Good motherboard - MSI K8NGM2-FID?

[bungle]

• K8NGM2-FID (GeForce 6150 + nForce 430)
[Onboard GbE LAN, IEEE1394, DVI connector]

• K8NGM2-IL (GeForce 6100 + nForce 410)
[Onboard IEEE1394, 10/100 LAN]

• K8NGM2-L (GeForce 6100 + nForce 410)
[Onboard 10/100 LAN]

The 6100 is underpowered for HDTV, and has no DVI. Only the 6150 supports the PureVideo HDTV acceleration features (http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html). So for a frontend, you'd want the FID.

I think the IL is 6100+430, not 6100+410 as shown above, otherwise the IL and L would be the same. The 430 should add GbE, 2 SATA ports, and RAID 0+1 & 5 to the 410 (http://www.nvidia.com/page/gpu_mobo.html). If you're using SATA drives or RAID on a backend, you might want the IL. For just a cheapo backend the L is sufficient, though I don't think the price difference is great between all three.

[gEd]

typical - i pasted that info verbatim from the MSI website.....

thanks for correcting this bungle.

[bungle]

Well, I suppose that both could be 6100/410, since it doesn't say that the IL has GbE. I was going off intuition, not the MSI site, so I could be wrong. The 1394 chip is separate I think (doesn't show on NVidia's chart), so maybe that's all they added to the IL from the L. The GbE and DVI add a bit more futureproofing to the FID, though, I would say, for not much more money.

[SickBoy]

I'll concur on the K8MM-V - I rebuilt my htpc box with one of these recently and it's been stable as a rock. My old Pentium 3 system had some stability issues.

I'm using it with a GF4 Ti4600 AGP w/ dual heads and TV out, so integrated video isn't an issue for me. I can see where onboard video with TV-out might be an advantage, though. Once I get a LCD TV with a VGA input on it, I might revert to using the onboard video.

[guppyman]

I loved this board. So much I bought a second one. The original was a refurb from Newegg - price was right but didn't come with any accesories. MSI support has been fantastic - immediately sent me out the component video out bracket and backplate via Fedex ground. This new one should be at my house to today from clubit.com - full retail board with all the accessories.

Anyway, I had been using an ATI AIW 9600 Pro on a different board which had been working OK. The great thing about this board is that the video supports HDTV resolutions natively. I select 1080i in the nvidia driver, correct the overscan and it's good to go. I even see the computer boot right from startup - with the ATI card never saw anything until windows started. There's fantastic thread on this board over at Anandtech.com motherboard forum. Has a complete rundown of the board - a real "how-to" - what memory to use, how to install windows on it, etc. There is also a nice thread over at avsforum.com on the 6150 boards.

Only downside I've found is that the spdif bracket is not included with the board. I've seen on the forums that MSI will send you one for $10 (if I remember right) including shipping. I'm just going to recycle a biostar bracket I have by changing it to the correct pinout for the MSI board.

[RedNick]

More British stocks here
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=313875

Komplett should be paying me commission :p

[sixgun]

Hello

I've been told that the MSI K8NGM2-FID is one of the best system board for a quiet and low power usage HTPC. Is anyone using this board? Are there any good boards out there that include everything I would need (eg S/P Dif, S-Video, built in VGA, Sound etc)?

Thanks in advance.

I don't know if you're still looking for info on this board, but ....

I have recently built a HTPC based around that board, with am Athlon64 3000+ CPU, a gig of RAM and a blackgold DVB-T card. I've used S-Video output when i had my rear projector TV and the quality was excellent, nothing compared to the DVI on my new flat panel. I've also used the component out into my projector, again excellent picture.

Got mine from scan for £50 (ish).

I had to make my own S/PDIF output, actually i got the bits from frontx in the USA and it was a simple case of swapping a few pins around to match the pin-outs in the manual. Works a treat. I've actually got rid of a divx/xvid network player, dvd player. and the plan is to replace my freeview box and mvp too, so i'll just have the pc and amp.

Anything else you want to know, let me know.

[OscarL]

Hi SixGun. I have the same motherboard, excelent. I am just curious, what verison of the NVIDIA Forceware drivers do you use. Read at AVSforum that prople still recommend 84.12 or below. Also what decoder do you use. I still have some problem with stuttering, therefore these questions.
Regards

[sixgun]

I am on the latest decoder and latest nvidia drivers, haven't tried "downgrading" my decoder to get smooth playback, will have to give it a go.

I was having problems with long delays before content on my server would start playing, also it wouldn't go back to sleep after a tv guide update. I disabled some system tray apps the other night and all that sorted itself out. So i am going to try my hi-def content again and see if that's sorted it. Failing that i'll load up process explorer and see if anything else is using the CPU.

[rowle1jt]

I have the MSI K8nGM2-FID as well... Love the board!!! Rock solid, runs cool and if enabled in the BIOS its nearly SILENT!

I use the S-Video's out, they work great! Sound quality is excellent. Like others have said, this is a great board and I have NO regrets on purchasing. I think I spent about $85us on it from newegg.

I did a write up on the build of it here:
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=19196