HardwareZone compared 4 IGP motherboards for AMD AM2/AM2+ processors. The reviewed motherboards were:
- AMD 780G chipset: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H (US$80)
- AMD 740G chipset: Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2 ($54)
- NVIDIA GeForce 8300 mGPU chipset: Zotac GeForce 8300 ($85)
- NVIDIA GeForce 8100 mGPU: Zotac GeForce 8100 ($58)
"... it's hard to argue against the AMD 780G for either power/heat or its graphics prowess. ... On that same note, the AMD 740G is definitely not for the HTPC enthusiast. HD video playback suffered from the lack of dedicated hardware while the graphics performance was mediocre when compared to the 780G. It's likely to be cheaper than the 780G so that could be its selling point, though even then, we aren't too keen to recommend it - especially not for the HTPC seekers." [HardwareZone | AMD IGP Chipset and Motherboard Showdown]
"Between the Gigabyte 740G and the GeForce 8100, it's a tougher choice and frankly, both are not that appealing, but we'll have to say the GeForce 8100 does come out slightly better for both graphics performance and HD video playback. To conclude, we'll recommend paying more for the beefier chipsets like the GeForce 8300/8200 or the AMD 780G for low-cost HTPC fulfillments." [HardwareZone]
When building an HTPC (Home Theater PC), the best route as of now is either go for the GeForce 8300/8200 or the AMD 780G chipset. Also, if you intend to build a low-cost PC based on the AMD AM2/AM2+ processor, and have plans to add a discrete graphics card later (as the budget permits), the mentioned mainboards are a nice solution.
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