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Making the HTPC Game Capable

1K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  WJonathan 
#1 ·
I have an HTPC, but would like to expand it to be 'console game capable.' This includes various side scrollers, GTA4, PSX2 Emulator for Gran Turismo, etc.


I currently have the following components. I am looking for suggestions on upgrades (or alternate ideas). Anything I don't have to replace is great.
  • Proc: AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX245OCGQBOX
  • Memory: Patriot G Series Sector 5' Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model PGV34G1333ELK
  • HDD: Corsair Nova CSSD-V32GB2-BRKT 2.5" 32GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
    • Thinking I need to add a Caviar Black for the games, min 320GB, or a second SSD
  • DVD Drive: ASUS Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E818A4/BLK/B/GEN
  • MB: ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
    • Using onboard video currently. Anticipate need to upgrade it.
  • Case + PS: hec Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC Steel 7K09BBA30FNRX Micro ATX Media Center 300W Power Supply / HTPC Case
    • Case is only 3.9" tall. This is problematic for upgrading video card.
    • Even the half-height radeons are 4.3" - 4.5" tall.

So what I see needing to change is:
  • Case (taller to support video card)
  • Video card (looking at something like the half-height 5750)
  • Additional hard drive space (caviar black or second/new ssd)
  • Possibly power supply to support video card


Thanks a million!!
 
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#5 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stucco /forum/post/20798998


Any recommendation on an HTPC case that fits standard video cards? Or one that fits low profile cards, coupled with a compatible card? I am having a hard time finding dimensions on several of the low profile cards.

Just answer one question: How big are you willing to go? There are HTPC cases that can do what you want but you're going to trade-off in performance and cooling with the smaller cases. Even though some small slim-tower cases can take low-profile cards, the cooling and airflow is not great at best for many of them and they don't have the power supplies to handle decent dedicated graphics cards. My advice is to not build anything right now and just wait for AMD to release Trinity since it will pack a gaming-capable and HTPC friendly GPU and bring new HTPC cases with the newer connectivity features.
 
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