Best motherboard for silent PC based on Athlon 4850e

[rado3105]

I am planning to built PC as much quiet as it possible, considering the price.
As CPU I choose Athlon 4850e. As Cpu coooler Sigmatex.
Power Supply: Fortron FSP180
But I am not sure about motherboard: I am thinking of Gigabyte MA-78G or MA-78GM, I hear that mATX version of that board is not so good as classic ATX.
Also I was thinking of: Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H

I dont need that PC for playing games, I want board with integrated graphic card.

[Strid]

Not really any difference between µATX and the ATX versions of the Gigabyte boards, except the size and number of PCI slots. I would just go with the cheaper of the two.

Why did you choose that PSU? By the way, you will probably be able to run the lot off a picoPSU.

[rado3105]

I dont know, I have it home and is small and quiet.
That pico-PSU do you think that it will be enough?
Where is best way to buy?

[Strid]

Well, if you're happy with the Fortron PSU, then no reason to get a picoPSU? Anyway, a picoPSU goes up to 100 W, and your rig will most likely be less than that, depending on your other choices. I don't know, off the top of my head, where to get one - I was merely throwing around the idea in my head.

[mattthemuppet]

Unless you have any requirements specific to the 780G chipset (more graphics grunt for example), then a 740G mATX board will do you fine. It's essentially a die-shrunk 690G, which was a great mobo, and all three (690G, 780G and 740G) have been reviewed on here - the 740G has the lowest power consumption.

It's what I'll be getting tomorrow, to go with an X2 5000+ - I can't get a 4850e for a reasonable price (they're all >AU$20 on top of the $74 for the 5000+) but I'm sure I'll be able to undervolt the 5000+ down to 4850e levels. Might be an option if it can save you a few bucks?

I've also got a WD6400AACS Green power HDD going in too, which'll hopefully be quiet and low power, will do a gallery when it's up an running

[frank2003]

I recently upgraded my 690G based HTPC/PVR to a 780G based system. I swapped only the motherboards and kept everything else the same. The idle power consumption dropped from 33W to 29W.

Here are the system specs:
- 690G board: Biostar TA690G (mATX)
- 780G board: Asus M3A78-EMH HDM (mATX)
- CPU: Brisbane BE-2350, underclocked to [email protected], [email protected]
- Memory: 2x1GB 800MHz
- HDD: 3.5" 1TB WD Greenpower
- ODD: external USB Blu-Ray drive
- PSU: pico 120W; 80W brick
- others: 1 USB IR receiver; 1 USB Bluetooth dongle; USB RF wireless keyboard

If you could go with a 2.5" notebook drive I'd imagine you could reduce the power by 3-4W.

[rado3105]

I am thinking to buy that picopsu, but I think there is not enough connectors eg. one 4port for powering processor is missing, or how can it be solved?
http://cgi.ebay.com/PicoPSU-120-120W-12 ... 286.c0.m14
That system I am planning to run on LInux Gentoo and Win XP, so I think that better support has ati3200 than ati 2100 in linux kernel, but not sure.

[nutball]

I am thinking to buy that picopsu, but I think there is not enough connectors eg. one 4port for powering processor is missing, or how can it be solved?

You can get a Molex-to-4-pin cable.

[frank2003]

The newer picoPSU comes with IDE and SATA power connectors (one each). If you need to power a mobo that requires the P4 power connector and an IDE device you'll also need a Molex Y splitter cable.

[Monkeh16]

That system I am planning to run on LInux Gentoo and Win XP, so I think that better support has ati3200 than ati 2100 in linux kernel, but not sure.

Neither is supported directly by the kernel. radeonhd might handle both, but likely not very well. Certainly the older chip is more likely to work, not the newer.

[Strid]

The newer picoPSU comes with IDE and SATA power connectors (one each). If you need to power a mobo that requires the P4 power connector and an IDE device you'll also need a Molex Y splitter cable.

You could just strip an old PSU and solder on the required connectors - much cheaper than overpriced spitters! I've done that several times.

Also, rado3105, that picoPSU on eBay there .. you need a power brick aswell to give it 12V input. You're just looking at the DC-DC converter.

[morglum]

The newer picoPSU comes with IDE and SATA power connectors (one each). If you need to power a mobo that requires the P4 power connector and an IDE device you'll also need a Molex Y splitter cable.

You could just strip an old PSU and solder on the required connectors - much cheaper than overpriced spitters! I've done that several times.

3.88$US *shipped* 1-to-4 molex splitter at dealextreme

[Namheul]

I thought the whole point of the picoPSU only having 3 connectors was so that you dont overload it?

And whats with with floppy connector? Would be way better if it had 2xSATA and 1xMolex.

I would love to buy one for my system, but they are not available here, and the price of them is more than a good silent PSU anyway.

[Strid]

I thought the whole point of the picoPSU only having 3 connectors was so that you dont overload it?

And whats with with floppy connector? Would be way better if it had 2xSATA and 1xMolex.

I would love to buy one for my system, but they are not available here, and the price of them is more than a good silent PSU anyway.

Hey,

The PicoPSU is designed for a power usage up to 120 W, and there are even 200 W variants. You can run quite a lot of hard drives and still keep your power usage under 120 W or 200 W, if your other components are low powered. The 12 V lines are just straight through from the external power brick, so 12 V is not very taxing on the PicoPSU.
You are probably right, that the molex would be better over the floppy nowadays! However, depending on where your PicoPSU is located, it can be impossible to make a SATA cable reach the CD-ROM drive, so you will probably need an extension cable anyway, which is why I think Molex plugs are great (they don't tear apart easily).