HTPC Upgrade

Misan · 8 Feb 2019 at 20:06

Hi guys - I'm looking to upgrade my HTPC. I Currently use it for Kodi and Hyperspin. (Dolphin emulation and PC games)

Has the following specifications.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H Rev 1.0
CPU - Athlon X2 250 3Ghz
RAM - 4GB DDR3
HDD - 250GB SSD
PSU- 850W

Using integrated ATI 4250 HD

I'm looking at getting a GTX 1050 Ti 4GB as it seems to be a decent card for Dolphin emulation for the price.

Looking at the CPU list https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-880GM-UD2H-rev-10#support-cpu it looks like the FX CPU's aren't supported. What would be a good Phenom CPU to go for that isn't going to break the bank?

Would the Phenom II X4 965 BE be a good shout?

Many thanks

andy_mk3 · 8 Feb 2019 at 20:17

Would your budget allow for a Ryzen APU? A 2200G or 2400G would perform pretty well, and consume a hell of a lot less power. The Phenom series CPUs are very dated now, and they are quite power hungry, especially if it's a machine that's on a lot of hours a day.

Misan · 8 Feb 2019 at 20:27

The machine is only powered on (via a IR USB Remote) when running Kodi and running Hyperspin and then is put into hibernation again - so power isn't a major concern.

Presumably I'd have to swap to an AM4 socket board with DDR4 RAM to godown that route. Looks like it would be pretty costly - I'm looking to get most of the parts secondhand ideally.

Cheers

orbitalwalsh · 9 Feb 2019 at 07:33

I5 2500k is recommend CPU, as for GPU can be a lot lower.

Core speed and IPC help. Going ryzen 2200g or 2400g would be a massive benefit !

Will have to double check but if ryzen 2200g euqals or better a gtx 750Ti the. Would be worth the extra cost

MentalSharps · 11 Feb 2019 at 08:03

Having a GPU is useful for MadVR upscaling and HDR processing, which is definitely worth getting set up for. 1050 Ti is probably the minimum recommended to buy for 4K HDR playback and processing that will serve you going forwards.

ExoMale · 11 Feb 2019 at 13:31

you need to state a budget for better answers and what case you have if you have such an overkill psu.

an am3/fm2 whichever has the the A4-A10 apu range will be much better that what your already using nevermind a ryzen version, but even for a ryzen build you can buy stuff 2nd hand.