The IGP Chronicles Part 1: Intel's G45 & Motherboard Roundup

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• Butterbean - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link

  I'm not sure why this board is measured/reviewed for its gaming ability (or lack of). A lot of HTPC peeps get these because they are quiet and can play DVD's without the noise /heat. Not many people really expect to play Oblivion on it.

• 8steve8 - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link

  the dg45id has the unique ability to ouptut simultaniously to two displays with a digital interface.
  
  imo its the prefect board for non-gamers with dual-monitors..
  
  seriouosly.. analog sucks.
  
  should be listed in the pros/cons.
  

• CSMR - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link

  Yes, a very important feature for a work system with integrated graphics. Presumably common to all G45 boards with DVI and hdmi?

• yehuda - Saturday, September 27, 2008 - link

  No, the Gigabyte board can't do that even though it has both ports.
  
  http://download.gigabyte.ru/manual/motherboard_man...">http://download.gigabyte.ru/manual/motherboard_man... (p. 8, footnote 1)
  

• npp - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link

  SPCR measured the power consumtion of the same mini-ITX G45 board and found it to consume 35W at idle with an E7200 CPU installed (which should consume a tiny bit more than a 5200, given it works at higher FSB speeds and has more cache).
  
  Your figures showed something like 57W; one would say, hey, no big deal, we're talking about only 22W here. But if you take this as relative difference - it turns out to be 60%! SPCR used only one DIMM, but I doubt this can explain the discrepancy. The PSU was a 400W model, so I guess it has similar efficiency curve as the Corsair model you used.
  
  Given the strange results of you power consumption measurements recently, I have reasons to doubt that something simply isn't right out there.
  

• CSMR - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link

  SPCR people will make more efficient choices. Efficient PSU, notebook hard drive, non-overclocked RAM. 57W is a good result for a mainstream review. Little things can add up to 22W, especially PSU efficiency.

• MadDogMorgan - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link

  ANAND! These vibrant media popups are KILLING ME!!!!
  
  I am about ready to GO INSANE reading your site. You CAN'T POSSIBLY be making any MONEY off those things, they are too INCREDIBLY ANNOYING for anyone to ever THINK about watching one or clicking one.
  
  Oh, and I LIKE PS/2 ports. What's wrong with PS/2 ? It works great, takes less cpu than USB (in my VERY informal mouse testing) and the headers take up very little space on the mobo. You also have the option to use the USB connections instead, if you want.

• Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link

  Visit this URL: http://anandtech.com/siteinfo.aspx?off=yes">http://anandtech.com/siteinfo.aspx?off=yes
  
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  -A

• zagood - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link

  Wow, thank you! Now how do we do that on DT?

• MadDogMorgan - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link

  Thank you VERY MUCH for providing this option.
  
  Also, please keep up the good work and I appreciate you spending some time in the HTPC area. It seems to me there is a decided lack of good technical coverage in this arena. The kind of in-depth coverage that only your and a couple of other notable sites provide.
  I would like to see some TV Tuner card reviews from your site comparing the technical details of the latest offerings from Hauppauge, ATI and any other popular ones. Toss in a review of a few PVR apps like GB-PVR, SageTV, MythTV and BeyondTV and (HTPC) life would be complete. Don't forge to address the difficulty of getting the channel listings when using a freebe like GB-PVR, or the ins and outs of getting scheduled recordings to actually WORK when the app uses the Windows Task Scheduler.
  
  Thanks Again.