Upgrade Old PC to HTPC

[Pitchucold]

Hi All,

I have almost 4 years old pc with below config :

Intel DC33 FBC Motherboard/
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.33 Ghz /
1GB DDR2 Ram Transcend /

I would like to convert this into HTPC and connect it to LED TV and Onkyo Rc270 AVR.

I need a HDMI Out to TV via AVR.

Is there a Grpahics card with audio inbuilt for this config or do i need to just upgrade the CPU and Mobo?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Regards,
Prasanna KV

 

[manniraj]

I think just adding a graphics card like nvidia 430/440 would be more than sufficient for a nice av experience with hd movies and bitstreaming support and also light gaming.

 

[matbhuvi]

I use AMD's HD5770 in my HTPC. Any graphics card in 5000/6000 series will give you HD audio over HDMI out. That would be useful when you add a bluray reader to your HTPC.

 

[manniraj]

For audio/video playing I believe that nvidia has a upper hand as their drivers are very stable. I had the ati series on board gpu which was not stable but once shifted to nvidia 440 the audio/videos are amazing with the cuda technology This might be one of case with me being onboard gpu but still advice you to pick up a nvidia if it is only for av and light gaming. In gaming ati scores over nvidia. As Sam9s pointed out in some of the other threads and also reading over the net I picked up the zotak 440 and very happy with it. I do use htpc only for the audio and video and no gaming.

 

[Pitchucold]

Hi Matbhuvi, Manniraj,

I actually zeroed in on Sapphire Radeon HD 5570. Let me also check ZOTAK 440. How much do they cost in Chennai , India?

I am actually thinking of either going with Ubuntu ..do you if these cards support ubuntu or go with XBMC Live (after exploring it though) ...

Thanks for your help guys.

regards,
Prasanna KV

 

[manniraj]

I got my zotak 440 with 1gb ram for around 4k. You should be able to get it around 3.5k now.

 

[ontherocks]

Get the following and you are way to go.

Windows 7
ATI Radeon HD 5570 or any other ATI Radeon HD 5XXX series card
MPC-HC, LAV filter, madVR

 

[matbhuvi]

Hi Matbhuvi, Manniraj,

I am actually thinking of either going with Ubuntu ..do you if these cards support ubuntu or go with XBMC Live (after exploring it though) ...


regards,
Prasanna KV

Theoretically yes for Ubuntu. I have used only with Win 7 / Vista. Linky

 

[haisaikat]

if i say that i have a 10 yr old pentium 3 pc will that be able to serve as HTPC with any minor upgrade in sub 7K INR Range ? Just curious before I can think of disposing the same.

 

[baijuxavior]

Hi Matbhuvi, Manniraj,

I actually zeroed in on Sapphire Radeon HD 5570. Let me also check ZOTAK 440. How much do they cost in Chennai , India?

I am actually thinking of either going with Ubuntu ..do you if these cards support ubuntu or go with XBMC Live (after exploring it though) ...

Thanks for your help guys.

regards,
Prasanna KV

If you select the linux way, then go for nvidia GPUs as AMD has driver issues with linux.

if i say that i have a 10 yr old pentium 3 pc will that be able to serve as HTPC with any minor upgrade in sub 7K INR Range ? Just curious before I can think of disposing the same.

If your mobo has pci expressto connect GPUs with HDMI out, then you can use it for HTPC. But the problem is that old mobos usually have only agp port and finding a AGP HDMI GPU is pretty hard. It is better to begin from scratch. I am now assembling an AMD fusion based HTPC. Total expenditure so far is just below 12K excluding HDD. Luckily I bought 1 TB HDD for 2.8K two moths back. Now the price is 6K for 1 TB.

 

[haisaikat]

I have a compaq presasio 5000 / 7000 series, belongs to my wife. mobo had normal pci only, no pci express in the year 2000

 

[Kannan_madhu]

try nvidia 8600 "pci" based card , hard to find here . it may run full hd . try it before you buy

 

[vapmax]

If you select the linux way, then go for nvidia GPUs as AMD has driver issues with linux.



If your mobo has pci expressto connect GPUs with HDMI out, then you can use it for HTPC. But the problem is that old mobos usually have only agp port and finding a AGP HDMI GPU is pretty hard. It is better to begin from scratch. I am now assembling an AMD fusion based HTPC. Total expenditure so far is just below 12K excluding HDD. Luckily I bought 1 TB HDD for 2.8K two moths back. Now the price is 6K for 1 TB.

can you please provide the configuration and costs of HTPC that you are building . Cos am also thinking for one.

 

[baijuxavior]

The cost is 12k excluding hdd, os and remote control. I will post a new thread about a this build.

 

[sam9s]

Hi Matbhuvi, Manniraj,

I actually zeroed in on Sapphire Radeon HD 5570. Let me also check ZOTAK 440. How much do they cost in Chennai , India?

I am actually thinking of either going with Ubuntu ..do you if these cards support ubuntu or go with XBMC Live (after exploring it though) ...

Thanks for your help guys.

regards,
Prasanna KV

Go with GT440, no power needed, rock solid driver and pretty inexpensive as well. Plus if you wanna go with Ubuntu it makes all the more sense to go with nvidia. You can use XBMC for Linux (Ubuntu) as well. Or XBMC live, but I will suggest to go with XBMC full version for win, as with win7, the support will be plenty and configuration will be a bit on the easy side. For more details check out my HTPC thread in my sig.

 

[Pitchucold]

Hi Sam9S, All,

I have two final questions !!!

1. How does Zotac 520 perform for HTPC requirement when compared with Zotac 440. I intend to use it only as pure HTPC. 520 is available for $25 with rebate.

2. I have seen your HTPC setup. How did you integrate TMT with XBMC.

regards,
Prasanna KV