Topic: MSI P7NGM Motherboard

[koykoy]

Saw this at Philippine Star feature last week. So far, ok na ok ang reviews.  The only thing shameful about this is the absence of an optical out. 

Any feedback about this?  Might be getting this when Ill be making my HTPC.  Dont know lang if available naba to here.

[nerveblocker]

If you are on a budget for your htpc, make sure that your MOBO has both an hdmi and spdif/coaxial or optical output to minimize your expenses. If you have extra money to spare,  a dedicated video and sound card is the way to go.

As the trend is going nowadays, MOBOs have almost everything in it. All you have to add is a power supply, HDD, RAM and a very good and efficient casing to build an HTPC The options are many and it is easier now to build one with a limited budget unlike before.

Good luck in your project sir!   

[jojitv]

It says HD audio on the picture. A lot of the newer motherboards would have an SPDIF out on one of the ports. You can just buy a toslink adapter to connect to your receiver using an optical cable. I agree w/ nerveblocker, a dedicated video and soundcard is the way to go. But if on a tight budget and you're not to fuzzy when it comes to display and sound quality, this would be ok for the meantime. You can always add later since there are ports already available on that motherboard.

[nerveblocker]

My ASUS motherboard with built-in HDMI can pass thru DD/DTS already without using SPDIF/optical.  At first, I was only able to output stereo sound thru HDMI.  I then had an AC3 filter installed and presently it can already output DD/DTS to my receiver.  I am not sure though if this is true with all MOBOs with an HDMI output.   

I surmise with the right codecs and filters, it can output HD audio through the HDMI. 

[jojitv]

My ASUS motherboard with built-in HDMI can pass thru DD/DTS already without using SPDIF/optical.  At first, I was only able to output stereo sound thru HDMI.  I then had an AC3 filter installed and presently it can already output DD/DTS to my receiver.  I am not sure though if this is true with all MOBOs with an HDMI output.   

I surmise with the right codecs and filters, it can output HD audio through the HDMI. 

Cool! Forgot about the part that HDMI also carries audio. Hahaha It's a nice looking board. Do they have a similar AMD x2 compatible board? Don't wana upgrade CPU's again.

[nerveblocker]

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Cool! Forgot about the part that HDMI also carries audio. Hahaha It's a nice looking board. Do they have a similar AMD x2 compatible board? Don't wana upgrade CPU's again.

My ASUS motherboard has an AMD processor.  I just checked that the PC HDMI 1.1 can output HD audio through LPCM.  PowerDVD 8.0 Ultra can support HD Audio already.  This means I need to change my drive to BD to see if I can pass HD audio to my receiver.  Hmmm...gastos na naman.       

[jojitv]

My ASUS motherboard has an AMD processor.  I just checked that the PC HDMI 1.1 can output HD audio through LPCM.  PowerDVD 8.0 Ultra can support HD Audio already.  This means I need to change my drive to BD to see if I can pass HD audio to my receiver.  Hmmm...gastos na naman.     

Upgrade na sir. Hehe. Actually that was my first plan, when BD player prices were to high, is to just setup an HTPC with a BD drive. I think the drive was around 6k if I'm not mistaken. But HDMI equipped boards and video cards were expensive back then. 

[SiCkBoY]

Here's an inexpensive (and locally available) alternative you might want to look at:



Emaxx AMD780G-Pro AVL/DDR2/PCI-E    P3,500.00

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:     

AMD Phenom FX
AMD Phenom
AMD Athlon 64 FX
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core
AMD Athlon 64
AMD Sempron
Features    

Supports AMD Socket AM2+/ AM2 processors:
Hyper Transport Bus 5200/2000 MT/s (HT 3.0/1.0)
Chipset    

North Bridge: AMD 780G
South Bridge: AMD SB700
Memory    

Supports 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 8 GB of system memory
Supports Dual channel memory architecture
Supports for DDR2 1066 / 800 / 667 MHz memory modules
Supports ECC Memory (CPU dependent)
BIOS    

1 x 8Mbit AMI BIOS
supports Plug & Play
Supports BIOS ROM Write Protect
Supports Advanced Power Management ACPI, STR
Supports 1x SYS FAN, 1x CPU FAN
CPU temperature, Fan speed, System Voltage monitoring
I/O Chipset    Winbond W83627
Intergrated Ports    

1 x PS/2 Keyboard port
1 x DVI port
1 x Debug LED
1 x HDMI port
1 x VGA port
1 x RJ45 port
8 x USB 2.0 ports, USB 1.1 is compliant
6 x SATA ports by SB700 , Maximum Speed to 3GB/s
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1
1 x IDE connector, 2 x IDE devices could be connected,
Supports ATA 133 / 100 / 66 / 33
1 x Floppy Drive, supports 360K/720K/1.2M/1.44M/2.88M floppy disk
Audio    Realtek ALC 883/888 codec
8-Channel HD Audio, 24 bit Audio Codec
High Definition Audio
Supports for S/PDIF In/Out (via header)
Front Panel Jumper, provides stereo MIC port on front panel
Onboard LAN    Onboard Marvell 88E8056
PCIe LAN (10/100/1000Mbit)
Expansion Slots    

1 x PCI Express x16 slot(PCI Express 2.0)
2 x PCI slots
Support PCI Bus interface v2.2 compliant
OS    Microsoft Windows Vista
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows 2000
Form Factor    Micro ATX (245 x 225 mm)
Remarks    

1066 MHz memory support is dependent on the CPU being used
ECC memory support is dependent on the CPU being used

[ninjababez®]

My ASUS motherboard has an AMD processor.  I just checked that the PC HDMI 1.1 can output HD audio through LPCM.  PowerDVD 8.0 Ultra can support HD Audio already.  This means I need to change my drive to BD to see if I can pass HD audio to my receiver.  Hmmm...gastos na naman.       

sabay na tayo bumili doc! 
btw im sure if it doesnt support 5.1 now, a driver or firmware update would do the trick .. malay natin doc meron na palang update yan di ba? 
pm me the exact model so i can search the net for the updates .. switch back to vista na doc ..   

SiCkBoY ive been using that mobo since june/july ..
naka apat na hdtv nako mobo ko yan parin .. thats the best HTPC chipset so far ..
too bad no toslink out .. ok lang pala since im using the coax! 

[nerveblocker]

sabay na tayo bumili doc! 
btw im sure if it doesnt support 5.1 now, a driver or firmware update would do the trick .. malay natin doc meron na palang update yan di ba? 
pm me the exact model so i can search the net for the updates .. switch back to vista na doc ..   

As of now buying a BD drive is not one of my priorities coz I still have my trusty PS3 with me. Let's hold back our purchases a bit till the next format comes out.

That's what I like about HTPCs, there are so many options and room for upgrades. Very versatile indeed!

[ninjababez®]

As of now buying a BD drive is not one of my priorities coz I still have my trusty PS3 with me. Let's hold back our purchases a bit till the next format comes out.
That's what I like about HTPCs, there are so many options and room for upgrades. Very versatile indeed!

doc di ba ako rin nagsabi sayo nyan?
erasing envy chromosome .. 
but if the price drops to 3k .. ill get the bdrom na 

[SiCkBoY]

How much is a BD-ROM drive these days?  I can't even seem to find one.

[ninjababez®]

How much is a BD-ROM drive these days?  I can't even seem to find one.

in between 6.5k and 7k
last i checked my supplier it was at 6.7k 

[koykoy]

Cool! Forgot about the part that HDMI also carries audio. Hahaha It's a nice looking board. Do they have a similar AMD x2 compatible board? Don't wana upgrade CPU's again.

guys, how do you output dolby/dts? can we connect the hdmi to the lcd then connect the lcd to the receiver using ______? (parang pass through) hehe

[ninjababez®]

guys, how do you output dolby/dts? can we connect the hdmi to the lcd then connect the lcd to the receiver using ______? (parang pass through) hehe

it should be htpc -> avr -> tv, right?