Using an older machine as Media PC?

True_Scotsman · 10 Jan 2012 at 12:06

I have an older PC that hasnt been used for a while now and was toying with the idea of making into a Media PC.

Spec of the PC :-
AMD Athlon 3400+ 2.4ghz)
2GB ddr
Nvidia 7600GS 512MB
Biostar Ideq 200N (small form factor unit)

Would this be good enough to play HD content?

Very tight budget if i was to upgrade anything, so what do you think?

413x · 10 Jan 2012 at 12:10

Do you need 3d or 1080 playback? What will it need to handle?

lee1101 · 10 Jan 2012 at 12:11

My girlfriend has a similar setup and its fine as a media pc. However she is only running at a fairly low resolution. That graphics card might struggle at 1080p

True_Scotsman · 10 Jan 2012 at 12:12

Sorry forgot to add that part.

Will mostly be used for playing back 720p content, playing DVD etc

dal · 10 Jan 2012 at 12:12

I'd say the RAM and CPU are plenty good enough, not sure about the graphics card, not really up on GPU's that much, is the graphics interface PCI express, if so you can get a good enough graphics card for not a lot of money see below.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-193-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1711

lee1101 · 10 Jan 2012 at 12:13

swap the GPU for a hd6450, they are cheap and great for HD playback

lee1101 · 10 Jan 2012 at 12:15

dal said:
I'd say the RAM and CPU are plenty good enough, not sure about the graphics card, not really up on GPU's that much, is the graphics interface PCI express, if so you can get a good enough graphics card for not a lot of money see below.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-193-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1711

Or that

413x · 10 Jan 2012 at 12:20

Id say gfx card too, the 6450 is good price/performance

beejjacobs · 10 Jan 2012 at 13:33

True_Scotsman said:
Sorry forgot to add that part.

Will mostly be used for playing back 720p content, playing DVD etc

If its only 720P i think it will be perfectly fine TBH. Why not try it and if you're not happy upgrade something?

True_Scotsman · 10 Jan 2012 at 13:48

I plan to, was just making sure before i go about installing the OS and alls the software etc

beejjacobs · 10 Jan 2012 at 13:51

True_Scotsman said:
I plan to, was just making sure before i go about installing the OS and alls the software etc

Fair enough! I think even relatively old dedicated GPUs should be fine with HD content.

True_Scotsman · 10 Jan 2012 at 13:52

Good to know, it wont be pushed hard and if needed i will upgrade the gfx to something a little better.

Thanks for the info so far.

beejjacobs · 10 Jan 2012 at 13:53

True_Scotsman said:
Good to know, it wont be pushed hard and if needed i will upgrade the gfx to something a little better.

Thanks for the info so far.

My family have an Athlon and a 8400GT I think running HD content just fine (720p, haven't tried higher)

No problem

andy_mk3 · 10 Jan 2012 at 17:12

My HTPC is fairly close:

AMD Athlon 5000+ 3.00GHx x2
2GB Corsair XMS2 Ram
ATI HD 6450 512mb
Base unit is a HP DX2250

Runs everything lovely IMO. I bought the graphics card purely for the HDMI output. I run W7 on it with Media Centre and XBMC, it's great.

lee1101 · 10 Jan 2012 at 17:55

I had a very similar setup as well using the HD5450 which is basically the same card. It was great as a little multimedia pc as its extremely quiet and half height too