HTPC with AGP

[Mortis03]

Hey all


So I think I am going to use an old rig for an HTPC. I basically want something I can use to watch/listen to media and would like to get a blue ray drive maybe for it.

The board is a ASUS P4c800 e delux. It was also running a 9700pro but I might get rid of that b/c I bought it used and it was starting to make some noises if I remember correctly.


Pretty much my question's are: Do many ppl use AGP for htpcs, or is that a bottle neck and it shouldn't even be messed with. Also, if I remember correctly, the onboard sound was ok, but not great. Can anyone suggest a sound card? I have a dolby capable receiver, but only using a 2.1 set up. I would like to utilize the best sound card out option for this (opitcal maybe?).

Any help would be greatly appriciated as I'm pretty knew to HTPCs. From what I understand, it's just a PC connected to a TV, but I'm fairly fresh to all the encoding rates and terms and reasons as to why something would be HD.

Thanks all.

[Neuromancer]

I would not mess around with an AGP setup, because to get it up to snuff you would need to spend more money than you would with a more modern setup.


Sell of that older stuff to someone wanting a nice desktop, and build a cheap AM2+ setup based on 780G or 790GX. The IGP will accelerate BluRay and properly encoded HD files so the CPU barely gets used.

You can do it with AGP I believe as well, but ATI AGP cards with hardware aceeleration are goign to cost a lot of money.

If you prefer intel, you can get any old cheap mobo/cpu combo and just run a cheap HD3400 or so for video acceleration :)

I was building e5200 based HTPCs for under $300

[Mortis03]

I would not mess around with an AGP setup, because to get it up to snuff you would need to spend more money than you would with a more modern setup.


Sell of that older stuff to someone wanting a nice desktop, and build a cheap AM2+ setup based on 780G or 790GX. The IGP will accelerate BluRay and properly encoded HD files so the CPU barely gets used.

You can do it with AGP I believe as well, but ATI AGP cards with hardware aceeleration are goign to cost a lot of money.

If you prefer intel, you can get any old cheap mobo/cpu combo and just run a cheap HD3400 or so for video acceleration :)

I was building e5200 based HTPCs for under $300


Hmmm... is that including case?

I guess that would be the smart way to go, but it just hate to see this old beast of a rig of mine to go silently into the night, hehe. Maybe I will list the parts on here.

[Adragontattoo]

I would not mess around with an AGP setup, because to get it up to snuff you would need to spend more money than you would with a more modern setup.


Sell of that older stuff to someone wanting a nice desktop, and build a cheap AM2+ setup based on 780G or 790GX. The IGP will accelerate BluRay and properly encoded HD files so the CPU barely gets used.

You can do it with AGP I believe as well, but ATI AGP cards with hardware aceeleration are goign to cost a lot of money.

If you prefer intel, you can get any old cheap mobo/cpu combo and just run a cheap HD3400 or so for video acceleration :)

I was building e5200 based HTPCs for under $300

THIS with a HUGE BUT.

If you are using Linux, ignore the ATI onboard video boards. I have a system that if I use the ATI GPU drivers (onboard or seperate card) the system uses all three cores for about 10 minutes at 75-100% load on boot.

I dropped an Nvidia card in and this system flies.

[ratbuddy]

They have some 4-series AGP cards now, 4650 for around $80 and 4670 for around $115. While they would probably work fine, you're better off just getting an el-cheapo rig. 5050e + 790GX mobo + 4GB and you're still well under $200.

[tgxiii]

I'd go with an 8200-based motherboard; while the 780G will suffice, the 8200 has more features.

[BlueMax]

Yeah I have another P4 setup with AGP. Its a HD 3650, works fine for HD uses. It does DXVA just fine so 1080p is real smooth.

[Mortis03]

Yeah I have another P4 setup with AGP. Its a HD 3650, works fine for HD uses. It does DXVA just fine so 1080p is real smooth.

Nice.... I think I would be a lot more interrested in doing a setup like that. Mostly b/c, yeah, you can get a setup for under 200 bucks, but with this, I would just need a video card.

[BlueMax]

Yeah I got my HD3650 on sale (Newegg, I think) I've OCed it a bit too. It can play CoD4 on Medium settings at 1280x1024 with my 2.4Ghz P4. :) Not a bad HTPC card at all. I tried running it to my friends Sony Bravia 52" HD LCD TV via HDMI looks great.

I also got a cheap Diamond XS71 for SPDIF output, not a great card but does the trick. All bundled in a ECS motherboard :( sadly it has no OCing options.

[Mortis03]

Yeah I got my HD3650 on sale (Newegg, I think) I've OCed it a bit too. It can play CoD4 on Medium settings at 1280x1024 with my 2.4Ghz P4. :) Not a bad HTPC card at all. I tried running it to my friends Sony Bravia 52" HD LCD TV via HDMI looks great.

I also got a cheap Diamond XS71 for SPDIF output, not a great card but does the trick. All bundled in a ECS motherboard :( sadly it has no OCing options.

You used HDMI with that card? I thought it only has 2 DVI outputs, which is very similar, but not exactly. Just making sure I'm following you.

[Wicked Klown]

You used HDMI with that card? I thought it only has 2 DVI outputs, which is very similar, but not exactly. Just making sure I'm following you.

Most likely he is using the ATI DVI to HDMI dongle.

[Mortis03]

Most likely he is using the ATI DVI to HDMI dongle.

Opps, should have known that.... hey, it was early.

[Neuromancer]

Hmmm... is that including case?

I guess that would be the smart way to go, but it just hate to see this old beast of a rig of mine to go silently into the night, hehe. Maybe I will list the parts on here.

Yah that included a low profile case. Got some cheap on ebay. Mobo 45, CPU was 55, PSU was 35, DVDRW 30 ram 25.

THIS with a HUGE BUT.

If you are using Linux, ignore the ATI onboard video boards. I have a system that if I use the ATI GPU drivers (onboard or seperate card) the system uses all three cores for about 10 minutes at 75-100% load on boot.

I dropped an Nvidia card in and this system flies.

Good to know. I heard ATI was doing better with Linux, but do not know enough about it.