HTPC from old Parts. Workable?

O

one swell foop

[H]ard|Gawd
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Nov 16, 2004
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I want an HTPC, have a bunch of old parts laying around, but don't know if the processor has enough power to play back HD content.

I've got:
Core 2 duo E4300
MSI p35 Neo2-FR Mobo
4 gigs of RAM. May be matched, can't recall.
ASUS Xonar D2
Galaxy 560ti
Corsair HX550

What I would really need would be an htpc case that could accommodate an ATX mobo and a heatsink. My question is, is that processor enough to power HD video playback?
 
It could struggle a bit depends what your video out is going to and the resolution you are running it at. I used an old P4 Northwood as my HTPC until I replaced it with an E8400 and it did fine. I just barely upgraded again based on gaming system upgrade and to be honest watching TV, Streaming or just watching movies in WMC I can't tell the difference from the E8400 and the I7 860.
 
Unless you throw really high bitrate 1080p stuff at it you should be fine. That beast of a video card will be doing most of the heavy lifting if you use the proper player and codecs. I'd get a $10 heatsink/fan, a $30 cheapie case, slap it together and call it a day. That processor should do 2.4-2.7 without breaking a sweat for a quick and easy boost if needed.
 
I think you'll be more than OK. I run my HTPC on an underclocked Phenom II X3 720 and a Radeon 4670 and I've yet to see it choke on anything.
 
As said, the cpu should serve your needs perfectly. You do not need a powerful CPU for a htpc since most of the work will be done by your gpu. The 560 should be able to play all high bitrate 1080p movies without breaking a sweat.
 
Will be displaying at 720P currently, with a possible upgrade to 1080 at a later point when I can afford a bigger TV.

What OS would be a good solution? The cheaper the better. I'm technically literate, but do not have experience with linux. Am willing to learn, but have two jobs and law school, so I don't have hours upon hours to spend. My desktop machine is Win 7, got a Mac laptop.

What sort of inexpensive options would you reccommend for control of the machine from a couch?
Sorry to ask noob questions, as I know the answers are in the threads, but if I dig in there I will want the most expensive, nicest thing. Any extra money spent on this is money that I ought not to spend, but I want to be able to play media in my living room through my surround sound system and TV and my Xbox won't play things like mkv's.

Should I just save up for a PS3 and use my hardware for a file/media server?
 
XBMC has an Ubuntu build available for download. It's Ubuntu with XBMC installed with it. So that is available for $0.

As others have mentioned, that computer will be fine; only issue in the future you may have is that your video card is totally overkill for the task at hand, so later on you may want to put that video card in a secondary computer. Can use the hardware for a file server, sure, sans GFX, but I don't think anyone here is going to advise you buy a PS3 instead of building a budget HTPC instead unless, of course, you want to play PS3 games.

If you want to, you can use your XBox to play the MKV's using an app to transcode the videos into a format your Xbox can read (although XBox can only play MKV's with 5 reference frames and avc 4.1). That's also $0.

See: http://www.ps3mediaserver.org/about/

If going the HTPC route, you can buy a cheapo WMC remote for $10-$15, or you can buy a Logitech Harmony 650 for $50 and a Philips e-home receiver for $10. A Harmony One can be had around $170 on sale.
 
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Sell the GTX 560 for $100. Buy a Radeon 6450 for $20.

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Profit ??


It's waaay overkill for a HTPC.
 
one swell foop said:
I want an HTPC, have a bunch of old parts laying around, but don't know if the processor has enough power to play back HD content.

I've got:
Core 2 duo E4300
MSI p35 Neo2-FR Mobo
4 gigs of RAM. May be matched, can't recall.
ASUS Xonar D2
Galaxy 560ti
Corsair HX550

What I would really need would be an htpc case that could accommodate an ATX mobo and a heatsink. My question is, is that processor enough to power HD video playback?
Click to expand...

Should be fine, the video card is likely overkill. Maybe get a good sized HTPC case and cpu cooler and overclock the processor.

XBMC with linux as the backend would be a good free solution. Unless you like netflix... Linux won't work with netflix which is why I went with windows 7 and XBMC as the front end.
 
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js1974 said:
It could struggle a bit depends what your video out is going to and the resolution you are running it at. I used an old P4 Northwood as my HTPC until I replaced it with an E8400 and it did fine. I just barely upgraded again based on gaming system upgrade and to be honest watching TV, Streaming or just watching movies in WMC I can't tell the difference from the E8400 and the I7 860.
Click to expand...

Struggle? The Galaxy 560ti and Core2Duo can do HD contents in its sleep!
 
No one wants Linux in the HTPC goddamn

Valaire said:
XBMC has an Ubuntu build available for download. It's Ubuntu with XBMC installed with it. So that is available for $0.

As others have mentioned, that computer will be fine; only issue in the future you may have is that your video card is totally overkill for the task at hand, so later on you may want to put that video card in a secondary computer. Can use the hardware for a file server, sure, sans GFX, but I don't think anyone here is going to advise you buy a PS3 instead of building a budget HTPC instead unless, of course, you want to play PS3 games.

If you want to, you can use your XBox to play the MKV's using an app to transcode the videos into a format your Xbox can read (although XBox can only play MKV's with 5 reference frames and avc 4.1). That's also $0.

See: http://www.ps3mediaserver.org/about/

If going the HTPC route, you can buy a cheapo WMC remote for $10-$15, or you can buy a Logitech Harmony 650 for $50 and a Philips e-home receiver for $10. A Harmony One can be had around $170 on sale.
Click to expand...
 
I did the same with my old parts and I don't regret it. I bought one of the ceton 4 tuner cards to throw in mine, so I could use the system as a DVR as well. Works awesome. I just left mine in my old midtower case for now. One day I'll buy an HTPC case when I can afford it, but I wanted it to work and to be able to test it out first. I've been using it as my cable box/DVR for over a year now and aside from occasional PC related issue (card not showing live TV until it's unplugged and plugged back in) everything works great. It's way better then using a cable box. I use Windows and WMC on mine and it works fine. Valaire posted some good options for controllers. I paid too much for a Logitec DiNovo Mini, but I like it a lot. Plus it's easier to type things with, should you need to. I also wanted to add that I'm only using a 460SE video card and it works perfectly well for both gaming and 1080P viewing, so your card will be overkill. If you'll use the system for gaming, leave the card in there and it'll work fine for a while.
 
Thanks for all the input! I may try to buy a student copy of windows 7, depending on the price I can get. I'll use An old Lian Li case I have sitting around as I'm already going to have to buy storage. I should have stocked up pre-thailand-flood since prices are still ridiculous. I want to pick up a nice HTPC case eventually as well, but my PC-A05b with a bunch of extra fan holes cut in it should suffice. If I decide I want to sell the 560ti, I shoot some PM's to the interested folks!
 
Biggest reason to pay for Windows 7 on an HTPC over something like XBMCBuntu is if:

A) Watching live TV (with a cablecard or antenna tuner)
B) Running console emulators (with a decent GFX to upconvert some PS1/PS2 titles)
C) Want to play Windows games (with a gaming-grade GFX)

If none of the 3 apply, I'd start with XBMCBuntu and go from there.
 
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