I'm helping someone put together a HTPC/PVR. Looking at the mobos that have the features I want, AMD is a fair bit cheaper. (Not helped by drastic drop of the NZ dollar which has raised prices a fair bit over the past few months and the fact that the midrange Gigabyte boards seem to be disappearing, perhaps because they're being replaced by the UD range which are still expensive.) Considering price/performance, I settled on the A64 X2 5000+ as the best processor. Before you say it, I can't get the 4850e or 5050e or for that matter, any EE processor in NZ.

I also plan to get a Radeon 4650 (about the same price as the 4550s), want the post processing (likely a fair amount of stuff will be SD) and of course the hardware decode. IGP is out of the question (need component out initially).

The HTPC will primaril be used for recording NZ DVB-t HDTV and SDTV and of course watching them, DVDs and other content. No BluRay initially but will be added in the future. Don't want to have to upgrade for BluRay (other then the drive). NZ HDTV use H.264 either 1080i and 720p. SDTV is usually 576p.

No overclocking planned. No gaming and obviously no need to transcode. Most demanding thing will probably be the videos. Will also be used as a general PC for some office and Internet browsing and stuff like but that's obviously insignificant. Only other demanding apps may be some photo work.

Obviously want it to be quiet but not aiming for extreme silence (the computer is likely to be in a cabinet anyway).

Do people anticipate significant problems, i.e. am I likely to regret getting the 5000+? If so, with what sort of sources? The other options would be an Intel system with the E5200 but that would add cost for the motherboard and the processor and I'm tring to keep cost down. One of the reasons why I'm leaning AMD it because it provides a cheaper system which has all I want and is relatively upgradable.

As I understand it, as long as hardware decode works fine, I should have no problem. If not, I may be a bit f*cked even with something like CoreAVC. I shouldn't have any problem with BluRay but could potentially have problems with other sources including my DVB-t (although I've read it's working okay with the right software now).

I was a bit concerned when I saw this http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/media-playback_8.html since some of them (WMV, 60fps VC-1 and DivX) have fairly high CPU usage. The CPU is supposedly a E8500 which would be a lot more powerful then a 5000+. But the review is a bit confusing/crap since it includes AMD IGPs which clearly didn't use an E8500 and doesn't seem to specify what the processor is for them so perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

And The SPR reviews I came across
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article873-page5.html
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article910-page6.html
Which has similar tests for WMV and while high usage, it was using a 930D/Presler (Netburst) so it would seem a A64 X2 5000+ should be fine.

P.S. I can get a 6000+ but the price is close to the price of the E5200 so doesn't seem worth it particularly since price/performance wise the 5000+ is a fair bit better then the 6000+.As for the 7750, I don't like the high power consumption particularly when idle. From what I've seen it's easily worse than a E5200 under load when idle, the 5000+ while worse then the E5200 under load and from a performance/watt standpoint seems to be around the same idle (although clocked lower too). Given the computer should be close to idle a fair amount of time, it's likely to have an average power consumption a fair bit higher.
P.P.S. In case you missed it, I live in NZ, so please don't provide NewEgg links telling me how cheap this is and I should get it...

i have the Athlon 64 X2 5000+ overclocked to 3.2 ghz u not missing out ,its a great chip and super cheap.

I use both X2 64 3500+ and X2 64 5000+ in two media centers I have, and they're great. If your going to have the ATI4650 as well, you'll get full h/w acceleration for playback, which means you can actually UNDERCLOCK the CPU or use CPU throttling (as I do) to reduce the CPU speed, reducing heat/power. I can watch full HD encoded MKV's with h/w acceleration and both cores will pretty much run at 1Ghz all the way through.

It's not about the speed of the processors that make a good HTPC, it's how you put the system together, putting thought into noise/heat/power.

The AMD 5000 is fine. I have several Media Center PCs running them. You might regret the ATI card. I had problems with several ATI cards. Have not tried the HD 4650 though. NVIDIA 9400 GT works very well with Media Center OTA HD. And you can ger them for less than $60 US.

Thanks for all comments/reassurance so far.

The AMD 5000 is fine. I have several Media Center PCs running them. You might regret the ATI card. I had problems with several ATI cards. Have not tried the HD 4650 though. NVIDIA 9400 GT works very well with Media Center OTA HD. And you can ger them for less than $60 US.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'd like the option of LPCM 7.1 HDMI out which unfortunately Nvidia cards don't have. While I haven't quite decided on a motherboard yet, I prefer it through the same cable so Nvidia card + Nvidia mobo for the audio isn't an option either.

I would be interested in what specific problems you've had though. I've read of some potential pitfalls but want to see if there's anything I've missed.

P.S. I forgot to explain properly but one thing is the HDTV and receiver for the HTPC haven't yet been purchased. The people I'm putting this together for have no comp at the current time which they want for internet amongst other reasons, so waiting for the stuff to be purchased to assemble the comp isn't an option. This of course means I want to keep the options open as much as possible. It's possible HDMI for the audio won't even be used in which case I guess it'll seem like a waste but it also means if the setup changes in the future the option is there.

Thanks for all comments/reassurance so far.



Thanks for the suggestion, but I'd like the option of LPCM 7.1 HDMI out which unfortunately Nvidia cards don't have. While I haven't quite decided on a motherboard yet, I prefer it through the same cable so Nvidia card + Nvidia mobo for the audio isn't an option either.

I would be interested in what specific problems you've had though. I've read of some potential pitfalls but want to see if there's anything I've missed.

P.S. I forgot to explain properly but one thing is the HDTV and receiver for the HTPC haven't yet been purchased. The people I'm putting this together for have no comp at the current time which they want for internet amongst other reasons, so waiting for the stuff to be purchased to assemble the comp isn't an option. This of course means I want to keep the options open as much as possible. It's possible HDMI for the audio won't even be used in which case I guess it'll seem like a waste but it also means if the setup changes in the future the option is there.

Your hardware looks fine, mate. that's more than enough for mkv/BD playback. Just be sure to turn on your hardware acceleration on the MPC-HC. I wouldn't spend much more than what you are planning now. I have a 5400+, 780G and 1080p mkv's normally don't go over 45% of CPU usage. Enjoy.