La placa base: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H

Una vez elegida la caja es el momento de decidir la placa base. Yo me he decantado por la Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, una excelente placa en formato MicroATX basada en el chipset 780 de AMD que incluye todo lo necesario para montar un HTPC aun precio bastante razonable, a día de hoy cuesta unos 75 Euros.

Vamos con las características de la placa:

	CPU	Support for Socket AM2+/ AM2 processors: AMD Phenom™FX processor/ AMD Phenom™ processor/ AMD Athlon™ 64 FX processor/AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core processor/AMD Athlon™ 64 processor/AMD Sempron™ processor
	Hyper Transport Bus	5200/2000 MT/s
	Chipset	North Bridge: AMD 780G South Bridge: AMD SB700
	Memory	4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory (Note 1) Dual channel memory architecture Support for DDR2 1066 (Note 2)/800/667 MHz memory modules
	Audio	Realtek ALC889A codec High Definition Audio 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel Support for DTS (dts NEO:PC) Support for S/PDIF In/Out Support for CD In
	LAN	Realtek 8111C chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
	Expansion Slots	1 x PCI Express x16 slot (The PCI Express x16 slot conforms to PCI Express 2.0 standard.) 1 x PCI Express x1 slot 2 x PCI slots
	Storage Interface	South Bridge: 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices 5 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATAII0, SATAII1, SATAII2, SATAII3, SATAII4) supporting up to 5 SATA 3Gb/s devices 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port on the back panel supporting up to 1 SATA 3Gb/s device Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10 iTE IT8718 chip: South Bridge: 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices 5 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATAII0, SATAII1, SATAII2, SATAII3, SATAII4) supporting up to 5 SATA 3Gb/s devices 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port on the back panel supporting up to 1 SATA 3Gb/s device Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10 iTE IT8718 chip: 1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive 1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive
	IEEE 1394	T.I. TSB43AB23 chip Up to 2 IEEE 1394a ports (1 on the back panel, 1 via the IEEE 1394a bracket connected to the internal IEEE 1394a header)
	USB	Integrated in the South Bridge Up to 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 on the back panel, 8 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)
	Internal I/O Connectors	1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector 1 x floppy disk drive connector 1 x IDE connector 5 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors 1 x CPU fan header 1 x system fan header 1 x front panel header 1 x front panel audio header 1 x CD In connector 1 x S/PDIF In/Out header 1 x IEEE 1394a header 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers 1 x parallel port header 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header 1 x serial port header 1 x chassis intrusion header 1 x power LED header
	Back Panel Connectors	1 x PS/2 keyboard port 1 x PS/2 mouse port 1 x D-Sub port 1 x DVI-D port (Note 3) 1 x HDMI port 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port 1 x IEEE 1394a port 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 1 x RJ-45 port 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)
	I/O Controller	ITE IT8718 chip
	H/W Monitoring	System voltage detection CPU/System temperature detection CPU/System fan speed detection CPU overheating warning CPU/System fan fail warning CPU/System fan speed control (Note 4)
	BIOS	1 x 8 Mbit flash Use of licensed AWARD BIOS PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b
	Unique Features	Support for @BIOS Support for Download Center Support for Q-Flash Support for EasyTune (Note 5) Support for Xpress Install Support for Xpress Recovery2 Support for Virtual Dual BIOS
	Bundle Software	Norton Internet Security (OEM version)
	Operating System	Support for Microsoft Windows Vista/ XP
	Form Factor	Micro ATX Form Factor; 24.4cm x 24.4cm
	Remark	Due to different Linux support condition provided by chipset vendors, please download Linux driver from chipset vendors´ website or 3rd party website. Due to most hardware/software vendors no longer offer support for Win9X/ME. If some vendors still has Win9X/ME drivers available, we will publish on website.
	Note	(Note 1) Due to Windows XP 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than 4 GB. (Note 2) Whether 1066 MHz memory speed is supported depends on the CPU being used. (Note 3) The DVI-D port does not support D-Sub connection by adapter. (Note 4) Whether the CPU/system fan speed control function is supported will depend on the CPU/ system cooler you install. (Note 5) Available functions in Easytune may differ by motherboard model.

En resumen, una placa microATX con soporte para los últimos procesadores de AMD, cuatro zocalos de memoria de tipo DDR2, audio integrado de calidad, gráfica DX10 Ati HD3200 integrada con aceleración por hardware, soporte de Hybrid Crossfire, red, cuatro slots de expansión, seis conexiones SATA. En fin, que trae todo lo que necesitamos.

En cuanto a las conexiones del panel trasero incluye:

- Conector teclado PS2
- Conector ratón
- Salida VGA
- Salida DVI
- Salida HDMI
- Salida audio digital S/PDIF
- 4 salidas USB
- Salida Firewire IEEE1394
- Toma para discos eSATA
- Red RJ45
- 6 conexiones para el audio

Para ser una placa de tamaño reducido viene bien cargada de posibilidades de expansión y de conexiones, a destacar la salida HDMI, ideal para conectar el HTPC a un televisor LCD.

Una de las caracteristicas más interesantes de la Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H (y del resto de placas basadas en el chipset 780G de AMD) es la posibilidad de añadir una segunda gráfica que apoye a la integrada (en concreto una Ati 3450) y hacer que trabajen de forma conjunta cuando es necesario, usando sólo la integrada cuando no se necesita mayor potencia, es lo que que se llama Hybrid Crossfire, una idea muy interesante que desgraciadamente es sólo aplicable a Windows Vista, no funciona en Windows XP.

Podeis ampliar la información en la reviews efectuadas en Noticias 3D o en Ocworkbench (en inglés)
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