Syntax S635MP Motherboard + VIA C3 1.3 Gigapro Proc for $5 AR !!

[pineapples10]

TigerDirect.com has the Syntax S635MP SiS Socket 370 microATX Motherboard with Audio, Video, AGP 4X, USB 1.1, CNR, IrDA, 10/100Mbps Ethernet LAN Support and Integrated VIA C3 1.3Giga Pro Processor for $5 after rebate. Im not sure how well this performs, but I think it should be good enough for a HTPC. Its damn cheap anyway, it ought to be good for something. Does anyone have any experience with this motherboard or processor?

Chris

 

[yoda634]

Damn, nice. Thinking of picking up one for myself, and one to upgrade the parents' machine.

I dunno if it's any good or not, but shit, 1.3 GHz of anything for $5, I'll take it.

Also:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?Edpno=146912
$10 AR KT266A MB with onboard LAN/AGP/Audio.

and

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?Edpno=146908
Similar MATX board with SDRAM and 1.2 GHz Samuel2 ICPU

 

[_Sin_]

Tigerdirect

actually i dont even that that is "1.2Ghz" that is Giga Pro (naming quirk to confuse you)

i am pretty sure I saw somewhere another deals forum they tore this apart and its actually a 533Mhz Via c3 or something.

 

[_Sin_]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=1244087

 

[MotionBlur]

Aren't these only like P2 peformance?

 

[pineapples10]

hmm...pretty bad performance wise....you think I could use this for a PVR with a hardware encoder card like a Hauppauhe PVR 250?

chris

 

[pineapples10]

did some research and the C3 and apparently the chip has a half-clocked FPU, "400 MHz when the chip runs at 800 MHz" accoring to http://www.geek.com/procspec/via/sam2.htm

maybe this wouldn't work for a PVR then.....

 

[MotionBlur]

You really need at least a P3 to do an HTPC well, I tried using my old Celeron 300A (@ 450mhz) with 512mb of ram and a brand new WD 120gb 8mb cache drive and it was dropping frames like crazy.