I recently decided to build my own HTPC supporting HD. The foundation of this system was to be the Abit AN-M2HD motherboard. This attracted me primarily because it has native HDMI support on the motherboard and HDCP support. To me, this means I could build my HTPC without needing an expensive add-on video card with HDMI support. I’ve been turned off by add-on video cards supporting HDMI previously when they came out with HD support but the cards rarely actually worked as advertised.
The AN-M2HD seems marketed at a slightly different audience then other motherboards. Instead of coming in a plain brown box or a box covered with hi-tech designs, instead it gets a retro treatment seemingly intended to attract people interested more in the results less than the motherboard specs.
I’m mounting all of this in a Lian Li PC-V350A case which was well suited to my needs. The case is a MicroATX form factor like the AN-M2HD itself. I've got a review of the PCv350 case if you want more information.
The complete hardware list:
Abit AN-M2HD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz Dual-Core CPU
Lian Li PC-V350A case
GSkill 2 X 1GB DDR2 800 SDRAM (PC2 6400)
Samsung 500GB drive
Thermaltake 500wt ATX power supply
Lite-On DVD ROM
That’s it for now. I won’t be needing a video card, and for my use I don’t need a TV Tuner card. I’d planned to add on a HD-DVD player, but recent news about Warner and Paramount switching to Blu-Ray has made me pause on that purchase. I can play Blu-Ray discs through my PS3, so for the time being the HTPC will be for HD from our camera and from disc rips. (My wife and I are big movie buffs and like to keep as much of our library online as possible so we can call up any movie at any time). I'll also be moving the 50-0GB hard drive from the older HTPC to this one once it's decomissioned.
The complete hardware list:
Abit AN-M2HD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz Dual-Core CPU
Lian Li PC-V350A case
GSkill 2 X 1GB DDR2 800 SDRAM (PC2 6400)
Samsung 500GB drive
Thermaltake 500wt ATX power supply
Lite-On DVD ROM
That’s it for now. I won’t be needing a video card, and for my use I don’t need a TV Tuner card. I’d planned to add on a HD-DVD player, but recent news about Warner and Paramount switching to Blu-Ray has made me pause on that purchase. I can play Blu-Ray discs through my PS3, so for the time being the HTPC will be for HD from our camera and from disc rips. (My wife and I are big movie buffs and like to keep as much of our library online as possible so we can call up any movie at any time). I'll also be moving the 50-0GB hard drive from the older HTPC to this one once it's decomissioned.
Mounting the Motherboard
The Lian Li PC-V350Acase has a slide out motherboard tray that made mounting it a simple, 5 minute procedure. The motherboard comes with a custom insert plate for the back IO panel and swapping this with the V350’s back IO panel was as simple as popping one out and sticking the other in.
Case Connectors
The MB has more connectors that I had things to connect. Simple things like the power button, reset, activity lights, and such were all easy to locate and connect. Having labeled connectors on the V350 made it even easier.
Other Internal Connectors
The MB has 4 SATA connectors and 4 case USB connectors. I used only 1 SATA connector and 1 USB connector, both of which worked correctly without any BIOS tweaking or adjustments. I did not test the 1394 firewire connector, but I’ll assume it worked as well. These are all in addition to the connectors on the back IO panel.
CPU
The AN-M2HD is an AMD AM2 socket motherboard. Mounting the CPU was easy and standard. The pleasant surprise part was that it correctly set the defaults for the Athlon 64 6400+ Windsor CPU I had chosen. I’d been unable to find any posts anywhere previously that used this new processor with this motherboard.
Manual Errata
Only one SNAFU arose, when I’d connected the power supply, CPU and case connectors and tried to get an initial boot. Nothing. Just a power light on the MB, no activity at all. As it turns out, the jumper for motherboard BIOS resetting is incorrectly stated in the manual. It’s a three pin jumper and connecting either 1 and 2 or 2 and 3 has the effect of resetting the MB BIOS or performing in normal mode. Luckily the MB came with a large sticker for installation on the inside panel of the case showing all jumper positions. This sticker had the jumpers stated correctly. Swapping this jumper results in a good startup.
Memory Voltage
The Mb defaults to 1.85 for the memory voltage. I’d placed in my 2 sticks of Gskill memory and could not get a post screen. I pulled one stick out and got the post screen. Upping the memory voltage in BIO to 1.9 and placing in both sticks worked to fix the problem.
Drive Detection
I’d connected a very basic Lite-On DVD Rom drive and the Samsung 500GB hard drive. The motherboard correctly detected and identified both, which worked without incident.
Boot Sequence
The BIOS boot sequence defaults to Floppy, hard drive then CD, which to me seems backwards. If I insert a bootable CD, I expect it to boot to that CD when I power on. This was a simple thing to switch.
BIOS Updates
I downloaded the latest BIOS from Abit’s website. I was not encountering any troubles, but I wanted the latest to work with because any troubleshooting at later stages would always start with “Well, do you have the latest of everything?”. The website lists both a BIOS update and a Flash utility. The instructions on the Flash utility seem out of date. As it turns out I only needed the BIOS update which comes with the files necessary to perform the flash update as well. Overall, it was a confusing thing looking at the instructions online and trying to justify them against the files I had in hand from the download. I’m sure it’s just a case of them having generic instructions for many different motherboards, but when the instructions say things like ‘if your download has 4 files, do this, if it has 6 files do this instead’ but having a download that meets neither parameter, it’s just a hassle to figure out what to do.
Installing Windows + Drivers
Installing MS Windows MCE was a snap. No troubles at all. I installed the drivers disc that came with the MB and at the end, every device was properly detected and identified in the Hardware Manager in Windows. What a relief. I’d expected this to be a more troublesome adventure.
Based on some posts I’d read, I downloaded updated versions of the Realtek audio drivers from the Abit website. These went on without a hitch. I must say that I like the drivers and the way that they clearly identify the back panel of the MB and what connects where.
HDMI Video
Configuring the HDMI output was fairly easy. The first lesson learned is that you want your HDMI cable connected to your HDMI monitor before booting. Otherwise, Windows and your drivers cannot detect that another monitor could be used. With that covered, running the Nvidia display wizard was next.
When run, the display wizard first asked me what resolution to support on the HDMI connector. This was again a pleasant surprise. No hassles with identifying that it was a special display, or setting that it was for a TV or the rest of the normal steps. It just went right into the HDMI configuration. I chose my HDMI resolution and then it showed me my normal computer display and I picked a resolution for that one as well.
Previously I’ve been using an HTPC with Svideo out and it was much more of a hassle to setup. I’d finally settled on running it as an extended desktop setup with the computer display as the primary. This let me run the Media Center on the second monitor (The TV) and maximized and I could set the resolution for that display separately. Trying to get them both synched to the same display resolution was annoying since it meant my normal display was running at TV resolutions and was nearly unintelligible.
With the AN-M2HD, I can connect both my normal monitor and my HDMI device and set the resolution on my HDMI device and set the system to mirror both displays. The resolution is plenty high enough to be readable. The display on the computer monitor is slight stretched vertically, since it’s displaying a 16:9 image on a 4:3 monitor but that’s ok, it’s still clear.
The reason I wanted this setup is that my HDMI display, a Sony Projector, is actually 2 rooms away in the Theater Room. So any efforts at adjusting settings or handling problems were always troublesome. Change a setting, walk over two rooms, see if it helped. Walk back. Repeat. No thanks. Now I can see the display on my normal monitor and work on the system without these additional hassles.
HDMI Audio
[update: using the newer HDMI drivers from ABIT's website for this board completely corrected this issue]
OK, now for the not-so-great part. Getting audio to work over the HDMI connector is troublesome. In fact, after 4 hours of efforts, and many consultations with the Abit forums, I still have not gotten it to work. Judging by the posts, the problem effects many users.
In the end, I conceded defeat and instead connected audio using the S/PDIF link using a TOSLink cable. It’s not that the S/PDIF connection is bad, it’s that I just wanted the HDMI audio to work the way it should.
Configuring the HDMI output was fairly easy. The first lesson learned is that you want your HDMI cable connected to your HDMI monitor before booting. Otherwise, Windows and your drivers cannot detect that another monitor could be used. With that covered, running the Nvidia display wizard was next.
When run, the display wizard first asked me what resolution to support on the HDMI connector. This was again a pleasant surprise. No hassles with identifying that it was a special display, or setting that it was for a TV or the rest of the normal steps. It just went right into the HDMI configuration. I chose my HDMI resolution and then it showed me my normal computer display and I picked a resolution for that one as well.
Previously I’ve been using an HTPC with Svideo out and it was much more of a hassle to setup. I’d finally settled on running it as an extended desktop setup with the computer display as the primary. This let me run the Media Center on the second monitor (The TV) and maximized and I could set the resolution for that display separately. Trying to get them both synched to the same display resolution was annoying since it meant my normal display was running at TV resolutions and was nearly unintelligible.
With the AN-M2HD, I can connect both my normal monitor and my HDMI device and set the resolution on my HDMI device and set the system to mirror both displays. The resolution is plenty high enough to be readable. The display on the computer monitor is slight stretched vertically, since it’s displaying a 16:9 image on a 4:3 monitor but that’s ok, it’s still clear.
The reason I wanted this setup is that my HDMI display, a Sony Projector, is actually 2 rooms away in the Theater Room. So any efforts at adjusting settings or handling problems were always troublesome. Change a setting, walk over two rooms, see if it helped. Walk back. Repeat. No thanks. Now I can see the display on my normal monitor and work on the system without these additional hassles.
HDMI Audio
[update: using the newer HDMI drivers from ABIT's website for this board completely corrected this issue]
OK, now for the not-so-great part. Getting audio to work over the HDMI connector is troublesome. In fact, after 4 hours of efforts, and many consultations with the Abit forums, I still have not gotten it to work. Judging by the posts, the problem effects many users.
In the end, I conceded defeat and instead connected audio using the S/PDIF link using a TOSLink cable. It’s not that the S/PDIF connection is bad, it’s that I just wanted the HDMI audio to work the way it should.
Rear Cable Connectors
One unfortunate problem is that the rear IO panel places the HDMI connector and the S/PDIF connector immediately beside each other. I've yet to ever meet an HDMI connector without a decent "hood" over the connector and TOSlink cable that did not have a full circle hooded sleeve. This means that getting both to go in at once will require a carpentry knife or other cutting utensil and a willingness to replace a cable if you cut too deep. After whittling down some on each cable hood, I was able to get them both plugged in at the same time.
One unfortunate problem is that the rear IO panel places the HDMI connector and the S/PDIF connector immediately beside each other. I've yet to ever meet an HDMI connector without a decent "hood" over the connector and TOSlink cable that did not have a full circle hooded sleeve. This means that getting both to go in at once will require a carpentry knife or other cutting utensil and a willingness to replace a cable if you cut too deep. After whittling down some on each cable hood, I was able to get them both plugged in at the same time.
Manual Omissions
I’d have felt better I the manual had a section for “how to get your HDMI output working”. It took some trial and error to get it figured out and it wasn’t that hard. However, for a board aimed at people wanting video, the manual should include a quick primer on getting that all important HDMI port working.
Conclusions
I’m pleased with the results. The board’s native HDMI and VGA connectors let me avoid buying a new PCIE video card with an HDMI connector. It works with the new 6400+ CPU and has all of the benefits and ease you’d expect from an Abit board.
The manual could be enhanced with extra information for the getting the HDMI up and running and I think this is critical for the intended audience. Apparently unfixable problems with getting audio over HDMI is unforgivable in a board whose entire existence is to support HDMI, but at least the S/PDIF link using a TOSlink cable works. If I had it all to do over again, I'd still buy the same board.
2 comments:
Doesn't work to well with new 8800gt- even after a bio's update
For those having trouble with getting audio to pass out over the HDMI connector 9and being forced to use the digital out instead) check into the HDMI driver updates on the abit site, it fixes this issue.
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