Upgrade or Start from scratch, H264 playback.

[camus]

Current HTPC components:

AMD Athlon 3000
ASUS A8N-SLI
eVGA Geforce 7600GS 256MB video
1gb ram

I am planning on picking up a HD PVR and hope to squeeze playback out of the above. I downloaded a couple of “test” clips created with a HD PVR and was able to playback 720p, barely. Using Arcsoft TMT with hardware acceleration it was smooth but at around 85% CPU usage.

I don’t think I will be real happy running Sage with this as my main HTPC. So thinking about trying to squeeze some more mileage out of this. X2 939’s are few and pricey, so maybe just go with a beefier non dual core?

New GPU?

As I type this post I am seeing a new system in my future.

[camus]

[quote=autoboy]I love seeing older hardware used for great things.  It always pains me a little to see someone build out a HTPC with a quad that is only used for watching TV.  What a waste of money.  Enjoy…[/quote]

 

Well then, near 3 years later I finally decided to get a new CPU, wait for it.

 

 

An AMD X2 4200+

Yes this system is still running strong, had to replace the DVD player, bought another gig of ram at the same time. But really it has been strong. Records off the HDHR and HDPVR just fine. The new CPU is more a result of adding another client, things just got sluggish, so we will see how it works.

 

BTW, did you know google bought sage? <- just a testament to how long I even thought about this setup.

 

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