Creating a homemade DVR from scratch? The motherboard is your homebase. When putting my own HTPC together, I utilize NewEgg and their immensely helpful “power search.” Why? NewEgg has hundreds of motherboards, most of which are not geared towards a home theater computer. Using the power search, I was able to hone in on the without having to wade through page after page of confusing motherboard selection.
Let’s get started!
- Click computer hardware
- Currently, Intel CPUs are the way to go, so select “Intel Motherboards.”
- Now “power search” on the left. Using power search, you can check off the exact features you’re interested in and ignore the features that you, well, want to ignore.
Making some choices
Since you’re building an HTPC not a colossus gaming rig or video editor, most of the important choices are going to be near the end. When I was picking my mobo, I paid special attention to:
Audio
If you can get a motherboard with built in support for 5.1 or 7.1, you may not have to add a soundcard - saving you money, a PCI slot, and power consumption. If your motherboard has S/PDIF output, you can send audio straight to your home theater receiver.
Video
While integrated video may be a bad word in the gaming world, on an HTPC it may help save you some money as well as heat woes. The goal for your motherboard’s video is to offload as much decoding as possible from the CPU and output the video to HDMI.
This article from Anandtech provides some numbers for integrated graphics chipsets and Blu-Ray playback. The NVIDIA 9300 and 9400 are bothvery effective at offloading video playback from the CPU as well as keeping power consumption down.
SATA Upgradeablity
It’s also worth looking into the number of SATA ports a motherboard has. This will serve as a limiting factor on future hard drive expansion. If you’re sporting a Blu-Ray drive, a DVD burner, and a couple hard drives, you’ve already used up four SATA connections. Make sure you have room to grow. HTPCs never have enough hard drive space (at least in my experience!).
Form Factor
Unless you’re going building a smaller HTPC, a standard ATX motherboard will give you the most room to upgrade.
Begin The Hunt!
I searched for a motherboard with HDMI out, 6-10 audio channels, any S/PDIF connector, ATX form factor, and either the NVIDIA 9300 or 9400 chipset. Success! The fits the bill. Let’s take a closer look to make sure everything’s in order.
Specifications
I’ve run across a few errors in Newegg’s search returns in the past, so make sure to double check that the EVGA board has everything we wanted.
Reviews
Let’s skim through the Newegg user reviews next. With 47 reviews, the mobo has a decent history. Don’t be turned off immediately by any one- and two-egg reviews. In fact, I always look at those reviews first. It often turns out that most of the low reviews are unrelated to HTPC issues. For example, any complaints about overclocking can be ignored. And remember, people are more likely to write a review if they’re unhappy. After skimming the bad reviews for any patterns, I check out the fours to see what kept people who liked the board from giving a perfect score.
Decision Time
After finding a possible board and researching the reviews, it’s the moment of truth. For me, the EVGA board looks like a great foundation for an HTPC. At about $130 (or $110 with a rebate) it’s price is right on the money (and remember it’s saving us from buying a dedicated sound card, video card, or network card right off the bat).
How did you go about finding your perfect HTPC motherboard? Anyone use the EVGA board?