Possible new HTPC

[karltimber]

I have just decided to build a htpc for myself.

have a quick look and see what ye think.

Old desktop pc
Pentium 4 -3.4hz
1/2 gb of ram pc3200
200gb hd
Sapphire Radeon X600PRO 256MB DDR PCI-Express
Hauppage pvr150

- thats an initial stab at it. just want rid of the VCR !!!!

thx in advance

[phpchris]

You know what?

I would take a smaller CPU because a htpc should be silent in my eyes.
For this money I would go for 1 GB RAM and the graphics card you want to buy is wasted money if you gonna use this pc only as a htpc.

[tomtom21000]

your "old" desktop pc seems to me still very good as a desktop pc.
so unless u are a hardcore gamer or such keep this as a desktop pc

As it comes to living-room htpc´s, low noise is very elementar from my experience.
So better invest in some quiet hardware and keep the desktop.

My 2c

tomtom

[karltimber]

when I say old pc - this will be the case and the Cpu is "free" -work thing !!

What graphics card do you recommend - haven't traweled thru the forum yet.
I have a desktop already - built it last christmas and so want a htpc so I can get rid of the vhs !!!

what do you mean by quiet hardware -- newbie question !!!

thx lads

[TVKiwi]

By quiet we mean fanless. The less heat generated by the system the less fans needed (or at least the less work they have to do) and so less noise. If you are going to use parts which generate lots of heat you would be wise to invest in silent fans and big heatsinks. Having said all this it is really a personl tolerance thing - if you are happy with the amount of noise its making then it does not really matter. Another thing to keep in mind with heat is where you will be setting up the htpc. EG - if its going into a rack with an amp and stuff without much circulation then you need to think about how the pc will stay cool enough to remasin stable for long periods at a time (ideally you want this running 24/7).

CPU and GPU grunt depends on the source of the video. HDTV requires much more grunt than SDTV. For SDTV something like a P4 1.8 ghz is ample because the tv capture card does all the hardwork of encoding to MPeg2 itself leaving the CPU to do the decoding. HDTV requires more CPU power as it is higher resolution and something upwards of 2.5ghz is what I have read is needed (someone might be able to correct me on this).

A good point to start with Graphics cards would be a Geforce 5200- its direct X9c compatible (which is the main criteria for choosing a card to run MP) and its not power hungry - I think you can even get fanless versions of this card
.
1/2 gig of ram is a good start but dont go any lower as some people have experienced probs with 256mb.

The more money you can devote to storage the better. I am already looking at 1/2 Terrabyte of used space on my system by the time you have ripped DVDs, recorded weeks of TV and 1000s of MP3s.

Hope this helps.