Advice......HTPC

M

magoo

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 21, 2004
Messages
14,554
I have currently.......
ASUS P35 MB with S775 dual core CPU (E 8400, I think)
DDR2 RAM 4GB
AMD dedicated GPU HD 6950

Monitor is a Sony Bravia 46" LCD TV.

I use this for primarily streaming Amazon Prime and Netflix, rarely a DVD.

Would I have an advantage building a new system?

I was thinking of a SFF based around a Core i5 4400-4600 CPU.
I do not know if the video quality of the Intel graphics would better the HD 6950??

Suggestions are appreciated.:D
 
Is there something you want to play or do with your current HTPC that it can't do? If not, why upgrade / build a new one?
 
Stereodude said:
Is there something you want to play or do with your current HTPC that it can't do? If not, why upgrade / build a new one?
Click to expand...

There is nothing special I need/want to do with my current HTPC.....good question....

I was just wondering if newer stuff would be an improvement or is this deal adequate?

I have a bit of an itch to maybe get a Steam controller, but I think then I would need a beefier GPU which sort of defeats the main purpose, which is more to watch TV.
 
Unless you've got a bunch of money burning a hole in your pocket I'd sit tight unless there's something your current machine can't do that you want to fix now. There's no real cheap way to do 10-bit HEVC decoding yet and no integrated solution if you want a SFF system. Skylake can only do 8-bit HEVC via hardware decode on the IGP. Kaby Lake will have 10-bit HEVC. So, unless you need something right now waiting for Kaby Lake would be the right play IMHO.
 
I'm pretty much in the same boat as you and decided to hold off upgrading. The only thing I can see that you'd be missing out on is 4k60 if you upgrade your TV. For that you need an hdmi2.0 - enabled card or a DP to HDMI 2.0 adapter. If you do end up needing 4k, I'd strongly consider the Nvidia Shield as a set top box instead.
 
I went with a 90W GTX 950 because Newegg was blowing them out for $120. Its a lot weaker for gaming than your 200W 6950, but since you don't game, it would decode HEVC, give you HDMI 2.0 and would dump less heat into your room.

Also, how is your rig handling HTML5 player for Amazon? I just dumped my S775 HTPC for a 35W Ivy dual core because even with the 950 upgrade it was still struggling with HTML5 video. Silverlight still worked fine, but it seems that will be dumped by all soon. Your E8400 is a lot faster than my E3300 was though.
 
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