OK a different approach - what min spec for HD Media PC ?

[g8ina]

Im trying to get a medai streamer, but it's ju7st occured to me that a PC might be a better option.

Dell C521 is £149 plus VAT & post (works out at £235 total), but is the spec up to HD 720p movie playing ?

AMD Sempron 3400+
512MB RAM
80GB HDD (will upgrade with 2x 320GBs)
Integrated nVidia® GeForce® 6150 LE graphics
Windows Vista Home Basic

My existing main PC has AMD 3200+ 64bit, 2GB RAM, x1600 gfx, lots of HDDs and XP Pro and plays anything easily.

[Skinleech]

Why just for 720p? If you're going for an HDPC why not look to playing 1080p content? Eventally you'll want to anyway.

You should aim for a dual core processor, 1gb ram, and a decent 256mb gfx card, preferably with HDCP support. The GF6150 internals are no good for an HD capable HTPC - they just don't have the grunt. I know, as I have one on mine.

I'm currently using an X2 4200, 1gm ddr400 ram, 64mb GF7300LE, but that will be upgraded to somthing more current when there are more options in the market.

I can play 720p/1080i/1080p mpeg2 and h.264 with no issues. Please note, I am not referring to HD-DVD or Blu-Ray here, I do not have the playback capability for those yet.

[benstation]

The absolute basic minimum:

Intel Core2Duo E6300 (or AMD equivalent)
7600GT graphics card (or better)
1G RAM

before you'll be able to play h.264 HD files smoothly.

[g8ina]

Thanks both.

I settled for 720p cuz the TV is new (LG 32LX2R) and wont be upgraded for several years.

I've also posted a list in Scan's section asking if components I've chosen are quiet enough or what options I have, maybe you could check those out too, just in case ?

TIA

[Skinleech]

Originally Posted by g8ina

Thanks both.

I settled for 720p cuz the TV is new (LG 32LX2R) and wont be upgraded for several years.

Yes, but most commercial (either retail or broadcast) HD is 1080i not 720p, so you'll be limiting yousefl in that respect.

Most content you could download is also 1080i, as it's sourced from the US cable channels, or from Sky HD.

[directhex]

there's an either/or on graphics card or processor requirements

modern high-end cards can do most HD decoding in hardware. or you can do it entirely in software on a sufficiently fast CPU (a 1.6ghz pentium-m is enough for 720p in hardware)

[g8ina]

Thanks again

I've decided to build using Scan and private parts (ooer missus !)

My list is in Hardstuff, just about to modify it again though.

1080i it is too

[menthel]

Originally Posted by benstation

The absolute basic minimum:

Intel Core2Duo E6300 (or AMD equivalent)
7600GT graphics card (or better)
1G RAM

before you'll be able to play h.264 HD files smoothly.

Sorry, but that is just wrong with regards to gfx and cpu, you can run on much lesser hardware.

[Skinleech]

Originally Posted by menthel

Sorry, but that is just wrong with regards to gfx and cpu, you can run on much lesser hardware.

You can get 1080i h264 content running on an X2 3800 with a 6600GT card, using software decoding, so fairly correct.

[menthel]

720p (which is what my tv takes) plays fine with an A64 3200+. Its just that those kinds of extremely misleading statements do no-one any good and can cost people large amounts of money on overspeccing systems.

[g8ina]

I already have a 3200+ 64 AMD and 2GB RAM, with a 256MB x1600 gfx card, which plays *the lot*, so I know what I'm aiming for later, as funds allow.

Slight bummer note though - the MSI mobo is on back order

[Howard]

That Sempron won't have much fun with 1080i/p files (Why you'd want to play them with a 720p TV though, I don't know) but it'll be fine for 720p. I tested it on various machines at home/work when I was buiilding my HTPC.

My main desktop (2400+, Radeon 9800Pro, Nforce2 chipset) just about plays 720p x264 smoothly, my previous HTPC setup of an atlhonXP 1800 (and later a Sempron 2800) and GF4MX graphics couldn't do it, but a Celeron 3GHz with onboard graphics played it fine.

I settled with a Pentium D 3GHz and Geforce 6200, this plays 720p stuff beautifully, and the occasional 1080i content. I'm not really interested in 1080 though

[g8ina]

Huh ? What Sempron ?

:-)

[Howard]

Sorry?

Oh, I was looking at your first post

[g8ina]

ahhh, pologies here too, main list is in a different thread, copied here for completeness :

Rev 4 !!

LN9376 AMD Athlon 64 3200+, Skt939 £38.76
LN15017 Asus A8V-VM-SE mobo £31.36
LN16626 256/512MB XFX 7100GS £37.04
LN13081 Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro £11.14
LN10206 Sweex Internet Optical mouse £2.57
LN16583 Logitech Deluxe 250 Kbd Black PS2 £6.45
LN15198 AKASA Zen case £28.78
LN11240 1Gb (2X512Mb) Corsair DDR PC3200 £52.25

£208.88

Tagan 480-U01, private classifieds. £30

£238.88

[Howard]

OK well I posted in that thread too but the same still applies AFAIK, I don't know how well that A64 will cope with 1080