Can I turn my Dell 400sc into a HTPC?

[delpis]

I want to watch high res and HD divx and DVDs with my PC on the TV. I might also want to browse web and view pictures just to see what it's like. My PC is a Dell 400sc with P4 2.8GHz HT, 1GB ram, 2 dvd burners, 2 hds, Win XP Pro and everything else on it is stock. Can I turn it into a HTPC by just buying a NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder and decent agp card? Or would I need to buy additional stuff like CPU cooler, fans, new power supply, etc? Is my PC is too old for what I want to do?

 

[jkresh]

Watching 720p divx should be fine, as for watching hd dvd or blue ray your p4 is fairly low end and unless nvidia makes an 8500/8600gt agp card you are likely to run into issues when decoding hd. The p42.8 should be fine for watching hdtv with ether a atsc tuner or a QAM one though.

 

[krotchy]

For the most part you should be ok, but pentium 4's sometime cant decode high def h.264 video. I had some trouble on my laptop with 2.64 stuff done with a .mkv header and high bitrates, however my FX-60 could do it albeit at high processor use.

 

[moonsite]

I have the Dell SC400 2.8 Ghz and 1 Gb RAM with ATI 9600Xt All-In-Wonder. I can watch HD encoded video "Planet Earth". However I did notice some artifact. I think it is my video card, not my processor. I don't think you will need a new power supply. Right now I am running my computer with 2 internal hard drives, 1 DVD-writer, and 1 Removable Drive.

 

[delpis]

 

[delpis]

Thanks people. I was thinking about getting a 6600gt. Is that good enough or is there something better for a little more or less money?

 

[robmurphy]

Its no way good enough.

Playback of HD TV with a high end PCIE card used 80 - 100 % of 1 core on a C2D. See the following link:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977

If you want to watch HD DVD or blue ray you will ned a fast processor and/or one of the 8500 or 8600 Nvidia based cards. You will also need new drives in order to play the disks.

Rob Murphy

 

[delpis]

Should've made myself more clear. I will be watching regular DVD's, no HD-DVD or BD discs yet. The divx will be 720p and 1080p. So is a 6600gt the best choice price and performance wise for what I want to do? This is probably a stupid question, but do video cards upconvert DVD's?