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Hey guys

 

I quite like the specs and reported compatability of the ASrock Conroe 945G-DVI board, my only real beef being that I'd prefer if there was an extra IDE PATA port.

 

However it's microATX, which would mean buying a new case, and as I've got a perfectly good one that I'm happy with I'd rather not waste money. Besides, unless you need the small form factor, microATX simply reduces your future expansion options with fewer slots and typically fewer drive spaces in the case.

 

So I'm looking for an ATX board with the following characteristics, similar to the ASrock:

 

* Relatively cheap (slightly more expensive is OK)

* Onboard video with DVI support

* Onboard Parallel ATA, preferably 2 ports

* High compatability with OSX86

* Ideally support for Conroe processors, but not a big concern

 

Suggestions greatly appreciated!

 

Cheers

Paul.

However it's microATX, which would mean buying a new case, and as I've got a perfectly good one that I'm happy with I'd rather not waste money. Besides, unless you need the small form factor, microATX simply reduces your future expansion options with fewer slots and typically fewer drive spaces in the case.

My mid tower ATX case support both form factors (mATX or ATX mobo). Check if your case support mATX. If not, I would simply bring out a drill (be brave). Forget IDE, you should be migrating towards SATA II.

Good idea, I never thought of that. I just assumed the layout of microATX was different enough that the rear panel or PCI slots etc wouldn't line up with a full size case.

 

The reason I don't care much for SATA (yet) is that I recently bought a 300 Gb drive that works perfectly well, so I'm in no hurry to replace it. Sure my next drive will be SATA but in real world use for the kind of thing I'm doing I'd be very surprised if there's any noticable performance difference anyway.

 

So if I go with the aforementioned board with only one IDE slot, that means I'm connecting both my main drive, and the DVD-RW to the same cable, which will hurt performance. Is there any way around this, maybe the Pioneer DVD drive that is effectively a Superdrive (for maximum compatibility) is available in a SATA version? I expect it's IDE only but you never know :(

 

Cheers :)

Good idea, I never thought of that. I just assumed the layout of microATX was different enough that the rear panel or PCI slots etc wouldn't line up with a full size case.

They line up fine.

The reason I don't care much for SATA (yet) is that I recently bought a 300 Gb drive that works perfectly well, so I'm in no hurry to replace it. Sure my next drive will be SATA but in real world use for the kind of thing I'm doing I'd be very surprised if there's any noticable performance difference anyway.

I see. I would want to reuse that disk as long as possible. I will take your word about disk performance.

So if I go with the aforementioned board with only one IDE slot, that means I'm connecting both my main drive, and the DVD-RW to the same cable, which will hurt performance.

If you are not going to notice the difference between IDE and SATAII, certainly, you won't notice the difference between having two IDE masters and one master/slave.

Is there any way around this, maybe the Pioneer DVD drive that is effectively a Superdrive (for maximum compatibility) is available in a SATA version? I expect it's IDE only but you never know :)

 

Cheers :)

Even if you do find SATA Pioneer DVD, it will be too expensive because they are rare.

Realistically, I think you are fretting over small technical issue. I would put IDE drive as master and DVD disk as slave and be done with it. On your next purchase, get SATA disk and more RAM.

OK thanks for the advice. My hesitancy to put a DVD on the same line as the HD stems from the days when DVD drives had 33Mb/s interfaces with the HD having UDMA-100Mb/s but the DVD would drag the speed down to the slowest of the two. I expect modern drives have fast interfaces to overcome this issue, even though the DVD drive itself doesn't need a high speed interface.

 

I'll have a look at my case to see whether it can accept microATX without hacking, if not I might have a go with the drill :)

 

Cheers.

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