Seasonic m12II-430
case : SilverStone Cw03B-Mt

a have a lot of questions, but my main on is the hdmi connection. If i leave the system the way it is, 1)would HDMI carry the sound and video?
2) Could i connect the hdmi to the tv and then use the optical out (from the motherboard) to connect to the speakers? Or should i use the one (opptical out
) from the tv?
3) Anything i'm missing with my step-up

Any feedback or comments on the system would be greatly appreciated.
rob.

It's very early days on the capabilities of the 780 boards so it's hard to say for sure how well audio over HDMI will work. It does have SPDIF so that is always there as a fallback.

One thing I am reading now is that to get the best decoding performance out of the 780 you need a CPU with a HT 3.0 interface. Right now that means a Phenom processor. I believe there will a dual core coming out with HT 3.0 soon so you might want to wait for that.

Dear Esteemed contributors,

Looks like I might change course AGAIN, in my pc build direction, having read Tom's review of AMD's New 780G Chipset and in particular the objective of building an HTPC.

This may be all that I need for now.

But coz' I am not very astute when it comes to all this I need some help. Lead this horse to water !!

The review is here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/..._780g_chipset/

I like the idea of low power consumption and the ability to slip this into a slim, quiet case.

I have some questions though, whose answer's were not obvious to me in his review. Tom talks about a "Basic configuration for an HTPC", but does not go on to suggest a "Best or optimum" setup.


The setup seems to suggest:

MOBO
Gigabyte's GA-MA78GM-SH2

He says that this MOBO cannot drive two monitors. And goes on to say that
to do this you need to get ATI's HD3450 as an add-in. With this you can drive 4 monitors (not that I really want to - but who knows !).
Question: He goes on to talk a lot about the add-on HD3450 - is this desirable as an extra, should I be getting this from the get-go (or would I go for the "basic" then add-on later).

On the same subject, I see that there is a 512MB version of this card and a 256MB version. Which would you get and why ?


CPU
He seems to suggest waiting for the Athlon X2 4850e to come out in the "next few weeks". Is this right ? - this has a feature called "quiet and cool" - which sounds like something I would like.

Is this the right way to go in terms of CPU ?


USB ports:
He says of the SB700
"The most important improvements present in the SB700 are the inclusion of S-ATA 300 as well as 14 USB ports. Of the USB ports, 12 support USB 2.0, while two are USB 1.0 compliant for use with mice or keyboards"

What does this mean, does this mean that you could have 12 USB 2.0 ports.? (How would you get these ? I don't see 12 on the MOBO. Sorry for being thick.)

Case:
He recommends Hiper. What would you recommend ? Sleek and quiet (colling suggestion ??).


RAM:
He seems to suggest 2GB RAM, but can this take more ? Is it not best to max out. Does this affect the temperature ?


TUNER
Tom mentions nothing about a Tuner. Does this thing take a Tuner ? Is so what tuner would you put in ?


So in summary we are talking :

MOBO
Gigabyte's GA-MA78GM-SH2 - $99

CPU
AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 - $90
(but better to wait till 4850e is released ??)

RAM
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $45

Blu-Ray rom
LITE-ON Black DH-4O1S-11 - $140

HDD
Seagate 7200.10 500GB - $110

Totals less than $500 without

a) additional Video card
b) tuner
c) case


I know there are lots of questions here in a random order. but I would be really grateful for some help.


Thanks.

Since the 780G chipset is likely to generate a bunch of discussion I've moved/merged the existing posts into this thread.

Let's use this thread for 780G discussions.

My last computer was an Intel machine after buying 3 AMD machines. I have worried about AMD because I want at least two CPU and GPU providers in the marketplace.

When Phenom and 780 series are fully up and running, I think AMD might finally be back in the game.

...so go AMD go!

Here's the review from the AMD boards:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid...e=expert&pid=1

It mentions nothing about needing a discrete GPU for 2 monitors.

Take a look a this link:

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...-graphics-game

Nothing but praise for this setup.

I am just flabergasted by the possibilities. AMD really does stand a huge chance of a leap in overall sales of systems from this comprehensive of a platform/package.