cheap upgrade, suggestions welcome

Home Forums Home Theater Computers cheap upgrade, suggestions welcome

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #22907

    My htpc is starting to (really) show its age and im looking to do some upgrading
    My current setup is:

    CPU – P4 2.8 Ghz
    Mem – 1 GB DDR 400
    Video- Radeo 9800pro
    Sound- Audigy 2 and logitech 5.1 via analog outs
    HDD’s – 2x WD5000KS 500GB
    Tuner – Nvidia dual tuner

    Looking at this list, there isn’t much other than the disks and maybe the audigy card that i would use in my proposed  upgrade. 
    The list of new hardware i’m looking at is as follows:

    CPU – Athlon 64 X2 4400+ $84.99 [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103776]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103776[/url]
    Mobo – Biostar TF7050-M2 $79.99 [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138061]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138061[/url]
    Mem – G.Skill DDR2 800 2GB $88.99 [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098[/url]
    Case – Antec nsk2400 $99.99 [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129014]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129014[/url]
    PSU – inlcluded w/ case
    Video – integrated
    Sound – recycled or integrated
    HDD – recycled
    Tuner – recycled

    Total cost of upgrade: $353.96 ($343.96 after discount for CPU mobo combo)

    The system will be running XP for the time being, but i may venture into vista territory in the near future (why i went with the 2GB memory kit).  i saw some rebate deals on newegg but i’m always hesitant to put my trust in rebates as i have been burned before.  It’s primary use will be watching/recording SD TV (havent tried out firewire record yet) via Sage but also some transcoding/burning/comskip duties.  The heaviest gaming this box will see is probably some nintendo roms so im not worried about the integrated video too much.

    I’m trying to keep the price around $400 (but of course lower is better =]).  I went down the AMD route to keep price down as i noticed the socket 775 boards seem to be a bit more expensive than the AM2’s along with the intel cpu’s being more expensive.

    I’m not sure what case I’m going to go with.  I just threw the nsk2400 on there because its a micoATX case that I have heard of.  Suggestions in this area would be very helpful.  I think I would like to keep it a microATX though.

    Thanks in advance

    Something I just noticed:
    The TF7050 board doesn’t have firewire capability (I’m using firewire to control a couple of stb’s) so i would be locked into the audigy card to use its firewire connection.

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.