ASUS has released this new motherboard, specifically targeted at HTPC users.
The new motherboard is an AM2+ board, also supporting AM2 and AM3 CPUs, it takes DDR2 up to 1066MHz.
It has the 780G chipset, which is very good for media center duties, unless you want a Linux Media Center. It supports decoding 1080p videos based on H.264 and VC-1 fully in hardware, only requiring a single core Sempron to handle full performance on these types of streams.
It is complemented with a remote control and has independent power for the audio chip and ports, allowing for a cleaner output - according to the manufacturer. The gold plated stereo RCA outputs are also a plus for this kind of application.
The components are of high quality, including capacitors and MOSFETs.
Source: ASUS
4 comments:
"It has the 780G chipset, which is very good for media center duties, unless you want a Linux Media Center"
I did not understand this comment, could you clarify, please.
Current ATI Windows drivers are quite decent, Linux drivers are not. I witnessed this first hand with my current card, the HD 4830, and a media center which I have with a 690G chipset, which I thinking of replacing with something from Nvidia.
Not only are Nvidia drivers superior in 2D and 3D, they also support hardware video decoding on linux through VDPAU library, while ATI doesn't.
Also, I have some strange issues with ATI drivers, like HL2 under Wine, which renders fine on NV hardware but becomes full of artifacts on screen, you can see anything, when running with ATI hardware.
Best regards
Which motherboard from Asus do you recommend to use with Linux in an HTPC. Can be the ASUS M3N78-VM?
Hi,
I don't recommend any ASUS board for use with Linux right now. Some work fine but a good amount of them have problems with ACPI, causing them to crash frequently.
The one you say would work fine as far as graphics go but ACPI is hard to guarantee and disabling it is not an option, IMO.
I have had a lot of success with Gigabyte models, which usually are also better boards all around. All of the ones that I've tested worked perfectly fine, either for Intel or AMD processors.
The ones I tested were the GA-MA770M-DS3(excellent board), MA78GM-DS2H, MA78GM-S2H rev 1.0 and the GA-965P-DS4.
I suppose that from the ones Gigabyte builds that have Nvidia chipsets, one should suit you.
I'd say you'd be a lot more likely to have one working just right if it's from Gigabyte, as opposed to ASUS or Foxconn.
If you do, of if you don't, please share that with us.
Best regards
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