Now that tax time has come and gone I'm looking to upgrade my second HTPC.
I currently have an old Athlon X2 (AM2) with 8 GBs of RAM and a Radeon 6570.
I'm wanting to go Intel, and I'm wanting to do it in the next week or so. The reason being is we're shifting our broadcast network recordings to the HTPC from our D* boxes.
I have 8 GBs of DDR3-1600 I can transplant into the upgrade, so I'm covered there.
Everything else will remain the same.
Other than Windows Media Center OTA recordings the system will also be used for internet streaming (Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and Netflix), as well as DVD/Blu-Ray titles stored in .MKV containers on my server.
I'm looking at three scenarios:
1) Continue using the 6570 and get an inexpensive motherboard and CPU.
2) Get an inexpensive motherboard and CPU and GT 640.
3) Get a decent motherboard and i3-3225 with HD 4000 graphics.
My bedroom TV is a 42" 1080P LCD and we currently use the TV's speakers, so HD audio isn't a high priority.
Mr Zoid
I currently have an old Athlon X2 (AM2) with 8 GBs of RAM and a Radeon 6570.
I'm wanting to go Intel, and I'm wanting to do it in the next week or so. The reason being is we're shifting our broadcast network recordings to the HTPC from our D* boxes.
I have 8 GBs of DDR3-1600 I can transplant into the upgrade, so I'm covered there.
Everything else will remain the same.
Other than Windows Media Center OTA recordings the system will also be used for internet streaming (Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and Netflix), as well as DVD/Blu-Ray titles stored in .MKV containers on my server.
I'm looking at three scenarios:
1) Continue using the 6570 and get an inexpensive motherboard and CPU.
2) Get an inexpensive motherboard and CPU and GT 640.
3) Get a decent motherboard and i3-3225 with HD 4000 graphics.
My bedroom TV is a 42" 1080P LCD and we currently use the TV's speakers, so HD audio isn't a high priority.
Mr Zoid