ZOTAC IONITX-C-U Intel Atom 230 Mini ITX ION Platform Motherboard/CPU Combo with 90W PSU

Pros: With the external PSU and fanless system this is pure silent and I have it run 24/7 in my living room as my XBMC media box. its power consumption is fairly low. Being Mini-ITX makes this a perfect board for my HTPC.

Cons: Not really a board itself con but if you are getting this for a Windows Frontend HTPC make sure that whatever app you are will use the GPU to decode the video cause if not you are not using the board for what it is made to do.

Overall Review: This board is perfect for a home theater solution setup. I can toss whatever media I want at it and it goes without a single hiccup. I run XBMCLive 9.04.1 VIA HDMI out and it eats 1080p movies for breakfast.

Pros: Small, light, and quiet. Love the fact that its power supply is external giving you the choice of any case you might really want.

Cons: Can't play x264 making 3.5TB of HD video useless. A huge disappointment since it says it plays HD Video. Sure H.264 is a good format but I can count how many folders of that I have on 1 hand & still have change. It should have said the formats it works with rather than having to make me spend an entire weekend surf forums & tech sheets trying to figure out why I can't play the files I've worked so hard to aquire. Cause you can forget about me converting all of that data to bend to there company's will.

Overall Review: None