Five Best Linux HTPC Motherboards

build your very own Linux home theater PC with any of these boards

Are you planning to build a Linux HTPC front-end or a stand-alone Linux HTPC, but are you unsure which motherboards would be best suited?
Well look no further, we have put together a list of five great motherboards that in our opinion (based on experience, feedback from other users on forums and many hours of comparing specs and reviews of current motherboards) would all make a solid basis for a great Linux HTPC running XBMC, MythTV (Mythbuntu, LinuxMCE), Freevo or SageTV.

Our selection criteria were the following:

• micro-ATX or mini-ITX form factor
  Size usually matters with a HTPC, few people would want a big tower case in their living room, not to mention the WAF (wife acceptance factor). Also most HTPC specific cases are designed for these form factors.


• Nvidia GeForce 8200/8300 or 9300/9400 series on-board GPU
  Nvidia's closed-source Linux drivers are currently the best choice for video play-back in the Linux world, as they support hardware assisted video play-back, which is at it's best with the 8x (for AMD) or 9x (for Intel) series cards, using the VDPAU API.


• an on-board HDMI and/or DVI video out port
  The best choice for connecting to your HD-TV, projector or AV receiver.


• an on-board coax or optical S/PDIF audio out port
  Unless you have a very modern AV receiver with HDMI inputs, you will need S/PDIF to route the audio to your AV receiver.


• silent, fan-less (no chipset fan)
  In a HTPC we want as few fans as possible to avoid noise, so a small (generally noisy) chipset fan is unacceptable.