Older system for semi-htpc

aeiou · Mar 15, 2011

I got an old system for free the other day. I put xp on it and it runs good connected to my tv, but I'm thinking of using it for some htpc uses, along with other things, since its my only windows box. For the htpc, though it could use a little work. For sd its fine but hd doesn't do well at all and hulu fullscreen doesn't work. I'm wondering if something like a radeon hd3650 would help with that. It only has agp so it has to be something older.

specs are as follows-
dell optiplex gx260
p4 2.4ghz
1GB ram
intel "extreme" integrated graphics

bang head)

maybe something like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131388

Knufire · Mar 15, 2011

I would probably pick up a 4650 AGP and another gig of RAM. That is, if the OEM PSU could handle it.

If you could figure out a way to OC it, that would help too.

aeiou · Mar 15, 2011

You don't think that 3450 would be enough? I read saw that the hd3000 and up support hardware acceleration for flash. It's never going to be a fast system, so I would like to keep the expenses to a minimum.

Knufire · Mar 15, 2011

If all you're doing is HD videos off youtube, probably. If you're eventually going to be downloading and playing real HD videos, not so sure.

Theocnoob · Mar 16, 2011

Knufire said:
If all you're doing is HD videos off youtube, probably. If you're eventually going to be downloading and playing real HD videos, not so sure.

Ya I wouldn't trust 3450 to do smooth high bitrate true 720/1080..
That whole setup will definitely do HD youtube no problem though.

funsoul · Mar 17, 2011

The HD 3450 should be fine....works well in my htpc's.

trents · Mar 17, 2011

I think the P4 CPU is a limiting factor. I tried HTPC with a P4 Northwood overclocked to 3.0 and it did not give adequate processing power to give smooth streaming video playback. Streaming video is highly compressed data it is the CPU, not the video card that must deal with that. But, most any dual core CPU is adequate for HTPC. If you don't believe me. Just open up the Task Manage resource meter and see how much CPU is being used when you are watching Hulu.

Theocnoob · Mar 17, 2011

trents said:
I think the P4 CPU is a limiting factor. I tried HTPC with a P4 Northwood overclocked to 3.0 and it did not give adequate processing power to give smooth streaming video playback. Streaming video is highly compressed data it is the CPU, not the video card that must deal with that. But, most any dual core CPU is adequate for HTPC. If you don't believe me. Just open up the Task Manage resource meter and see how much CPU is being used when you are watching Hulu.

Ya P4 was just a really bad CPU. Really, really, really bad. 1Ghz of Conroe smokes about 3Ghz of Pentium 4. 1Ghz of Wolfdale smokes about 3.5Ghz of Pentium 4 and 1Ghz of Sandybridge smokes about 5Ghz of Pentium 4++...

I say it's a good SD youtube/pron box but otherwise... not worth putting money into. If you found a nice AGP GPU in a curbed/dumpster system sure.

funsoul · Mar 17, 2011

I'll double-check the cards in both htpc's and test streaming, etc. Honestly, though...the old 2.4GHz clunker's been excellent at anything me or the kids have thrown at it (movies, music, websurfin, NOT gaming). As others have said, though...not worth putting more than about $100 or so bucks into that rig.

Theocnoob · Mar 17, 2011

funsoul said:
I'll double-check the cards in both htpc's and test streaming, etc. Honestly, though...the old 2.4GHz clunker's been excellent at anything me or the kids have thrown at it (movies, music, websurfin, NOT gaming). As others have said, though...not worth putting more than about $100 or so bucks into that rig.

Download- legally of course- a proper high bitrate 1080P rip of something. You're going to be dropping frames like eggs IMO.

trents · Mar 17, 2011

DVD movies aren't nearly as CPU intensive as streaming video.

Theocnoob · Mar 18, 2011

trents said:
DVD movies aren't nearly as CPU intensive as streaming video.

I meant a (legal :sly:

) 7GB Bluray rip kinda thing

David · Mar 18, 2011

trents said:
I think the P4 CPU is a limiting factor. I tried HTPC with a P4 Northwood overclocked to 3.0 and it did not give adequate processing power to give smooth streaming video playback. Streaming video is highly compressed data it is the CPU, not the video card that must deal with that. But, most any dual core CPU is adequate for HTPC. If you don't believe me. Just open up the Task Manage resource meter and see how much CPU is being used when you are watching Hulu.

This. I've seen P4 boxes struggle with modern flash video.

Tbqh I'd say a second hand dualcore box ought to be pretty cheap on ebay, something with PCIexpress and a more modern video card perhaps, even.

funsoul · Mar 19, 2011

OK...have to withdraw my comments :\

The poc htpc...specs in sig...plays videos with bitrates less than about 400 Kb/s without problems (good for most avis) but can't play true 1080p (uncompressed) video at all. For youtube vids...the pc struggles at even 720p. It can display HD tv content without issue.

So....as others said...good for SD and playback of common xvid/divx content (also plays dvds without trouble...don't have bluray on that pc but imagine it'd be trouble).

As a proof of concept (and to make decent use out of a leftover)...certainly worth spending $100 or so but don't expect a monster.
-funsoul

Older system for semi-htpc

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