[ralphcramdon]

I'm wanting to add a PC that will act as a dedicated video machine. I have one now that I use for ripping DVD's etc but time to upgrade. It's a mere 733mhz P3 and 512ram but works just fine for ripping.


It's time now to do something that will "do it all", including watching streaming video from VOB files on my hard drive (no more DVD's !) and live material on the internet.


My question is simple.....


I need to get another PC (used off of Ebay) and need to know about minimum requirements. There is always some point where things get redundant. So, for the best video, (I don't do ANY gaming).....


CPU speed and type?

Ram?

Video card?


I see many machines for under 200 bucks that are in a nice small case that look like they would be fine...(I would add on a video board that has HDMI)


For example -- IBM 3.2 ghz S51

3.2ghz P4 with 1 ghz ram


Where should I start and where does it get redundant?


AND --


Should I stick with XP or does Vista have any real benefit as far as video is concerned?


THANKS kindly.

 

[RYAXIN]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ralphcramdon /forum/post/15495666


I'm wanting to add a PC that will act as a dedicated video machine. I have one now that I use for ripping DVD's etc but time to upgrade. It's a mere 733mhz P3 and 512ram but works just fine for ripping.


It's time now to do something that will "do it all", including watching streaming video from VOB files on my hard drive (no more DVD's !) and live material on the internet.


My question is simple.....


I need to get another PC (used off of Ebay) and need to know about minimum requirements. There is always some point where things get redundant. So, for the best video, (I don't do ANY gaming).....


CPU speed and type?

Ram?

Video card?


I see many machines for under 200 bucks that are in a nice small case that look like they would be fine...(I would add on a video board that has HDMI)


For example -- IBM 3.2 ghz S51

3.2ghz P4 with 1 ghz ram


Where should I start and where does it get redundant?


AND --


Should I stick with XP or does Vista have any real benefit as far as video is concerned?


THANKS kindly.

An AMD processor or Intel Processor with a minimum of a Duo Core. Preferably a Quad Core Processor.


3GB of SDRAM if running 32bit Vista.

8GB of SDRAM (minimum) if running Vista 64bit.


An ATI Radeon HD 4 series graphics card or an nvidia geforce 8 or 9 series graphics card. (both with a bare minimum of 512MB memory)


500GB hard drive


Good Luck and enjoy!!!

 

[ralphcramdon]

Thanks ! I'll buy based on your parameters.


So Vista is an absolute must?


I'm a Vista virgin....still using XP....but I do remember hearing about some video related advantages to it.


What are they, specifically if you know?


Thanks again.

 

[ralphcramdon]

Or -- just go to Windows 7, perhaps?

 

[kalrith]

You might not need that beefy of a system for your needs. If you look at this post , you'll see a lot of different options for system builds and how good they are at each task. I personally plan to buy a 780g motherboard for $50, a 4850e processor for $55, and a 1TB drive for $90. I all ready have a case and power supply and will use the onboard video and sound from that motherboard.


Vista definitely isn't a necessity. I have a spare copy of Windows XP Home and will use it with a media-center-type interface like GB-PVR, Cliff Watson EPG, or MediaPortal. I also have no clue why you would need something crazy like 8GB of RAM for what you're wanting to do. The most important thing is to get a video card that will take the load off of your processor, like the onboard 3200 in the 780G motherboard or a 4550 if you buy a dedicated video card.


I could be completely off on my comments as I'm an HTPC newb. However, from what I've read on these forums, as long as you have a video card that will take the load off of your cpu, all you need is a dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and a really big hard drive (for the price, I'd go with 1TB instead of 500GB).