HTPC help (1 Viewer)

[method115]

Hi I have read the forums extensively and would just like a little help building my HTPC. From what I've read I get the idea that I don't need to powerful of a system to do what it is I want to do. I just want to be sure though cause I don't want to spend more money then necessary or not enough and have to get better parts especially since I shop online.

All I really want do with is watch everything in HD quality (mainly things I download online) if someone could just give me a rundown of what I would need that would be great. The main things I'm confused about is the processor some people say you need a powerful processor others say you don't.

 

[gemx]

I would suggest buying a graphics card which supports MPEG4 / H.264 in hardware and passively cooled.
e.g. GForce 8500 GT (use it myself)
It also has a HDCP compatible DVI out.
My CPU is an old AMD Athlon X64 3500+ and while playing H.264 content my cpu usage is at about 18 % including MediaPortal and TvServer running on the same machine.
The above mentioned graphics card only costs about 70 € here in Germany so you won't need a fast cpu.
Even mine, quite outdated cpu is more than enough.
I would suggest keeping an eye on lower power consumption for the cpu by a hardware acc. graphics card and you are done.
Perhaps it's better in this case to spend more money on a nice HTPC case

 

[method115]

whats a hardware acc graphics card?

 

[gemx]

whats a hardware acc graphics card?

That's a graphic card which can decode MPEG4 / H.264 content in hardware or in the GPU.
with "acc", "accelerated" is meant.
So the video is not decoded by your CPU but by the graphics card.

 

[method115]

so would this card be sufficient Newegg.com - Open Box: MSI NX8500GT-MTD256EH GeForce 8500GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Silent Heatsink Video Card

 

[method115]

Also this motherboard has the Nvidia geforce 7100 on it plus with HDMI.