mini itx questions

[diluzio91]

I want to build a htpc with a mini itx board that will be used for movies, emulators, and some light gaming, EG: borderlands, cod 4/5 ect. not worried about having the eye candy turned up, just want to be able to have them be playable on my TV. Would i be better off going with an nvidia ion board? or should i go with a board without the ion and get a GPU for it. Also, if i go for a gpu what should i get, power isn't a big issue, i have a 200 watt PSU to work with. Ill listen to any and all combo reccomendations, budget it ~450, with about $250 spoken for. ram is budgeted, hard drive, dvd drive, and case/psu is spoken for. that leaves about 200 to work with. thanks for the help!

[nevermind1534]

If you're not turning the graphics up, the ion will probably be fine.

[x88x]

I'm gonna have to disagree on this. I'm assuming a 1920x1080 TV? While my GTX260 was out of commission (and before I got fed up and 'rented' a GTX465 from BB), I tried to play Borderlands with both a GeForce 8600 GTS and my onboard GeForce 9400 (same chip desktop ION chipsets use), and both were completely unacceptable (hmmm, it just occurs to me now that I probably could have tried hybrid-SLI..hmmm...ah well, that's an experiment for another time). It get anything like a playable experience (ie, anything over 25 fps), I had to completely turn all the details down and drop the resolution to I think 1280x720. I'm assuming you're going with a real CPU (ie, not an Atom)?

[diluzio91]

well... the hope was to go with an atom board... but if you can find a solution around $450 that will work ill be open to it... never messed around with mini itx, so dont really know alot about it.

[nevermind1534]

I'm assuming a 1920x1080 TV?

That would be different; I still have a 720P TV.

[x88x]

well... the hope was to go with an atom board...

Let me put it this way...you're not gonna be running Borderlands/COD4/5/etc at any settings on an Atom.

Unfortunately, it looks like the cheapest you could go with miniITX and a real CPU would be ~$200 just for the CPU/MBB, then the GPU on top of that.

Whether you go Intel or AMD, it comes out to about the same (the Intel CPU is more expensive with a cheaper MBB, but the AMD CPU is cheaper with a more expensive MBB).
AMD:
ASUS M4A88T-I Deluxe: $125 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131659)
Athlon II X2 260: $72 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103873)

Intel:
ECS H55H-I: $80 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135259)
i3-840: $125 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115221)

Then you would need a decent-ish GPU, which would add another $60-80. Assuming 1920x1080, I would recommend at least a 4/5670 or 8800/GTS250.

If you step up to uATX, you could knock probably about $50 off the MBB for an AMD setup.

EDIT:
Just saw the 620p stipulation..in that case, yeah, a 4670, 9600, or GT240 will probably push it ok...I wouldn't go below that though.
http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f22/geforce-gt-240-vs-geforce-9600-gt-vs-radeon-4670-a-68035/

[Konrad]

I don't know much / never used any of these puny mobo form factors either.

But I did find Mini-Box.com (http://www.mini-box.com/); their mobo prices are better than above (some as low as $85), they don't sell procs (aside from mobo-integrated versions).

+1 vote avoid the Atom.
Athlon II and i3 are good choices. Some of these mobos can socket dual/quad-cores, i5, Athlon, Phenom.

I think I would try to get the best GPU possible and worry about CPU afterwards, personally. TV out would be good, HD1920x1080, etc.