Upgrading HTPC

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l3ender

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jan 1, 2007
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Hello all,

I've got a current HTPC box with the following:

Motherboard: GA-MA78GM-S2H AMD 780G
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 4850e
Memory: 2GB DDR2 800

So here's the deal. I just got a Blu-Ray drive and I put it in this morning and the playback is stuttered. I wasn't real surprised at this. It looks like the CPU is the choking point on full screen playback.

Playback is on Windows 7 x86 with Media Center. I have an old 20GB IDE running the OS and then a 640GB SATA for data. I have a solid tuner (Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600) and case (Antec NSK2480 w/ 380W PSU) that I think I can reuse. Besides the Blu-Ray playback, I stream up to 1080p video from another computer (which works fine).

So I'm wondering what the best route is to upgrade the HTPC. I'd like to re-use as much as possible, and at this point I'm thinking that I'll need to plug in a new motherboard, CPU, and memory to keep things playing nicely. Is all of that necessary? What are the best options? Would I need a new PSU?

Thanks!
 
With your current set up, if you threw in a dedicated graphics card, say GT 240, or a HD 5570, you'd be just fine. 780G + slower CPU does not do HD that well. Offload the processing to a dedicated GPU and you'll do fine, or get a bigger CPU. I'm not sure how much more help the newer 785G or 790G or 880G onboard graphics would be. The simplest solution, IMO, would be to add a low to mid end, latest generation graphics card. You could also do an onboard intel solution, but then you'd not be able to reuse that many of your existing parts, and there is a 24 fps bug with that setup (assuming you have a TV that can match that frame rate in the first place). The Radeon 5xxx series also have the advantage or bitstreaming HD audio, which really isn't that big of a deal unless you want the special lights on your receiver to light up, and you have a nice enough 7.1 speaker system to notice the difference.

I have a M3A78-EM 780G + an X2 5400+ and had slow downs and stuttering issues with some HD content, but adding a 5450 fixed those issues for me.
 
Just add the $60 HD 5550 and you should be fine.

Though it sounds very odd that the 780G onboard video can't handle blu-ray. Maybe the blu-ray codec/decoder/etc that you're using doesn't offload the decoding of HD content onto the GPU?
 
I ran into a similar situation with my HTPC and upgraded to the ICE 5670 and the stuttering was cut down by about 85%.I was using vlc player btw.I started using power dvd 10 and my stuttering completely stopped.definitely worth giving it a try.
 
I'm using PowerDVD 8 as it came with the BR player. Does that make a difference?
 
l3ender said:
I'm using PowerDVD 8 as it came with the BR player. Does that make a difference?
Click to expand...

Actually it does. Apparently PowerDVD 8 doesn't support hardware acceleration well.

Just for shits and giggles, try out this guide and see if blu-ray playback is any better:
http://blogo.biz/?p=20

Definitely worth a try since it's free. Also, make sure that you have the latest AMD GPU drivers available.
 
No luck with that guide. I thought using PowerDVD 8 was a long shot but I figured I'd try it since it came with the drive.

At this point, would getting a later version of PowerDVD do anything? Or is upgrading to a HD 5550 or 5570 the best route?
 
l3ender said:
No luck with that guide. I thought using PowerDVD 8 was a long shot but I figured I'd try it since it came with the drive.

At this point, would getting a later version of PowerDVD do anything? Or is upgrading to a HD 5550 or 5570 the best route?
Click to expand...

Buy new software (I wont click on that link as it looks iffy as is supposed "Free" full software)

New cards wont do a darn thing if the software wont use them. Get PowerDVD 10 or TotalMedia Theatre 3 Platinum
 
You could also try playing an HD clip in MPC-HC. If you see problems in there then its almost definitely hardware related
 
Activate: AMD said:
You could also try playing an HD clip in MPC-HC. If you see problems in there then its almost definitely hardware related
Click to expand...

Doubtful if the drivers are installed right. I quote a 780G review on bit tech

The chipset now sports the Radeon HD 3200 nomenclature and features a unified Direct X 10 architecture with Shader Model 4.0 support. It even includes the complete Unified Video Decoding (UVD) engine for video offloading of MPEG-2, H.264 and VC-1 all the way up to full-HD 1080p resolution. The option of HDMI, DVI or DisplayPort is available, and all come with native HDCP support, but only one can be used at a time in addition to the VGA output for dual display.
Click to expand...

It is the crappy software that came with the drive. One of the biggest scams in computer history in my opinion. But regardless the OP has to upgrade the software and to the best ones as many of the Non platinum or whatever versions do not support Blu ray or dont hardware accelerate it.
 
Its an idea its just that regardless if the drivers work or not the software wont allow hardware acceleration so the op will need new software regardless. Tho HPC-HC comes in handy in many areas.
 
Just a quick follow-up:

Got a 5570 and PowerDVD 10 and all is playing very well now.

Thanks for all the help, much appreciated.
 
Have to put in a quick plug for the his 5670 ICE video card.

it is REALLY quite, .. and has a lot of prosessing power ((such as vector adabtive deinterlaceing). Yea, it si going to cost a hair more, .. but buy once, cry once.

I am very impressed with my new setup , I jstu realised I had one of the case fans on high, so switchign it to low made an even bigger differance - I can barely tell it is on , when siting 2 feet from it.

Kev.
 
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