HDMI seems to be the buzz word along with high-definition and this combination of technologies is certainly the right step forward by providing us with unadulterated sound and picture quality. In the PC world, MSI is definitely taking HDMI connectivity seriously by releasing one of the first graphics card with HDMI output earlier in the year and now a motherboard with it. Based on AMD’s latest 690G chipset, the K9AGM2 is a microATX solution that we feel is perfectly suited for an HTPC setup.

Packaged in a small box with not much inside, MSI is targeting the mainstream budget-conscious consumer. The front of the box shows a spaceship and the words HDMI Ready in big bold letters while the back lists some of the features and specifications. Inside, you find an IDE and a SATA cable along with the users manual and the drivers CD.

The layout for K9AGM2 could’ve been a little better. While there is reasonable space around the CPU socket, we feel that MSI could’ve swapped the position of the PCI-E x1 and x16 slots and there are two reasons for that. First of all, this could allow you to use a dual slot graphics card without losing any of the 32-bit PCI slots- which are still precious for TV tuner and Sound cards.

Secondly and more importantly, the onboard SATA connectors are placed right below the PCI-E x16 slot and even if you’re planning on using a single slot but a lengthy card such as the x1950 Pro, you will block space above all SATA ports and will have to bend the SATA cables considerably or use a right angle SATA cable to get your drives connected.

Feature-wise, the MSI K9AGM2 is nicely equipped with the HDMI 1.2 output being the center of attraction. Using the onboard audio and video you should be able to output a full 1920x1080 resolution along with AC3 audio through a single HDMI cable. This will certainly make the K9AGM2 ideal for an HTPC setup by cutting a few cables.

The onboard video is based on the x1250 graphics core, that offers full support for Vista’s Aero interface as well as hardware acceleration for MPEG2 and WMV. You can allocate upto 512MB of your system memory towards the video card as well as chose between NTSC or PAL for TV Output. An onboard header is present for standard definition TV-Output however MSI didn’t bundle the backplate to utilize it.

The audio codec utilized by MSI is Realtek’s ALC888 which provides eight channel output though analog connections as well as the HDMI interface. In order to get output from the HDMI port you have to install the bundled AMD drivers. Besides the A/V features, the K9AGM2 has Gigabit Networking and Firewire connection along with ten USB 2.0 and four SATA ports.

The BIOS provides standard options for enabling or disabling most of the onboard components as well tweaking memory options, however, no overclocking options are provided which is reasonable as this board isn’t targeted towards the enthusiast and for an HTPC setup, I would much rather prefer a cool and silent system.