Friends HTPC Build, Need Help

Got a friend that is planning to turn his PC into a home entertainment system. Its an older system that I sold him a long while ago and not sure if its even up to the task to run anything new. If I remember correctly this is the specs..

Abit Mobo w/ 2600+ XP AMD CPU
1Gig of Ram
500Gig HDD
DVD Drive
350-400W PSU (not much more than that though)
GPU is an AGP slot version.

Oh and stored in a mid tower case. Clear and silver type forgot the brand it was.

He hasn't been using it much recently because it had some problems and he got a laptop as a gift so he is using that. I brought up the idea of a home entertainment center solution for him since I showed him my server that I plan on adding more of my movies to it so I can watch it downstairs without worrying about grabbing the DVD. Though I use mine streaming from my X360 currently and this one would be connected to a TV which is totally different then anything I've tried to do.

Not sure on the TV he has though I know he's been looking at getting a new one, don't think it would be any bigger then a 32", and think his currently is small. At least it would have component or just plain RCA connections right now.

For setting up a HTPC, should I consider a total re-vamp of his system? Case we'd probably keep the same, depending on the condition and storage for drives, if not probably get him something like my second system in my sig. Im not sure if the CPU would be good enough, and doubt the video card would help at all with current things.

Ideally would be adding a Blu-Ray player to the setup as well. As for software, what would you recommened for playing media? Not only that but would you recommened a keyboard/mouse combo for typical operations or a remote to operate the PC?

Just trying to get an idea of how far to go with the setup. I could probably get him something similar to my Server system no problem, couse probably want an updated video card to get him more on the decoding of blu-ray movies.

Sell the mb, cpu, ram, and vid card on fleabay then get a 785g board, Athlon II 240, and 2gb ram. You should get close to $100 for the socket A stuff if it works.

so is this just for media only playback or what else?

Evilsizer said:

so is this just for media only playback or what else?

Click to expand...

Mainly media playback. My guess might be used for internet surfing as well. Doubtful on gaming if anything it would be low power requirements so a GPU wise shouldn't need anything super powerful. Processor can't hurt to have a little power but not busting the bank on it (cheap still) to possible help encode videos.

think your friend would mind a SFF PC? you could go with a ION system and use badaboom to do video encoding/transcoding. newer reviews of updated badaboom have nothing but good praises for it. it does seem to have come along way with IQ for the video and SQ for sound then where it started. as far as ati's side, it seems there are still bugs being worked out. i wouldnt touch it just yet from ati but some like it.

if you want a bit more power on the cheap amd X2 with a 785 or the new 890. with the onboard video either would handle playback just fine and you could go real cheap on the cpu. as far as encoding on the cpu, it might match the ion setup it might not. there is a wide array of programs people like to use for encoding/transcoding.

after looking over prices at newegg, imo choose one of these three boards.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138167 <-785/4200 $64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128439 <-880G/4250 $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138194 <-89GX/4290 $94.99

then get this cpu with any of those boards.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103688 <-AMD x2 240 $56

after looking at other options, this is the cheapest best route to go. still a small package and offers the ability to upgrade gpu later if needed. the intel side was going to cost way more even for the cheapest lga1156 cpu+mobo. G6950@$97+mATX H55@$74. even getting the 980GX would still be $20 cheaper then the intel setup. i would say ION but that little combo is $149. plus there are no numbers on how well the GPU does for encoding compared to others configs. the ion setup i was going to suggest Atom330+9400G from asus runs $149.99. i wouldnt consider running encoding on the cpu and try to use the computer at the same time.

then to finish off the build
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231134 <-DDR3-1333 cas8 $64.99
double the ram he has now and no media pc box needs 4gb.

bring in the total going with the cheap mobo, $186.67 from newegg. is one banging little box...

might i suggest a case+psu combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129040
or this case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163112
with either this psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104075
or this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008

Thanks for that info Evilsizer.

If it was an intel system I'd probably just hit up a socket 775 with an E5x00 CPU. Though that AMD setup does seem sound, and do like the idea of a decent GPU like that built into the board. Can still do stuff but has room to upgrade. I'll have to toss this info his way and see what he says.

Oh for controlling the PC via remote what would be a good option for that? Or would wireless keyboard/mouse combo be better?

well from looking in the past, i liked this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999192
though my plans of changed so i never looked further into remotes for the pc. if its just media playback and he gets it setup right, he wont need a kb/mouse. well maybe a wireless mouse and use a onscreen keyboard, i think windows has that built in, not sure.