12 - The Conclusion
The Verdict
I have to admit that I seem to grow a soft spot for mainboards like tested today. Face it, for the money you get a very decent set of options and features, the performance is quite interesting as well. It wins and loses a little opposed to the 780G mainboard which is equally priced and offer pretty much the same features. For whatever reason the GF8200A did feel a little faster here and there, it's one of these subjective things that is hard to describe.
The fact that the mainboard has an embedded GPU also is an excellent. The NVIDIA VP1 video decoder (Purevideo HD functionality) really kick in additional value here.
So yeah, it's performing really well, is reasonably energy aware as (once Hybrid software has been finalized) we can even shutdown a Hybrid compatible graphics card. The things I can think of it lacked, where a missing DVI port and 8 phase power design, that would have been nice. But for 70 USD, not bad. A bit of a flaw I feel is a lacking digital audio output, surely this could have been done easily and HDMI will carry that digital signal, most HTPC users prefer a SPDIF/TOSLINK connector ... by far.
I tell you one thing though, the GeForce 8200 proves to be a very interesting IGP. It introduces features like Hybrid Power and GeForce Boost, but mainly for the option of shutting down the secondary graphics card to preserve power consumption. One concern does come to mind, The technology is limited to one single-link DVI output and hardcore gamers with 30 inch LCDs or multi-screen configurations would run into an issue there. Definitely something to keep in mind.
But let's leave that for what it is. No, for roughly 70 USD/EUR you can pick up this mainboard. It's very recommended if you do not plan to do anything crazy tweaking wise. Baseline performance is just really good, performance is and feels speedy and everything ran absolutely stable. I can see myself updating my HTPC with this mainboard for that matter as it is a relatively cheap to purchase product, offers a stack load of features, can take 5 SATA drives and is compatible with Phenom X4 processors. Next to that the Black Edition mainboards just look great, have the little micro switches and above par features.
There's just really no reason why I couldn't recommend it to you. This is good value.
Price: $79.99 USD / 69 EUR.
