[phantsam]

My gaming system isn't being used as much anymore and I was wondering what I could spare from it. The specs are as follows:


CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600

MOBO: Asus Commando P965 (Republic of Gamers edition)

VIDEO: eVGA 8800GTX

RAM: G.Skill 2GB DDR2 800

SOUND: Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatility


I'd upgrade the DVD drive to a BD drive and add more storage, but is any of the above gear worth keeping?

 

[DJWikiera]

Keep it all, you can play Blu-rays with that setup. Go here for suggestion. Dont forget software player.

 

[phantsam]

Do I need to worry about hardware acceleration for H.264 or MPEG2? If need be I'd upgrade any of the components but do not know which ones to upgrade.


Is it possible to upconvert standard DVD's when outputing them or does it not matter?

 

[DJWikiera]



Quote:
Originally Posted by phantsam /forum/post/15401170


Do I need to worry about hardware acceleration for H.264 or MPEG2? If need be I'd upgrade any of the components but do not know which ones to upgrade.


Is it possible to upconvert standard DVD's when outputing them or does it not matter?

You shouldn't have to worry.


SD DVD's are upconverted to whatever resolution you have your computer set to.

 

[phantsam]

You've been very helpful in this thread as well as others. But I'm in a state of information overload right now and was wondering if anyone could straighten me out.


Planned System:

CPU: C2D E8500

MEM: 2GB DDR2 800

MOBO: Gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H

BD/DVD/HD-DVD: LG GGC-H20L


I've decided to retire my older system listed above and start fresh (mostly). I have a 42" Panasonic TH-42PZ85U that I'd like to connect this system to. My goal is to play BD, HD-DVD and SD DVD's on this system as well as back up my collection to the HD's. Also playing MP3 and slide shows of family pictures. Given the specs of the TV and the system, is a dedicated video card needed or will it make do just fine?


I'm also a Linux guy, what kind of issues could I run into with this motherboard and Linux? Preferably I'd like to use Ubuntu (don't feel like messing with Gentoo right now) or Kubuntu (not really a KDE guy either).


I'm trying to find suitable packages for running the OS as Linux in an MC environment and haven't found much. XBMC is not for me, while nice I don't like the feel of it. I'm looking into Entertainer right now and will see how it goes. Any recommendations here?

 

[DJWikiera]

The GA-E7AUM-DS2H is a much better board and you won't need a dedicated video card. I have no problems with this board. Can't help with Linux.

 

[ymarker]

OP, I have almost the exact system as yours but just recently upgraded 2 things:


1) Blu-ray drive

2) Sound card : xonar hdav 1.3


Now I can get blu-ray movies HD audio bitstreamed. I can do transcoding with nVidia's CUDA using badaboom @ about 130-150fps. This is still a very very powerful system as far as HTPC goes.

 

[phantsam]

How would the e6600 fair for an HTPC? If I decide to save anything from the old system it would be the CPU, RAM (maybe) and the HD. I'd go to a newer motherboard like the one mentioned above and replace the case and whatever else.

 

[rockytt]

Well, you can replace whichever pieces you wish, but as the first respondent to your post already said - you can play BDs with what you already have.

Should I replace my CPU? Only if you want to-

Should I replace my video card? Only if you want to-

Quote:
My gaming system isn't being used as much anymore and I was wondering what I could spare from it.

Everything

 

[Tinker]



Quote:
Originally Posted by phantsam /forum/post/15413346


How would the e6600 fair for an HTPC? If I decide to save anything from the old system it would be the CPU, RAM (maybe) and the HD. I'd go to a newer motherboard like the one mentioned above and replace the case and whatever else.

E6600 would do fine. I used a few and they all are still woking in HTPC's.