Intel’s DG45ID is a reasonably priced, full-featured MicroATX motherboard that provides all the basics for a home theater PC, including HD video acceleration, 7.1-channel digital audio, and support for plenty of storage. Just add a CPU, memory, and drives and you’re ready to rock.
The board fits in MicroATX or full-size ATX cases. Its G45 Express Chipset includes an integrated graphics controller, and the DG45ID has DVI and HDMI video connectors, both of which can be used simultaneously for a dual-monitor setup. Adding to the home theater appeal, there’s 7.1-channel, Dolby Home Theater-certified audio with both digital optical and analog outputs, and a connector for a case-mounted Consumer Infrared receiver.
Expansion options abound: There are headers and connectors for up to 12 USB 2.0 ports and two IEEE 1394a/FireWire ports, five internal SATA connectors, and a rear-mounted external SATA port. A PCI Express (PCIe) x16 slot lets you install an add-on graphics card; the board also has two PCIe x1 slots and one PCI connector. Other than a header for an optional serial port, there are no legacy ports here; you can’t connect a PS/2 keyboard or an IDE DVD drive.
Though Intel has included a number of enthusiast-oriented features in its high-end motherboards, the DG45ID is not one for the overclocking crowd. It supports LGA775 processors from the old single-core Celeron all the way up to the quad-core Q9650 with a 1,333MHz front-side bus. (Check Intel’s website to see if your CPU is compatible, though, as there are issues with some Q6600 processor steppings, and some other models not present on the compatibility list.) There are four DDR2 memory slots, supporting up to 8GB of 667 or 800MHz RAM.
The most significant update in the G45 Express Chipset’s X4500HD graphics core over the previous-generation X3500 is improved high-definition support (the “HD” in X4500HD), with enhanced hardware decoding for VC1, H.264, and MPEG2-compressed graphics streams. As the core element of a home theater PC, this lets the board play back DVD, Blu-ray, and other video files while using very little CPU power. However, the DG45ID’s video drivers are missing the bells and whistles found in competitive graphics cores. You’ll have to download a third-party utility, for instance, to set a custom resolution to compensate for screen real-estate lost to overscanned edges, a feature built into Nvidia’s GeForce drivers. On the positive front, Intel has been quick with driver updates and addressing many initial concerns with Blu-ray playback and compatibility with HDMI repeaters. The only major issue still outstanding is a stutter problem with playing back 24p Blu-ray movie content on 24Hz-capable displays, and Intel says it’s working on it.
The GMA X4500HD graphics core offers a slight performance boost over the previous-generation X3500, upping the number of unified shader processors from 8 to 10. While the 3D capabilities will handle Windows Vista’s Aero effects and other, less-demanding 3D games without issue, the updated graphics core is still not going to provide the oomph to play modern games, particularly at higher resolutions. In our tests of F.E.A.R.—a game that’s now three years old—we saw an average of only 10 frames per second (fps) at 1,024x768 with details turned up. Dropping to 800x600 and medium detail still only managed 20fps. Though performance is improved over previous Intel integrated graphics efforts, for anything other than casual games or classics, you’ll want to plug a dedicated graphics card into the board. But for home theater and productivity use, particularly at low-to-medium resolutions, the DG45ID performs just fine.
We would like to see Intel amp up the HDTV features—overscan settings and proper 24p playback are musts for videophiles—and the faster integrated 3D remains a poor choice for anything but casual gaming. Outside of that, though, the DG45ID is a solid, full-featured board that makes a great base component for a living room PC or an inexpensive office PC.
