bought the last Thermaltake Tuba microbtx home theater case for 50 shipped on newegg.. special promo on shipping for this case last week
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811133010

Intel BOXDG965MQMKR LGA 775 Intel G965 Express MicroBTX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...82E16813121064R

Intel core2duo e6320 (e6300 w/ 4 meg cache) w/ ECS PT890T-A motherboard = 169+7.75% sales tax (fry's) sold motherboard for 35 shipped on ebay = 145
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=300109544293

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231098

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3750640AS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=330115916052

LITE-ON LH-20A1L-06 DVD Writer
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827106072

ABIT AirPace Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b/g, Wi-Fi compliant PCI Express Wireless Adapter
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16833347001

stuff i still need to get:
btx hsf [found!]

stuff i have laying around to use:
hauppauge wintv hvr-1600
hauppauge wintv pvr-150mce w/ mce remote
--yeah, they won't work in osx86, but i got plans
ultra x-connect 500w w/ 20-24 adapter power supply.

stuff i need to consider:
pci-x16 video card since gma x3000 isn't osx86 supported

total price w/ shipping and taxes from some: ~700 bucks. i recently sold 2 computers for about 500 bucks. not bad!

-pat

Nice. I'd love to stick my E6300 on a BTX board but they're really hard to come by. When I have a bit more cash I'd like to pickup a uBTX board and one of the Dell Dimension 9100 cases.

How is it going?
Are you sure that the 965 based board is the best choice? I know you're limited with btx and all, but look for a 945G or 975 based solution if possible?

did you see how equipped that board is? i know the gma x3000 is not compatible, but eventually i'll get a natit compatible card. that board is 75 bucks.. the microatx equivalent is around 150 bucks. i also want a quiet system with a nice case. that is what i am getting. it's mainly a pvr and dvd transcoding. 945g doesn't do ddr2 800 nor is there a well equipped board as comparable as the one i chosen. i'm not really limitted to microbtx, i chose it because i saw a nice case and a somewhat foolproof upgrade path. you have to admit it is a nice case. it fits standard atx12v 2.0x power supplies. i'm really stoked about this setup and will be checking out intel viiv service for shits n giggles. can't go wrong for a 50 dollar htpc case and a fully equipped 75 dollar board. i read folks having success with the 965 chipset.. it supports ddr2-800, etc. all asrock cheapo boards don't have built-in firewire either, which i need. i can't use a pci firewire card since it's pci and the board only has 2 pci slots that will be claimed by the tv tuners.. the pci-x card will use the abit airpace wifi card. only available slot is the pci-x16 which will eventually be used for a compatible card.

found me a btx hsf.. thermaltake cl-90142! quiet version!
http://www.xpcgear.com/clp0142.html

then i ordered the i/o shield, viiv/drivers dvd, and configuration sticker (sticker is tight! not bad for 1 buck!) for 12 bucks 2nd day air shipped via ShopIntel
I/O Shield - D38746
DVD, Media Series Software - D42541
Configuration Label - DG965MQ

i'm still waiting on the reports from the guinea pigs on their natit drivers.. so far they seem promising...

-p

I have the Abit Airpace, it doesn't work as an airport. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Other then that, nice rig.

That is actually pretty sweet? Actually I've been looking into a MATX setup and you're right, it is very hard to pull off, and a lot more expensive. Good Luck!

i think it's a matter of hacking the atheros drivers.. it's pci-x1... same chipset, manufacture, and stuff.. right? i'm up for a challenge. worst case scenario: network bridge.



this is a MicroBTX, not MicroATX... and the case+motherboard were a steal!

From what I have found, chipset is 5006EG, and the vender and dev id is : 168c,2041

So far, using the kext from 10.4.5 and modifying the info.plist, has been unsuccessful. If you have a method to fix it, I would be more then happy to try it. When is this all being put together?

the remaining parts i am waiting for is the hsf and shopintel parts...