Machine Upgrade (and Swap)

[barry2811]

Ok, this might be a little long winded but let's see how it goes. I have two older machines that I am thinking of upgrading. They are;

MediaPC - (in the small original Hiper Media chassis), MSI K9AGM2-FIH motherboard (AMD 690G onboard graphics), AMD Athlon 64 4200+ (65W TDP), 2x2GB DDR2 RAM, 2 x 500GB hard drives (one connected via eSata breakout bracket), Windows 7 Pro

BackupNAS - Gigabyte GA-MA690GM-S2H motherboard (AMD 690G onboard graphics), AMD Athlon 64 3600+, 2 x 512MB DDR2, 1x1.5TB hard drive, FreeNAS 7

I'm going to be getting 3x2TB hard drives (more than likely the Samsung Eco ones), with one going in my desktop, one in the MediaPC and one in the BackupNAS. This will also free up the two 500GB drives from my MediaPC which will also go in the NAS.

I'm also upgrading my network infrastructure a bit. The desktop and the BackupNAS are near each other and will be connected via a Gigabit switch (currently 10/100 LAN). The MediaPC is on a wireless bridge (with the Sky HD box) and I will be changing the AP connected to this as it's currently an old wireless G AP, and at the other end I have an N 300Mbps. I'm getting the same 300Mbps AP I currently have which will give me a much faster bridge. Currently rSync takes a little too long for my liking.

The MediaPC is starting to struggle a bit and I have already connected two 40mm fans near the CPU as an exhaust to get rid of some of the hot air. I've decided on getting a HD5450 graphics card to help out the CPU, which I'm going to use a flexible riser for, as the official Hiper ones are a pain to get and neither of the motherboards that I have, have the PCI-E x16 slot in the right place for it.

Now it's also occured to me that I should change the motherboards over in these two machines. The MSI board has a slightly stronger Gigabit NIC, so makes sense to be near the Gigabit switch, and the Gigabyte has had better support via BIOS updates and supports more CPUs, as well as having 4 RAM slots instead of 2. I'm also considering getting a Sempron 145 (as it's cheap and has a 45W TDP). Neither of the boards support Core Unlocking so that is out, but it's the 45W TDP that is attracting me.

I suppose at this stage, my questions are;
- Anyone see any problems in my above plans?
- Is a Sempron 145 and HD5450 good enough as a combination to support playing 1080P video? After all the text above this is what I really wanted opinions on!

[barry2811]

Done some more reading and I think I might get a HD6450 instead. The 6xxx series support UVD3 and hence DivX GPU accelerated playback, which is what I'm after most.

Would the HD6450 and a Sempron 145 be a good combination for media playbacK?

Does anyone have any experience in what is required to make Media Center use the GPU acceleration?