System upgrade - Comments (1 Viewer)

[dhanjel]

Hi

Planning to upgrade my current htpc based on a socket 757 sempron 2800+ processor with a Readeon9800pro graphics card.

I'm planning to upgrade to the following:

Motherboard:
Elitegroup Nforce4-A939

CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2,0GHz) Tray

Graphicscard:
Sapphire Radeon X1600 PRO HDMI 256MB

~€342

My questions are:

1. Does MP take advantage of dual core
2. Can MP be run under windows xp 64bit, and is performance increased?
3. Can this config play 1080p material smoothly?
4. Do I have to upgrade the graphics card to support the upcoming
sound standards with blueray / hd-dvd (Dolby TrueHD. DTS HD..) ?
5. Do you recommend any other parts instead of the mentioned?

Another minor question, has anyone heard if any blue-ray / hd-dvd combo computer players are planned to be released soon?

/Daniel

Edit: Posted in the wrong forum, feel free to move it to 'Hardware Selection Help'

 

[Maedhros]

1) Yes, MP takes advantage of dual core. At least the source code is built on threads, which again is the basic unit of delegating control to cores. One issue that may arise would be the syncronization between threads, is that good anyone? I'm sure it is.

2) MP may run on x64. You just have .NET x64 on your PC ;-)

3) Yes it can. I have run several files in full resolution. Take a look at this link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx

For a good H.264 decoder look at: http://coreavc.corecodec.org/

4) Do you mean sound card? Graphics card has nothing to do with sound at all. If you are thinking about sound, I highly recommend that you buy a motherboard with "digital out" (SPDIF, TOS, and what they call it). Then you hook it up to your favourite decoder for optimum quality. Alternatively an X-Fi sound card does a decent job at it too

5) Personally I'm all Asus when it comes to motherboard. I got a A8N-VM CSM with the whole package for around 500dkk. (~$80). As far as I know they already have a newer and better model, can't remember though.

I wouldn't buy the X1600. I was doing a lot of research, since my Mediaportal also acts as a kind of console for games and I needed the performance. I bought a passively cooled 7600GS, which reviews recommended over the X1600. But look at reviews today, maybe something new has come up that's better for this purpose.
NOTE: Have a decent airflow in your case, else it will heat to about 110 C as mine did!!! If the airflow is good, you will have no problems.

Regarding the CPU, I would personally go with the new Core2Duo from Intel. They are the "creme de la creme" at the moment. They perform better, use less power, don't heat up as much, and they are very affordable. Add another $20 or so and it's yours

As usual I will recommend you to go on your favourite hardware buying portal to find out what models of the hardware is within your budget, and don't be too picky. After this, you go on Google and search the model name (eg. "A8N-VM CSM") followed by "review" or maybe "reviews". Then go for Anandtech, Tomshardware, SharkyExtreme, and the likes. If you are also interested in a silent mediacenter (as most are), then go to http://www.silentpcreview.com/ and keep an eye on http://www.htpcnews.com/

That's all my advice... Good luck with your project

NB: I'm going to post mine in a short while with pics.