Almost finished building a HTPC. Just installing some drivers now and some codecs so XBMC can run.
Got myself a Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-UD2H Motherboard AMD 780G Chipset SB700 (yeah but who cares) South Bridge Athlon X2 64 7750 Black Edition 4 GB Crucial Ballistix RAM (yeah overkill, but I had them laying around) So far I am quite impressed with this AMD build. It's the first Phenom processor I have used (the 7750 is essentially a Phenom sans 2 cores). Performance is very smooth. HD videos play perfectly on my computer LCD. Tomorrow is the test on my Plasma to see if it works fine. Processor is a wee tiny bit on the toasty side for my likings. If things don't go too well, I will go for a 65W TDP processor. This is a 90W TDP proc AFAIK. But my HTPC case is well ventilated and I don't expect anything to burn up. The mobo is completely fanless so that's a good thing. I am using AMD's stock cooler for the time being but may upgrade to something with a bit more oomph. Right now I wanted to remain as stock as possible and not break the bank. The CPU was a steal at $50!!! All of this is running a pared down version of XP Professional and if things go the way they do, then I will be a happy camper. Just one quick question. I can't seem to get CnQ to work unless I run the Gigabyte Easy Saver utility. If I don't run the utility, the Processor is pegged at 2.7Ghz, but witht the utility it goes as low as 1.6 or thereabouts. Can I get the CnQ functionality without the Gigabyte software? Perhaps there is a CPU driver for XP? -- Best Regards, Zulfiqar Naushad
