Motherboard / Cpu Combo Suggestion please

[MasterPC]

I am looking to buying used or new a motherboard/cpu combo for cheap to run as a file server and a home theatre pc I have all the parts, except for the motherboard, CPU, Memory & Video Card what would you guys recommend to get just for this purpose?

[JustAnEngineer]

Welcome to the Tech Report!


Have you considered Fusion E350? It's very energy efficient and reasonably inexpensive.


If that lacks enough processing oomph for you, an affordable Socket-AM3 solution with integrated graphics should suffice, though it will use a bit more power.

Here are some micro-ATX socket-AM3 motherboards with the 880G+SB850 chipset and USB3:
$95 MSI 880GMA-E45
$97½ MSI 880GMA-E35
$105 Gigabyte GA-880GMA-USB3
$105 Asus M4A88TD-M/USB3
$108 MSI 880GMA-E55

Stick a cheap Athlon II X2 255 or Athlon II X3 450 processor on there, add 2x2 or 2x4 GiB of PC3-12800 or PC3-10600 memory, and you should be well on your way.


Sandy Bridge on LGA1155 would be more energy efficient, but it costs a lot more, too. Matching the Core i3-2100T with the P8H67-M PRO/CSM or a combination of Core i3-2100 + H67 motherboard would be good examples.


You could also do well with an older Clarkdale processor on LGA1156. Pair up the Core i3-550 with the GA-H55M-USB3, for example, but it's not really any cheaper than the superior Sandy Bridge options.

[Airmantharp]

I'll second the Sandy Bridge option JAE listed. Intel has their stuff together this time around!

[MasterPC]

Thanks I will givew one a try and let you know how it does.

[Airmantharp]

Thanks I will givew one a try and let you know how it does.

Thinking closely about it, getting an i5 dual-core SB (is there such a thing yet?) would be the fastest and the most efficient option for anything not requiring real CPU horsepower. Just make sure you get the one with the faster GPU and you're set; any decent H67 board should do, as you're only going to be using the BIOS/UEFI once or twice total; you could also wait for a low-end Z68 board that would allow you to keep the integrated GPUs excellent transcoding functionality intact when adding a discrete GPU down the road.

[insulin_junkie72]

you could also wait for a low-end Z68 board that would allow you to keep the integrated GPUs excellent transcoding functionality intact when adding a discrete GPU down the road.

H67 can have both, if you're willing to do the setup.

If you're driving multiple monitors (or in my case, monitor + TV), you can have one of the displays hooked up to the integrated, the other to the discrete card, and QuickSync still works.

One monitor, with multiple inputs (one coming from the discrete, the other integrated) supposedly also works, but I've not personally verified that scenario.

[Airmantharp]

My understanding is that Z68 will do everything H67 does in fully exposing Sandy Bridge's feature set, just adding the ability to manipulate the multiplier.

I've purchased a CyberLink program that will allow me to use the transcoder, so I'm now looking at Z68- ASRock has announced their Extreme4 which is the same as my current P67 Extreme4 but with display outputs, though I'd really be interested in an Z68 Extreme6 with a feature set that is comparable to their P67 board- I could actually use the extra Marvell-powered SATA headers to power eSATA ports, leaving the Intel controller free and clear for internal drive use. 1x 120GB Intel 510 SSD and 5x WD 3TB Green drives in RAID 5 anyone?

I need to start saving .