Celeron 430 in an HTPC

[htpc_user]

I had the Celeron 430 in my son’s PC; it was a freebie computer from my wife’s workplace.  I used it for him to watch ripped DVDs in Media Center and to watch stuff recorded from my HTPC.  It worked well.  I think what it comes down to, is this a cpu you already own?  Or are you thinking of buying this cpu?  If you already own it then I say, yeah, use it.  But as others have mentioned, if you’re buying then there are much better choices.  I never tried a full size bluray because I was using a wireless adapter in his computer, and my network just won’t handle a bluray over wireless.  But I was able to play a bluray that I ripped down to DVD-9 size using DVD Fab.  I was using the Celeron 430 along with a 4550.  It did play fine when watching HD recordings made from ATSC.

[jrandeck]

I built a system very much like that in the OP a couple of years ago.  I used a Zotac GF9300-D-E mini-ITX motherboard and a Celeron 450 Conroe-L CPU.

It worked pretty well for most HTPC tasks.  I don’t recall how well Netflix streaming did on it, but I know I had issues with Blu-Ray playback stuttering on several disks which disappointed me enough that the system saw little use.  Maybe the problem was the OEM version of Power DVD 8, but I expected decent hardware acceleration with the 9300 GPU.

If I had to do it again today, I would definitely go with something newer.  The Sandy Bridge system that was recommended will produce a much better experience for not much more money than the Celeron system.

 

[swoon]

As you mentioned in your new thread on the Atom that budget was a real concern, you may be able to save ~$30 on a Sandy Bridge system if you wait until the new Celeron line comes out. They will probably be good enough, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Estimates peg their release by end of Q3 at worst.

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