My HTPC spec, any good?

[mancubas]

Below is the spec I am hoping to put together to run my LG 32LX2R 32" LCD, I am intending to run FFDShow and for the most part it will be a glorified DVD player.

Silverstone LC03B (ATX) Desktop Case.
Opteron 146 (2.5Ghz easy) with Zalman CNPS7700-CU 120mm Cooler
1Gb DDR400 GeiL Memory
ASUS A8N-SLi Premium
Hercules Fortissimo IV Soundcard based on the Envy24 chip.
NVidia 7600GT - Passively Cooled with Aerocool VM-102
80Gb,7200rpm S-ATA Hard Drive
XPPro

How does the above spec shape up and will it handle FFDShow with Limitedsharpen + Denoise3D @ 720p.
Any pointers you can offer would be appreciated.


TIA.

ManC

[Bluecube]

Seems fine to me. It may be slightly over powered for a glorified DVD player though! I'm quite sure you could get away with a lot less powerful (and cheaper) components. You should also have a look at a stand alone HDMI enabled DVD player which will do the job just as well and fit in better with your home cinema surroundings.

[mancubas]

Thx for the reply, the reading I have done on FFDShow suggest that you have to have a lot of number crunching ability, FFDShow improves the picture as it is being played (realtime) so hence the Opteron etc.

I need to do some more reading up on "upscaling" dvd players via HDMI, but I do recall seeing somewhere that FFDShow was able to provide the most superior picture quality over any upscaling dvd player, but dont hold me to it

ManC

Found the review I read comparing high end dvd-players vs HTPC's http://www.hardware.info/en-UK/artic...DVD_players/1p

[Bluecube]

Link doesn't work with me.

Be aware that your TV may well upscale as well therefore there's no need for any special hardware/ software. I know that my TV (a Sagem 45" DLP) has a built in upscaler so I can hook up anything I want and the TV deals with the rest. It does an excellent job too.

[MD]

My Toshiba 360E Upscaler works flawlessly, not only that but it handles DiVX and Xvid like a dream.

The only thing I am missing now is a recorder for all the shows I miss wilst working...

matt.

[mancubas]

Hi,

Hmm the link seems to work for me, here's another http://www.hardware.info/en-UK/artic...d_DVD_players/

Thankfully my LG 32LX2R 32" LCD (1366x768 native) is able to do 1:1 mapping so upscaling will not be done on the LCD but by the HTPC which is far superior at this task

I should have the final parts for my HTPC soon so I should be able to post some screen grabs once it is all setup and working, cant wait.


ManC