Which chipset for AMD HTPC?

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andreasl
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Which chipset for AMD HTPC?

Post by andreasl » Mon Dec 24, 2007 10:38 am

Hi,

Yet another "Which motherboard should I go get" type of question. I'm looking for a cheap HTPC (and file server) solution to drive my fullHD TV.

The requirements are:
* Integrated graphics
* low power
* Be able to show 1080p content without problem

I've decided to go with an AMD solution because of low price and low idle power consumption (the machine will run 24/7).

So the big question is what chipset to go with, 630a+GF7050PV or 690G+SB600? (is there any other viable chipset?)

While reading through the threads on the forum it seems that 7050PV is slightly faster and has lower power consumption, but that this is based on a single source (a German test I believe).

What do you suggest?

laserred
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Post by laserred » Mon Dec 24, 2007 11:43 am

I've got the Biostar TF7050-M2, which is what I am sure you are referring to. I can tell you that even at 1.36V the northbridge heatsink is barely warm to the touch even with minimal airflow. The board seems to overclock fairly well, and you can even overclock the on-chip video if you so choose. The 24-pin connector and 4-pin AUX connector are both in dumb spots on the board, especially in my P180. However, with the latest BIOS flash, the board has as many adjustable features as any non-DFI board I've ever used, about the only thing that is nagging for "silent" computing is that you can't undervolt the CPU in the BIOS, you have to use A64 Info or something like that. I'd purchase it again, and yes, it will display 1080p through the built-in HDMI port. Also, the HDMI audio works; I am not sure that the AMD 690 does yet, but I could be wrong.

andreasl
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Post by andreasl » Mon Dec 24, 2007 12:08 pm

Yes, I've seen that the Biostar TF7050-M2 is quite popular on this board, and I would probably get it if I could get it from a decent store in Sweden. But unfortunately they are a bit difficult to get hold of.

On the other hand I'm mostly interested in if the 7050 chipset (or 690g) can handle 1080p well. If I can't get hold of the Biostar, there should be 7050 boards from other manufacturers.

Have you played a lot of 1080p material on it? Had any problems with stuttering etc?

djkest
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Post by djkest » Mon Dec 24, 2007 1:59 pm

Both of the boards are capable of 1080p with no stuttering. The 690G wants at least an x2 2.4GHz (recommend brisbane, obviously) and the 7050 can get by with a little less like maybe 2.2Ghz.

I have a 690G, works pretty good, NB does get smokin' hot I've heard, but it still works, can be overclocked, but I wouldn't recommend it w/o additional cooling. If you go with 690G, pay close attention to the location of the northbridge. One nice thing about the motherboard in my HTPC is it does have the best integrated sound available, which I use w/ optical out. Check sig for more details.

QuietOC
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Post by QuietOC » Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:26 am

andreasl wrote:Have you played a lot of 1080p material on it? Had any problems with stuttering etc?
So what are you going to watch that is 1080p?

I have had the Biostar TF7050 and now have a ASUS M2A-VM. Highly recommend the latter, though I dislike cheap ASUS boards in general. Right now it is running a A64 LE-1620 at 3.2GHz, but also has nice undervolting controls in BIOS down to 0.800V.

The TF7050 seemed only to have overclocking in mind, but it didn't work well at that with my X2 3600+. Also it would only overvolt the memory. Overall, other than HDMI support the GeForce 7050 seemed a step down from the GeForce 6100 in my former TF6100 motherboard--it certainly wasn't appreciably faster despite supposedly having 4X the memory bandwidth.

I don't have any 1080p content other than some demo videos, so I lost interest in it. H.264 requires considerably more CPU cycles than MPEG2 encoded 1080p.

andreasl
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Post by andreasl » Thu Dec 27, 2007 1:16 am

I do have quite a lot of h/x264 material which is in 1080p, and I expect that to grow.

QuietOC,

Have you used the HDMI on your M2A-VM? There are lots of reports here on the forum of this board being flaky, especially regarding the HDMI output. I was considering going for the ABIT AN-M2HD instead.

laserred,
Have you gotten the 1080p resolution to fit on your Sony TV? You were reporting problems in this thread. I have a Sony HDTV as well, so I want this to work.

QuietOC
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Post by QuietOC » Thu Dec 27, 2007 5:20 am

andreasl wrote:QuietOC,

Have you used the HDMI on your M2A-VM? There are lots of reports here on the forum of this board being flaky, especially regarding the HDMI output. I was considering going for the ABIT AN-M2HD instead.
No, I have the non-HDMI version (which does have HDCP, BTW).

laserred
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Post by laserred » Tue Jan 01, 2008 7:50 am

andreasl wrote: laserred,
Have you gotten the 1080p resolution to fit on your Sony TV? You were reporting problems in this thread. I have a Sony HDTV as well, so I want this to work.
Well, like I said, my TV is not 1080p to start with. It's about 17 months old, a 55" projection HDTV. For some reason, I can't get the Nvidia driver to give me the option of 720p or 1080i, which is what my TV is capable of handling. I do have an HDMI-component adapter that I might try, but I doubt it will work since it's from an ATI TheaterPro 550 card. I don't really mind, because right now I am not totally concerned about playback from the PC to TV. Sorry I can't elaborate any more.

Mariner
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Post by Mariner » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:10 am

Not sure what sort of timescale you're looking at but the AMD (ATI) RS780 chipset is scheduled to be released during the next few months.

This is a DX10 IGP but more pertinently, it has the UVD on-chip decode engine. Due to be produced on the 55nm process so it should be a small, low power chip in spite of the inbuilt graphics stuff.

I'll probably end up getting one of these myself to replace my current nForce motherboard.

mimwdv
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Post by mimwdv » Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:30 am

I've got the M2A-VM HDMI - with a 1080p tv. I'm running it at 1080i DVI -> HDMI with a Brisbane CPU. It works fine, but I have to be a bit choosey about the playing software and codecs - I have had it run one of the cores to the max and start juddering.

I haven't tested exhaustively, but I can't get the board to output 1080p, and my HDMI has also been flakey - but then it's also been flakey with my son's xbox 360 so it might be the TV.

andreasl
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Post by andreasl » Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:26 pm

Mariner wrote:Not sure what sort of timescale you're looking at but the AMD (ATI) RS780 chipset is scheduled to be released during the next few months.

This is a DX10 IGP but more pertinently, it has the UVD on-chip decode engine. Due to be produced on the 55nm process so it should be a small, low power chip in spite of the inbuilt graphics stuff.

I'll probably end up getting one of these myself to replace my current nForce motherboard.
Yeah, I was hoping to have it all settled before my vacation ends, but as that will not be the case, I may wait for the RS780. Is there a confirmed release date for it, or is it just "wait and see"?
mimwdv wrote: I've got the M2A-VM HDMI - with a 1080p tv. I'm running it at 1080i DVI -> HDMI with a Brisbane CPU. It works fine, but I have to be a bit choosey about the playing software and codecs - I have had it run one of the cores to the max and start juddering.

I haven't tested exhaustively, but I can't get the board to output 1080p, and my HDMI has also been flakey - but then it's also been flakey with my son's xbox 360 so it might be the TV.
As I've seen other reports of the HDMI being flakey, it's probably not your TV. And I have heard no one that has gotten 1080p to work either.

It looks like I'll have to park this and wait it out a bit.

Mariner
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Post by Mariner » Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:45 pm

andreasl wrote: Yeah, I was hoping to have it all settled before my vacation ends, but as that will not be the case, I may wait for the RS780. Is there a confirmed release date for it, or is it just "wait and see"?
I believe the original roadmaps said availability would be January 2008. However, even if this is the case I expect it could be a couple of months before motherboards are released. I'd guess March at the very earliest and more likely a month or two after that. :(

Edit: CES is currently running and AMD have so far announced some new mobile chips. Wouldn't surprise me if more information came out about their new chipsets as well so it may be worth keeping your eyes peeled for news.

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Post by Mariner » Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:48 am

Something else from CES:

http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=3193

NVidia have announced that all their new chipsets will come with IGPs. There's also mention that they'll provide further details of "New PureVideo HD features" which I would assume will be included in these IGPs.

Mariner
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Post by Mariner » Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:43 am

First benchmarks out for a motherboard using the AMD RS780 chipset which includes the UVD doohickey:

http://my.ocworkbench.com/bbs/showthrea ... adid=70247

A pretty small passive cooler on the IGP which would indicate power consumption is low (it is a 55nm chip).

A couple of months time and I think I'll get getting something similar to replace my current motherboard.

frank2003
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Post by frank2003 » Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:52 am

Great info, Mariner.

The HD2400 seems to be the natural evolution for the AMD chipset. I'm looking forward to the release of these boards. With the HD2400 I think I will be able to play back Blu-Ray or HD-DVD with an underclocked/undervolted Brisbane (maybe down to 1GHz @ .85V?) while keeping the total power consumption under 45W.

I'm hoping the new boards will be selling around US$ 60-70 range like their 690G predecessors. They will make a very inexpensive upgrade since they accept AM2 CPUs.

djkest
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Post by djkest » Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:13 am

I think you are thinking of the HD3400 series which is set to come out in a month or so. It's basically the next evolution up from the HD2400. If you think about it, if it is based on the same foundation as the HD3850 and HD3870 cards, it will be fantastic.

frank2003
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Post by frank2003 » Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:04 am

I was actually referring to the HD2400 mentioned in the link. Upon reading the article again, I noticed it mentioned only HD2400 level performance:
It has integrated graphics performance levels of HD 2400 and supports DX10 and UVD
Perhaps the IGP will be called HD3400? Thanks for the correction.

Mariner
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Post by Mariner » Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:13 am

Basically, it's because all the new generation of ATI/AMD graphics chips are going to be renamed despite not really being great improvements over their predecessors.

The replacement of the 65nm HD2400 will be the 55nm HD3450. Performance between the two should be practically the same, the only real difference being the newer chips also support DX10.1, an incremental upgrade in capabilities.

I expect the graphics part of the IGP will be known as HD3X00, with the X relating to whatever speed is reached, roughly in comparison to the standalone graphics chips. I'd be very surprised if the IGP matches the performance of the HD2400 or HD3450 though as it will have much less bandwidth available than a separate card.

I expect much the same performance from NVidia's 8200 DX10 IGP. It will be interesting to see which of the two competitors IGPs has the lowest power draw as I'd expect them to be functionally very similar.

loimlo
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Post by loimlo » Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:24 am

The IGP part will be called 3200, having DX10.1 and UVD, comes with onboard RAM for itself! whether to solder RAM or not depends on MB makers.

I couldn't wait to get one to substitute my 6100 board. :wink:

loimlo
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Post by loimlo » Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:04 am

Chinese web site, Pconline, have published a comparison between RS780 and MCP78. http://www.pconline.com.cn/diy/main/rev ... 10239.html

Though they were writing in Chinese characters, a picture worth thousand words would hold ture for yours. Come on, release RS780 boards to other markets...

nutball
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Post by nutball » Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:51 am

Now... if only it were possible to team this chipset up with a Wolfdale...

Mariner
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Post by Mariner » Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:02 am

For me, I'd be happy with either of these chipsets in my system. My final choice will probably go down to power consumption or the layout/features of available boards. Hope to upgrade my HTPC in the next few months.

loimlo
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Post by loimlo » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:33 am

Waiting patiently for a new DX10 IGP boards. Anyway, the driver would be more mature when our hands towards it.

Redzo
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Re: Which chipset for AMD HTPC?

Post by Redzo » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:36 am

andreasl wrote:Hi,

Yet another "Which motherboard should I go get" type of question. I'm looking for a cheap HTPC (and file server) solution to drive my fullHD TV.

The requirements are:
* Integrated graphics
* low power
* Be able to show 1080p content without problem

I've decided to go with an AMD solution because of low price and low idle power consumption (the machine will run 24/7).

So the big question is what chipset to go with, 630a+GF7050PV or 690G+SB600? (is there any other viable chipset?)

While reading through the threads on the forum it seems that 7050PV is slightly faster and has lower power consumption, but that this is based on a single source (a German test I believe).

What do you suggest?
You might want to read this post ;-)
viewtopic.php?t=45937&highlight=

frank2003
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Post by frank2003 » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:41 am

This web site lists 10 mobos that are based on the RS780 chipset:
http://my.ocworkbench.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=425958

I'm disappointed that the Biostar board does not come with an HDMI out. Hope it's just an engineering sample and is not indicative of what will be sold in the US market.

It's reassuring to know that despite an increase in video performance over the 690 the NB does not require active cooling. Let's hope the power draw is comparable to the 690 based boards.

truckman
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Post by truckman » Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:23 pm

That SOYO mobo with its 3 PCI slots and 6 SATA connectors sure looks nice. Lots of room for TV tuner cards and easy to load the machine with disks ...

On the other hand, it doesn't appear to have either a rear panel coaxial S/PDIF or TOSLINK connector.

Mariner
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Post by Mariner » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:17 am


Spare Tire
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Post by Spare Tire » Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:39 am

So which southbridge will be in the 780G? Or is that up to the board manufacturer? Pardon my ignorance.

Greg F.
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THIS IS ALL I KNOW

Post by Greg F. » Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:00 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_700_chipset_series

I am waiting for these boards, too, but I wish they implemented HD Audio through the HDMI. I guess from other forums they won't.

frank2003
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Post by frank2003 » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:07 pm

For fans of Gigabyte boards, there's a mention of the upcoming RS780 board (MA78GM-S2H) here:
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/8868/index.html

Here's a nice pic of it:
http://www.tweaktown.com/popImg.php?img ... H_full.jpg

EDIT: The link to the picture I gave originally incorrectly pointed to the Nvidia board. Also, the model of the board should be MA78GM-S2H, not M78SM-S2H as mentioned in my original post.
Last edited by frank2003 on Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

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