so which slimpc mainboard could i buy

[bboy486]

that would meet the needs of Divx 3 (also could i put an upgraded video /audio card in these systems?)

sorry i am just learning about these

[khp]

Re: so which slimpc mainboard could i buy

Originally posted by bboy486
that would meet the needs of Divx 3

I would suggest that you look at the shuttle spacewalker line (www.shuttle.com) they offer some neat looking systems (P3/P4/athlon) with TV-out, allthough I have no idear how good the TV-out quality is.

Originally posted by bboy486
also could i put an upgraded video /audio card in these systems?

You might be able to put in another audio card, but the graphics card cannot be changed (unless you want to downgrad to a PCI graphics card)

[bboy486]

?

HOw would it be downgrading if i got like an ati video card (pci)?

[khp]

The PCI bus is restricted to 133MB/s. The ATI card will be twiddling it's thumbs most of the time. Plus using the PCI bus for graphics will lockup a lot of system resources that should have been used only audio/lan/HD access.

For playing 3D games, getting an advanced 3D graphics card like the ATI Radeon PCI card might improve things slightly, but for intensive 2D stuff like video playback, I suspect that the ATI card will preform worse than whatever integrated graphics chip the motherboard has.

[bboy486]

nah

I am only using it for dvd's and divx not video games.

[bboy486]

how is this?

tell me the pro's and con's of this mobo:

Form Factor - Mini-ITX
- 170mm x 170mm
- Micro ATX Chassis Compliant
Processor - VIA Edenâ„¢ ESP 5000 processor
- 100/133MHz Front Side Bus
- low power consumption
- Optional Fanless
- VIA C3â„¢ E-Series processor (EBGA package)
- 100/133MHz Front Side Bus
- 128K L1 and 64K L2 cache
Chipset - VIA Apollo PLE133
- VT8601A North Bridge
- Featuring integrated AGP 2X graphics
- VIA VT8231 South Bridge
TV-Out - Integrated Macro Vision 7.01
- High quality scaling and filtering
- S-Video or Composite video output
- Supports NTSC/PAL TV formats
Main Memory - Two 168-pin DIMM memory sockets
- PC100/133 SDRAM support
LAN - VIA 10/100 Ethernet LAN onboard
Graphics - Integrated AGP2X with 2D/3D Graphics Acceleration
- Motion Compensation for DVD playback
- VIP port for video overlay function
Audio - VIA VT1612A AC'97 onboard
- 3 Audio Jacks - Line-Out, Line-In and Microphone-In
- Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro Compatible
- Digital I/O compatible with consumer mode S/PDIF
Expansion Slots - ATA/100/66/33 Support
- 1 PCI slots
Onboard IDE - ATA/100/66
I/O Ports - 3 Audio Jacks - Line-out, Mic-in and Line-in
- Four USB ports (two USB ports located at rear side)
- 1 EPP/ECP parallel port
- 1 16C550 compatible serial port
- 2 External PS/2 Compatible Keyboard /Mouse ports
- 2 TV output ports (S-Video or optional RCA TV out)
- 1 S/PDIF out (optional and multiplex with RCA TV out)
- 1 RJ-45 LAN port
- 1 PCI slot (Note: support for two PCI devices)
Power Supply -ATX Power Supply Compliant