Free PC, Convert to HTPC?

G

greengolftee87

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 15, 2008
Messages
274
I just got a free computer from a friend that i literally cant find anywhere online. Anyway its a P4 3.4 Ghz with this video card. My thought is to turn this into a htpc for use at school. I threw win7 on it and it plays SD and 720p beautifully but 1080p content chokes it.

Other details:
-On boot, it throws a "CPU fan abnormal" error and the hardware monitor in the bios shows the CPU idling at 50-55C and the CPU fan at < 1000 rpm.
-Sound doesnt work for some reason. It has "HD" audio and none of the rear jacks or the front headphone jack work. I threw in a PCI audigy2 sound card and still got nothing (might have been a driver issue)

So if I updated the video card to something more respectable would this be able to play 1080p or am i limited by the processor. I think a new fan and reapplication of the thermal paste will be my first steps to remedy the startup error. Any thoughts on the audio?

EDIT: Found the specs on amazon, video card is not a NVIDIA GeForce 6600, its whats listed above.
 
Last edited:
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
If you put in a $40 HD5450, it could probably play 1080p (if you set it up properly).

If its the right motherboard, you might even be able to slot in a Core 2 Duo or Pentium D at least.
 
As long as the software you're using can offload the decoding of HD content to the GPU, then yes a GPU upgrade would allow you to play 1080P just fine. That looks likes you have a PCI-E card there so I recommend this GPU:
$50 - XFX HD-545X-YNH2 Radeon HD 5450 512MB PCI-E Video Card

Make sure that your audio settings isn't setting everything to "mute"
 
Remove all sound drivers and then reinstall. What OS are you using.

A Pentium 4 tho is REALLY pushing it. You have to put in a modern video card with GPU decoding or 1080P is out.
 
I have a GeForce 9800GT in my desktop rig. Would it hurt to try that and see if it plays. What software do you recommend for offloading the decoding to the GPU. Ive been using VLC in windows but have been eying Ubuntu with Enna running on it.

I have uninstalled the audio device and let windows reinstall it when it rebooted. Should I try and find 3rd party drivers myself, i don't even know what embedded audio it has.
 
New versions of VLC, Media Player Classic, nightly builds of XBMC all support hardware offloading. I'm running 1080p on an 8800gt at 5 percent cpu usage with occasional spikes to 20's. Your 9800 will do it just as well. Being free, it can't hurt to try. The cards recommended above would work great as well if you decided to grab one after testing your 9800.
 
Well I threw in the 9800 and got the same result as the video card that it came with, starts playing then quickly gets choppy. I guess ill save this computer for other uses. Thanks all for your responses
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top