Which Intel CPU for Vista Media Center PC?

[Vanilla_Ice]

Hi,

I want to build a Media Centre PC based on Vista Ultimate. I will be installing a minimum of 2Gb RAM and is likely to have a Gigabyte GA-G33M motherboard and will have a Hauppage WinTV-NOVA-T-500 TV card.

In my main rig I currently have an E6600 at stock. I wandering if I should transfer this to the new media PC and get more power in my main rig or keep it put and clock it?

Would an E6600 be overkill for my Vista based media PC? If so, what would be a healthy minimum spec CPU to work with the rest of the kit listed above?

I am trying to keep costs relatively low, so I am looking for best bang for buck.


Cheers,

ICE

 

[Vanilla_Ice]

Hi david25,

Hadn't considered that route. Looks interesting.

Have checked ocuk, but they don't stock this board nor skt 479 CPU's. Are they discontinued?

Would a T2600 CPU (expensive! ) be capable fo running Vista Media Centre?

I presume skt 479 is more power efficient then skt 775?


Cheers,

ICE

 

[Vanilla_Ice]

Does the E2140 support VIIV?

I'm looking for instant on and lower power consuption.


ICE

 

[Vanilla_Ice]

Thanks Smurfy,

Out of the following which would you recommend?

Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T7100, Socket 479 Micro-FCBGA, 1.80 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB Cache, Retail

or

Intel Core 2 Duo T5500, Socket 478, 1.66 GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB Cache, Retail

Have you clocked your CPU at all? Or has there not been a need?

I currently have an XP MCE pc that I built on an AMD XP1700 and Hauppage Nova T500. I find that theres a delay in flicking channels and slowdowns when recording TV. Do you have similar problems, or is that the XP1700 just not up to the job?


Cheers,

ICE

 

[Vanilla_Ice]

Hi,

Thanks for all the info lads.

Currently I am looking at the T5500 retail and a MSi 945GT Speedster-A4R (on board DVI, passive NB HSF compared with the Aopen i975Xa-YDG) to pair with my Geil 2GB PC6400 C4. Does that sound OK?

Most of my videos are encoded in DIVX (or similar), so that reduces the requirements right? Although I might move on to HD in the future.

ICE

 

[Vanilla_Ice]

Hi,

I have found the MSi, but it is £105 inc vat at a competitor.

But I'm starting to think that going skt 478 is an expensive, dead ended route as opposed to a matx skt 775 conroe.

Can you convince me otherwise? Apart from the lower power consumption is there anything else that can help me justify paying the extra £90 for skt 478? £90 is a lot of electricity

Cheers,

ICE

 

[Vanilla_Ice]

Hi,

I went skt 775 in the end. I have a E2160, Giga Byte G33 DS2R, 2GB Geil, PC6400C4 and WD 400Gb SATA drive on order. Should be arriving tomorrow

Thanks for all the skt 478 info smurfy. I just felt I'd be shooting myself in the foot with Skt478 come upgrade time.

ICE