My HTPC Spec. - Is it good?

MiOB · 20 Mar 2009 at 13:50

Mates, I'd like your advice regarding an HTPC spec. for HD playing.

I've come up with my own:

Code:

CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core 2.5GHz E5200

Motherboard: Asus P5KPL-CM

Graphic Card: Club3D Radeon HD4350 512MB DDR2 Silent Low-Profile

Memory: G.Skill 2048MB DDR2 800MHz CL4

Case + PSU: Antec NSK2480 380W

(I've already got HD, NIC and peripherals.)

Is it any good?

I've picked Intel's E5200, since it's a powerful CPU for its great price, an Asus G31 motherboard (It's got PCIe operating at X16), well just because it's the cheapest,
HD4350 for games played at low resolutions, 2GB of G.Skill memory because it's the cheapest while having best timings.

I thank for every advice.

freddie64 · 20 Mar 2009 at 15:45

Looks OK, would probably get 4 gig of ram seen as there is only two slots.

james.miller · 20 Mar 2009 at 15:48

looks great to me. no real need for 4gb in a htpc and also ram timings are next to irelivant

MiOB · 20 Mar 2009 at 16:13

Thank you all.

I've been offered Gigabyte's GA-73PVM-S2H by another forum's member, saying its IGP GeForce 7100 would perform the same as ATI's HD4350, hence I could drop the discrete card out.
What do you reckon? I searched for some benchmarks, however all reviews stated that this chipset wasn't made for gaming, therefore didn't even bench it.

I've also inquired about nForce 630i and noticed its memory support was only for single channel, will it have an impact on performance?

I thank you again.

MiOB · 21 Mar 2009 at 06:40

Mates?

freddie64 · 21 Mar 2009 at 10:15

Hi MiOB.

I am using the GA-73PVM-S2H with my HTPC (also got it cheap

), while its good for movie playback i put a 3450 crafix card in to play a few games.

I didn't even know about the single channel issue with the memory, but it it's good enough for my needs.

Also the reason i said get 4 gig of ram is because its so cheap at the moment. If you got 2 gig now you would have to replace it seen as you can't add to it (if you needed more).

dlknight · 21 Mar 2009 at 11:20

MiOB said:
Mates, I'd like your advice regarding an HTPC spec. for HD playing.
I've come up with my own:

Code:

CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core 2.5GHz E5200 Motherboard: Asus P5KPL-CM Graphic Card: Club3D Radeon HD4350 512MB DDR2 Silent Low-Profile Memory: G.Skill 2048MB DDR2 800MHz CL4 Case + PSU: Antec NSK2480 380W

Looks fine for HTPC purposes, not too different from my own HTPC spec. Most onboard graphics in newer boards is also fine for HD playback.

MiOB · 21 Mar 2009 at 13:52

@freddie64:

You don't feel any slowdown while doing excessive writing / reading operations? (Copying big files, multi-tasking and so on.)
If you don't - It could really be that SC is not inferior to DC.
Also, I see your point about the 4GB, I think I'll upgrade it to 4GB after all.

@Everyone - In general, which chip is better? nForce 630i or Intel P31?
Is there any need for such a comparison which we talk about HTPC?

Thanks mates.

freddie64 · 22 Mar 2009 at 00:23

Hi Miob.
Yes there is some slowdown, but i tend to set it to do a task and leave it.
Unless you are getting 2 gig for next to nothing you may as well.