[SimBla]

Hey,

I want to buy me a new HTPC but I'm not quit sure if the new one will be fast enough for HiDef. Is usually wath 720p movies. Does anybody know if this PC will have enough power?

CPU: AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+
Mainboard: Asrock ALiveNF6G-GLAN AM2 FSB 1000MHz
Grafik: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE OnBoard

Will be 1GB Ram OK or do I need more?

thanks,
SimBla

[marlboroman1]

the processed will easily handle 720p and most 1080p. The graphics card should work but may not be future proof as is only got 1.5 open GL drivers. Open GL 2.0 support starts with Nvidia 7 series which is recommend in the wiki.

Ram is not particularly important to XBMC but if you plan on running other programs simultaneously and are using vista you may need more.

[zeuss-axis]

I think you may find that the 6150 will hiccup at faster bitrates...and like marlboroman1 said, it's definitely not future proof. For a little more, you can get yourself HDMI and Optical onboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128090

[SimBla]

I think i will buy a new GeForce when i run into some problems...
Thank you for the help...

SimBla

[AzzX]

No problems here with 720p (same processor)

There are certain 1080p clips that have issues, but only in xbmc - media portal works well.

I bought a $25 Radeon 2400 to go with this PC and it seems to work well using hardware decoding in mediaportal.

[Livin]

I'd avoid on board video for several reason...

1) they are made for very basic video, like the OS gui and watching YouTube... not much more, yes they can do it but, see #2
2) they are severely lacking in horsepower thus requiring your CPU to take nearly all the load
3) you lose a PCI-E slot that would allow you to use any video card you want
4) you "gain" nothing with onboard video but you do pay more for it vs the same mobo without it.

just get a decent mobo, decent cpu, and get the card that matches your needs now and in the near future... always buy one level up from what you need now since the cost is usually minimal or nearly nothing and the benefits allow you to possibly never need to upgrade, or put it off far longer (less hassle)

I suggest NVidia as they seem to be less hassle and less driver conflicts for both Windows and Linux.

I have an fanless (silent) 8400GS for $25 if you to go cheap but still 5x better than the 6150 you are looking at. Or 8600GTS if you want to do it up "right"

[zeuss-axis]

I'd avoid on board video for several reason...

1) they are made for very basic video, like the OS gui and watching YouTube... not much more, yes they can do it but, see #2
4) you "gain" nothing with onboard video but you do pay more for it vs the same mobo without it.

1) No offense intended whatsoever, but this advice is outdated. In the last two years, with the shift in technologies toward all-in-one devices, MBs with decent built-in specs have come to the market. Livin is right that your processor will take a bit more of a beating than if you spend another $150 on a separate card, but with $50 4400+ X2's, that's not an issue. The 780G (IMHO) marked the first platform that solidly handles everything onboard, and I got my board for $80 with an ATI HD3200, HDMI and SPDIF out...

2)What you gain is $180 ($20 more for a MD with HDMI/SPDIF out, but you don't pay $200 for decent video/audio cards). Yes, you may get an additional year out of your setup if you spend the extra cash, but given that you'll likely upgrade within 3 years anyway, is it worth it?

[Livin]

1) No offense intended whatsoever, but this advice is outdated. In the last two years, with the shift in technologies toward all-in-one devices, MBs with decent built-in specs have come to the market. Livin is right that your processor will take a bit more of a beating than if you spend another $150 on a separate card, but with $50 4400+ X2's, that's not an issue. The 780G (IMHO) marked the first platform that solidly handles everything onboard, and I got my board for $80 with an ATI HD3200, HDMI and SPDIF out...

2)What you gain is $180 ($20 more for a MD with HDMI/SPDIF out, but you don't pay $200 for decent video/audio cards). Yes, you may get an additional year out of your setup if you spend the extra cash, but given that you'll likely upgrade within 3 years anyway, is it worth it?

1) SimBla asked about NVidia 6150... this is a chipset from 2005 and seriously lacking in many ways. We are not talking about 780G, which just came out this year, but even then you do need a fast CPU to smoothly play MPEG4 drive content and Blu-Ray. Why lock yourself into a mated mobo/video when for about a few small $ more you can get a faster GPU and more flexible mobo... You want to upgrade either one, no worries.

SimBa... I for the price/power I suggest a mobo w/ Intel chipset like P965, P35, etc for $50 on ebay... like the ASUS P5B Deluxe with 802.11g + SPDIF + dual NICs and an NVidia 8 series. HDMI is unnecessary as a cheap connector will convert DVI2HDMI

2) Not sure where your #s come from but $200 for a decent video card is "outdated"... even for average gaming.
Why are you assuming he is going to upgrade in 3 years? My XBOX has served me well for 5 yrs and still going strong.

[zeuss-axis]

I completely agree that the 6150 won't do what he wants it to, but I believe that shelling out even an extra $100 for an external card is a waste when you can spend an extra $20 now and with a decent CPU (I have an X2 4400+ that plays MPEG-4 just fine; not sure about Blu-Ray) have a rig that will last a couple years.

Regarding upgrading in three years, the future-proofing issue is moot, since you can just as easily buy a decent GPU card three years from now and extend the life of the machine even further...why pay for more than you need now when you just upgrade later?

[Gamester17]

Does anybody know if this PC will have enough power?

CPU: AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+

Does a AMD Athlon64 X2 5600+ actually cost signifigantly more than a 4400+ these days?, ...if not then why not get a 5600+ instead, that should be able to handle 1080p when the day come and you upgrade to a 1080p display.

By the way, others in this forum have reported that the NVIDIA 6150 is good enough for 1080p if your CPU is fast enough (and this GPU hardware does support OpenGL 2.0). Some have poor result but that have mostly been due to them using the wrong or old device drivers. In any case the NVIDIA 6150 should have no problems with 720p.

[zeuss-axis]

Not too much more: $47 vs $9X at newegg...

[Gamester17]

Not too much more: $47 vs $9X at newegg...

So that is then the difference between a 720p XBMC HTPC and a 1080p XBMC HTPC.