As we worked on this story, motherboard manufacturers were going through considerable ferment, so that numerous options were available by the time we finished that weren't around when we started. We ended up settling on a nice Asus micro-ATX motherboard with integrated HDMI: the M2A-VM.

We tested this rig with both an AMD 4800+ and an AMD 6000+ AM2 dual-core CPU. The 4800+ features peak power consumption of 65 W at a lower price, as compared to the more expensive 6000+ with peak power consumption of 125 W. Because AMD processor retail packages routinely include coolers, we stuck with a stock cooler for these builds. However, a good Zalman or Thermalright AM2 cooler could be considered.

Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H

We also received a prototype Gigabyte motherboard for this story, the GA-MA69G-S3H. It's a full-size ATX board that features an AMD 690G chipset, along with an intelligent layout that places both of its PCI slots far enough away from the PCI x16 slot to keep them accessible even with a giant graphics card like an 8800, along with an HDMI output in the port block. But because pricing information wasn't available when this story was written, we decided not to include it in our benchmarks (though it may be slated for coverage later, when enough HDMI motherboards are available for a roundup). Nevertheless, this board offered a nice mix of functions and features, including an internal S/PDIF header, an optical S/PDIF on the port block and built-in HDTV support, all of which make it easy to use an HDMI-equipped graphics card for output if you decide to pony up for higher-end graphics.