HTPC from old parts?

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svak

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Jun 25, 2007
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I'd love to build an HTPC for a new apartment starting in August, and I have some old parts that I hope may be useful. Here's what I have:

- AMD Athlon XP 2000+
- Chaintech 7NJL4 mobo
- Geil 512MB PC3200 (DDR400) @ 2.5-6-3-3
- 80GB and 200GB IDE WD HDDs (1 each)

I'd like it to have HDMI, as our TV supports it, and input for local channels (we won't have cable). We won't be watching Blu-Ray any time soon, so regular DVD support is fine here. I know this won't run top-of-the-line.

My question here is, can I run a workable HTPC from these parts without spending a ton of extra money?
 
Nope. Since it's AGP inorder to get a decent video card would cost you a pretty penny over just buying new/newish hardware.

Use the parts from a server or something; throw WHS on it and get SageTV and then drop a couple of tuners into it. Spend a little more cash and build something with more modern hardware (780G mobo, 690G if you're willing to drop in a vid card later if you decent to upgrade for Blu Ray, and a decent lowendish X2 and two gigs of memory).
 
What you have is more than plenty for anything non-HD. If you upgrade your CPU to something closer to 3000-level, and drop in a video card with the appropriate hardware acceleration, you'll be able to handle most non-1080p content as well. However, if you're looking to watch HD content, I would second CrimandEvil's suggestion--there's only so much you can expect to get out of that old hardware. You'll probably be able to do broadcast HD content if you drop in a faster CPU and an appropriate video card, but it'll be only barely enough to handle the load, if at all. The newer hardware coming out (780G-based motherboards) is pretty dang good for HD content.
 
The TV we have doesn't support 1080p, just up to 1080i. This is what we have: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16889114016

It's not the best TV (the company appears to have gone out of business - they don't have a website anymore), but since Newegg says it only supports up to 1080i, is there a way to make this work?

Believe me, I'd love nothing more than to drop a few hundred dollars into a really nice HTPC. I've been watching the forums for a while now and have a pretty good idea of what I'd but if I could (Asus P5E-VM HDMI, for starters), but I'm a poor college student with very little excess money, so I'm trying my best to make due with some salvaging.
 
svak said:
The TV we have doesn't support 1080p, just up to 1080i.
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Why does this matter? With a TV that small you can't really tell the difference between 1080i or 1080p. It's a non issue.
Believe me, I'd love nothing more than to drop a few hundred dollars into a really nice HTPC. I've been watching the forums for a while now and have a pretty good idea of what I'd but if I could (Asus P5E-VM HDMI, for starters), but I'm a poor college student with very little excess money, so I'm trying my best to make due with some salvaging.
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Terrible HTPC mobo; this would be better:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161229
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103257

Also, you could go with a lower end CPU depending on what type of media your watching (nothng stressful, mostly DVDs and xvids and such): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103198
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103199

Either way, you can stick with what you have and upgrade the video card and the CPU (maybe OC it or something but a decent enough video card is going to cost you from $90/100-190/200 to get something that works (ATI is pretty much the only one unless you're willing to go with an older video card) mostly because only the 3850 has a working UVD video processor while the slightly cheaper 2600 series cards are mostly garbage but with a decently fast CPU it should be okay (they have a broken UVD so they can't be used for any HiDef DVDs later on, they also suck terribly for regular MPEG2 playback like DVDs because of the small 128bit on them choking the GPU).
 
I've heard, though I can't confirm, that it is just barely possible to handle 1080i if you have an Athlon XP 2800 or so and a Geforce 6200, and then only if the media you're playing is in a format that the video card can accelerate. That happens to be the same setup as what I have at home, but I haven't been able to test it yet, because 1) I've been too busy to finish the setup, and 2) we don't have a HDTV.
 
Mohonri said:
I've heard, though I can't confirm, that it is just barely possible to handle 1080i if you have an Athlon XP 2800 or so and a Geforce 6200, and then only if the media you're playing is in a format that the video card can accelerate. That happens to be the same setup as what I have at home, but I haven't been able to test it yet, because 1) I've been too busy to finish the setup, and 2) we don't have a HDTV.
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The 6200 doesn't support any other formats other then MPEG2 (well, it also does WMV but thats hardly useful) unlike it's bigger brothers from the 7x00, 8x00 and 9x00 series.

Also, for 1080i ATSC broadcasts (higher bitrate MPEG2 then you'd find on a DVD) my Mobile 2400 have to be cranked up to 3200+ speeds in order to play them back (this is with a 6600GT). At 3000+ speeds it can just barely play them back but theres slight stuttering here and there, 3200+ speeds and everything plays back like gravy.
 
What qualifies as "stressful"? The main intent here is to play DVDs and movie files... all the movies I have now are avi. I'm not terribly knowledgeable about codecs or that sort of thing, so I don't know what kind of hardware is required here. If I don't intend on gaming or anything, and running probably MythTV or something like that, then can I get by with the 1600 and integrated HDMI?

Also, ATI/AMD is the combo of choice here? I had been leaning towards an nvidea/Intel/C2D chipset when crafting my "wishlist".

All things considered, I like the suggestions from CrimandEvil - they're actually pretty cheap. As it stands, could I just get a cheap case (i.e. http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16811190105) and a hard drive (i.e. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218) and call it about good? I'd like a tuner card at some point, but that's for further down the line, I think.
 
I thought you already had a 200 gig HDD laying around?

If you're going AMD then you can easily use the IGP on an AMD mobo (NV is pretty much the only other option and their 7x00 series mobos can't compare with AMD's 780G. NV's 8x00 series mobos are slowly trickling in and they're suppose to be a match) and on the Intel side there is no usable IGP option.

Basically it comes down to whether or not you want to spend $50-80 extra on a video (Intel based HTPC) or save some cash and use a good, solid IGP (AMD).

Personally I perfer using NV since they have given me the best image quality on my HTPC so I'm waiting to see how their new 8300 mobos compare before I overhaul my HTPC.
Also, ATI/AMD is the combo of choice here? I had been leaning towards an nvidea/Intel/C2D chipset when crafting my "wishlist".
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See above comment.
 
svak said:
All things considered, I like the suggestions from CrimandEvil - they're actually pretty cheap
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Crim's recommendations in post #5 are dead on for a person in your situation. For a budget all-in-one solution forget everything you've heard about an intel setup. With a gigabyte 780G mobo and a capable dual-core processor you'll be even be future-proofed to a degree. A win win for you. Any current intel setup would likely require a separate video card for HD btw.

Personally i'd go with a smaller Matx case, but then again, going by the measurements that athenatech isn't that big for a full atx case...
 
CrimandEvil said:
I thought you already had a 200 gig HDD laying around?
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I just bought one of the aforementioned 640gb WD drives for my desktop to replace the two IDE drives also mentioned earlier. I'll keep them in the desktop for the time being, but I could use them in an HTPC if needed. I don't suppose the difference between SATA and IDE drives (i.e. transfer speeds) makes all that much difference for media?

I do have a sinking suspicion that they may be towards the end of their lifecycles, though. I can hear them reading, and it's a bit louder than I'm quite comfortable with. I'm glad I got the new drive.

SJetski71 said:
Personally i'd go with a smaller Matx case, but then again, going by the measurements that athenatech isn't that big for a full atx case...
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Ah, yes, you're probably right. I was just looking for something inexpensive that didn't look... well, cheap. Might this one be better? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811190057
I'd probably have it horizontal, none of this silly case stand business.

Anyway, this is just sort of a scouting expedition, since I won't be building until August if I build at all. Maybe Intel will step up their integrated graphics in the meantime. I got the answer I was looking for: don't use these parts. Maybe I could make a server out of them...?
 
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