Integrated Graphics

[ani4ani]

Just wondering if anyone is using a motherboard with integrated graphics.

I am looking for micro atx board to build my system - what I have noticed is that there are a lot with integrated graphics, for almost no extra cost.

I had intended to use my Rad 8500 [relegate from gaming PC] or buy a Rad 7500 or similar.

I know that Rad DVD is supposed to be the best, but I have WinDVD and PowerDVD software also.

Any views

Other Note, Socket 370 boards are easily the cheapest, but the chips [cel + p3] seem very expensive [relatively speaking], whereas Socket A boards are more expensive, but the chips are cheap.

What would peeps consider to be the minimum CPU for home cinema only - just DVD playback etc, either intel or AMD

 

[Squirrel God]

I would avoid integrated graphics solutions as the general consensus seems to be that they are slow and troublesome.

nVidia make some corking graphics cards and are worth including in your shortlist I have no direct experience of the Radeon but have had a few ATI graphics cards in my life and they have always proved fiddly with temperamental drivers. Now have an nVidia GeForce 4 with 64Mb DDR RAM and that's been superb!

I used to watch DVDs on a P3 with 128MB SDRAM and ATI 16Mb graphics but there was a little jitter. Would therefore recommend P4 or fast AMD XP chip with DDR RAM.