What is the best passively cooled system motherboard? With an integrated CPU onboard. One that would be adequate for gaming and possesses at least one PCIE slot x8 or above... Can be any brand. Any recommendations?
I'd say your best bet, if budget isn't an issue, is getting a CPU with a relatively low TDP (say the Core i5 <65w), and get a large heatsink and let cool passively. Linus has his wife's build passively cooled with a NH-D14 (I think). As long as there some decent airflow throughout the case, passively cooling isn't a huge deal for the larger heatsinks.
Allrighty, that sounds like a good idea, what about one with the CPU soldered onto the Mobo?
I don't think you're going to find a MB with a soldered CPU that can do what you're looking for... you may not find one at all.
The get a CPU with a low enough TDP to be passively cooled on a non-socketed motherboard typically means the CPU so low power that it becomes synonymous with low-performance. However, Intel's Bay Trail based Celerons look interesting. I think it's the J-1900 that's available in the 2.0GHz quad-core variety, which should be enough for gaming, and with a 10w TDP it can be passively cooled. Gigabyte has such a board in the works (they already released their J1800 board), but it does NOT have PCI-e. There is a J1800, which is a dual core, but only PCI-e 2.0 x1.
If you want such a solution, you will probably have to wait a bit longer. AMD may come out with some interesting Jaguar APU's, so Kabini/Tamesh may be your best bet, when they come out.
are you refering to the next gen intel chips that will be solder onto the mb?
Nope. These celeron were released Sept '13. Bay trail is a low power architecture meant for new Atoms. The idea is building an architcture ground up for low power will be more efficient than gimping an existing are architecture meant for higher power use. I don't know too much about it though, just that performance is impressive in phones.
I would buy something like that in a heartbeat if I was able to use a graphics card with it. My parents' have a PC with an HD5550 in it that is perfect for what they use the computer for, but the Phenom II X2 that's currently in there kinda defeats the purpose of a "low power PC".
Well they do have an iGPU based on ivy Bridge's GPU, which should be more than enough for HTPC applications.
Too bad the J1900 has a PCI and not PCIe slot... Else this would be more awesome.
Well, well, well... look at we have here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-msi-am1i-motherboard,26217.html
Now, if you can get a quad-core Jaguar-based Athlon, this may fit the bill perfectly. provided you find a decent cooler and TDP, but looking at the mobile side of Kabini, AMD managed to cram a 1.55GHz quad-core w/ GPU in a 15w envolope, or a 1.4GHz Turbo quad-core in a 8w, so if this is any indication, passive cooling should be easily achievable with an Athlon (which typically have GPU's disabled - more TDP headroom for CPU).
Holy mackerel. :D Happy days are ahead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slEoUmqzscw
Hey dude check this out! You can basically attach a full graphics card into a 1x PCI-E slot! at 1:03:20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVH0vZiztj8&t=63m20s
You could, but Bay Trail is limited to 1x PCI-e 2.0, which heavily bottlenecks a 5870 (~R7 260x - R7 265 performance range):
Across these 3 titles, the 5870 achieves about 57% of its performance compared to 16x bandwidth.