Should I bite the bullet and begin to upgrade or will my old stuff work for 720p

12 posts / 0 new

Last post

Sun, 02/01/2009 - 8:48pm

GenXNurse

Offline

Joined: 29 Jun 2007

Should I bite the bullet and begin to upgrade or will my old stuff work for 720p

Thanks in advance for any help.

Let me preface this by saying that in this economy I can't just drop 1K on a computer.

Current Setup
Client Computer: Socket A XP 3000 Barton ASUS A7N8Xe Deluxe with 3 gig of Crucial DDR 400 PC 3200 Video:ATI 9800AIW 250gig IDE and 500gig Sata Windows XP Home SageTV Client 6.4

1. I am going to purchase one of those $399 720p LCD TVs from BJs or Costco and would like to use my computer to run SageTV client with QAM HD.
2. I also want to use this computer to play Blueray discs.
3. I want to use this computer for burning discs to hard drive to put on the Server
4. No gaming
5. I want to do video processing of family video.

Now my question would be if I pick up a new agp video card ATI 3650 will my system be sufficient to provide decent HD playback?
Or should bite the bullet and begin to gather parts $60 to $100+ to build an new AM2 system.

I tried to play OTA HD in client mode (using the old 9800AIW) and the picture was very clear and the action was nice but the client software wast totally unusable to change channels or function properly.

Server Stats: XP 2000 socket A Asus A7N8Xe Deluxe 512 Ram (soon to be 1 gig hyper-X) Video Geforce 6200 250gig IDE 750gig Sata x2 Windows XP Home Sage TV 6.4 Hauppauge HVR 1600 Hauppauge PVR 150 MCE

If the choice is to upgrade then perhaps could I get a suggestion for a full ATX motherboard with on board video (just for the short term) that I can build my future client around. Many thanks.

GenXNurse

Sun, 02/01/2009 - 8:59pm

Daniel Schoerner

Offline

Joined: 27 Dec 2006

Technically, you can get working playback of Blu-ray with that processor and a gig of RAM (see Dan's Blogs - Blu-ray on AGP), but from an overall happiness usability perspective I would recommend upgrading.

Some of the other folks are running builds with AMD processors and IGPs so I'll let them comment on choice of boards and chipsets.

My Home Theater, XLobbyMC
To Do: Finish Re-ripping my music collection - While Playing FF XIV

Mon, 02/02/2009 - 12:15am

autoboy

Offline

Joined: 15 Mar 2007

You don't need too much for Blu-ray these days. But you do need something faster than Socket A for any enjoyment. For very little money, you could upgrade to a low end AMD dual core platform, 780G onboard graphics, and 1 or 2 GB of memory. I don't suggest trying it on a AGP 3650 especially since you are halfway to a AM2 system by then.

Mon, 02/02/2009 - 9:30pm

Tim A

Offline

Joined: 9 Oct 2006

I'm watching HD on my 780G system right now. I'm using an AM2 4850 CPU and 4GB of RAM but the RAM is WAY overkill for this. I was intending to do something else with it. I would suggest 2GB of RAM though because 1) it's cheap and 2) some of it will be dedicated for use by the onboard graphics. In my system I've got 1GB reserved for graphics.

HTPC addict

Mon, 02/02/2009 - 11:04pm

GenXNurse

Offline

Joined: 29 Jun 2007

Thank you so much Naylia, autoboy and Lothar for the information and the speedy responses. It really helps to know that I can even run HD with on-board video from somebody who is actually doing it. Its also nice to know that the HTPCnews community has migrated here.

I am thinking pretty hard about getting one of these two boards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130210

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131325

I am beginning to wonder if I need a full ATX board with all the on-board features in the new motherboards. No need for my Chaintech AV710 or Sata cards to run big drives. Should I go MicroATX and put the extra dough into a better processor?

Second question would be what would be the minimum CPU? Would the current bottom of the barrel newegg work?:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103232

Aside note: Its sad that I get to a point in my life where I am making more than I ever have and I can only scrape together enough money for computer from parts that I used to spend on a sushi dinner. Wives and kids are priceless and the most expensive thing I have ever had.

Thanks again.

GenXNurse

Tue, 02/03/2009 - 12:03pm

Meester.Rip

Offline

Joined: 3 Oct 2006

I'd save my money and go with a M-ATX board and get a low TDP Phenom. It made a huge difference in moving around menus, loading ISO images and firing up the Blu-Ray player. Also if you are running Mymovies that little sql server express really likes the additional performance.

I went with the 8450 I think and the Gigabyte 780G board. Because on the CPU i had originally. The BE-2400 if I remember right had occasional lag with Blu-ray.

If you don't want to go Phenom you might look at this one also.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103255

And there is always the ability to oc the first processor you listed and still keep it running cooler.

I am hoping for a Phenom II at 95 watts myself. Only because the Cool and Quiet is supposed to work properly on them and also an extra core could'nt hurt.

Tue, 02/03/2009 - 12:50pm

autoboy

Offline

Joined: 15 Mar 2007

Don't the phenoms have problems with Cool and Quiet and smooth BD playback? It has been well documented on Anandtech. I think the OP is trying to keep it as cheap as possible so yeah, I think the 1.9ghz AMD processor (45W no less) would be just fine for BD playback as long as you are not trying to multitask.

Yeah, I think you can stick to mATX as well unless you plan to use 5 PCI / PCI-e tuners. These days you can get tuners for USB pretty easily so slots are not that important.

Tue, 02/03/2009 - 12:57pm

autoboy

Offline

Joined: 15 Mar 2007

I see you are running SageTV. Did you ever consider a HD200 extender? I'm moving to all extenders. Unless you sit really close to your TV I don't think you are going to see a huge difference in DVD vs BD on a $400 32" TV. Even so, the HD200 will play ripped BDs.

Thu, 02/05/2009 - 9:13pm

GenXNurse

Offline

Joined: 29 Jun 2007

Thanks again for the all the great info.

I think I am going to go with the Gigabite board below.
1 It has good reviews from newegg.
2 It's cheap
3 It's full ATX so it will make a good server in a year or so when I upgrade again.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128373

Still thinking about the processor but I am really considering using Meester.Rips suggestion ,also copying Lothar, and getting a 4850 which will give me a nice solid system to build on. I have to see what the taxes are going to be like this year before I can consider the phenom and I still have some other computers I may consider upgrading (I have a house full of socket A computers).

This will be nice because I can use the extra xp3000 and 3 gig of ram to beef up the server. I may also sell off all the old parts from my other computers (I have 9 but only 5 socket As and 4 laptops) and see if I can get some cash for upgrades. I really don't have any HDTVs yet except for the one in the bathroom so that is another place I need to spend dough but then I need the hardware to drive them.

I have been with SageTV since around 4.0 and I love it. I have my first media MVP for the SDTV in the bedroom on order from ebay. I don't know much about the HD 200 but I will look into it. For the price I am more likely to get an old HD 100. I have to look into the usb tuners I currently have 4 Hauppauge PVR 150 MCEs, 1 HVR 1600 and a Sapphire Theater 650pro that is code 10 and never worked (no response from RMA). Thanks for all the help.

Sorry for the verbal diarrhea I spent all day in Weapons of Mass Destruction Classes and I'm a bit loopy.

GenXNurse

Fri, 02/06/2009 - 12:22am

#10

Crim

Offline

Joined: 30 Sep 2006

I would highly suggest going with a 8000 series board or a 9000 series Intel board instead. The 780g is getting a bit long in the tooth as it is.

Fri, 02/06/2009 - 9:08am

#11

DRB

Offline

Joined: 22 Mar 2007

Quote:

I don't know much about the HD 200 but I will look into it. For the price I am more likely to get an old HD 100

I hate to cut down on my odds, but I think you can still win a HD 200 here http://www.geektonic.com/2009/02/sagetv-hd-theater-extenderplayer.html

DRB

Sun, 02/15/2009 - 8:21am

#12

GenXNurse

Offline

Joined: 29 Jun 2007

Thanks for the link and sorry if I cut down your chances.

I decided to go with the Gigabyte board

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128373

It supports AM3 and I can always upgrade the video card, so I think I may be OK as far as upgrades go. I also purchased the 4850e chip as it was only $51 full retail shipped from newegg.
I'm pretty sure this is going to be light years ahead of my old socket A. I choose the AMD path so everything I buy will eventually trickle down to the server as I upgrade.

I will still use at least 2 clients as one will be my working desktop and the other the living room HTPC as they are already set up. I like the idea of the HD 200 but I am wondering if having a couple of these would be too much for my socket A server. It has a bit of trouble when a virus scan is running, client is watching tv and I fire up the media MVP. Again it is only an xp2000 with 512 of ram but I am hoping that the xp3000 chip and 3gig of ram that I put into it when I upgrade will solve these problems. Thanks again for all the help.

Genxnurse

Should I bite the bullet and begin to upgrade or will my old stuff work for 720p

Recent Activity

Featured Guides

Popular Content

Today's:

All time:

Last viewed:

More Guides

More Blogs

More Reviews