How limited am I with this set up?

[fatherofthree13]

I built a htpc a few years ago and now I am trying to upgrade where I need to. My set up consists of a Silverstone LC16M case, Intel core 2 2.4 ghz processor, Nvidia Gforce 8400gs, Sound Blaster audigy 5.1 sound card, 2 gig ddr2 ram, and a 250 hdd. I just installed the video card and installed Windows 7 Home premium. I am curious as to if I can do the things I want to with this. What I want to do is play games on Steam, use Playon or Plex, use it as a flac player in my hifi set up, and eventually play bluray dvds. I do not have the bluray player yet. Is there anything I have mentioned that this set up can not do? I know its older but I have three kids now and money is sparse! lol. If something wont work, what do I upgrade?

 

[DesiPower]

What kind of display do you have? is the full HD/Blu-ray video smooth? I don't think 8400 has pearly enough power to play any of that.. even the rest of the system looks too weak and old to play full HD or even 720 stuff, DVDs should play well.

 

[fatherofthree13]

I am using a 40 inch lcd 1080p as a monitor. What is the least expensive motherboard/cpu that would suit my needs?

 

[fatherofthree13]

Would upgrading to a quad core 775 socket cpu make a difference?

 

[DesiPower]

In US, the price of 775 mobo and processor is not much cheaper than a sandy bridge. but a 775 should be a good upgrade, overall better architecture, any mobo that has a DDR3 and a PCIE 2.0 slots should have a good newer chipset and should be enough for full HD, PROVIDED you use a better GPU, 8400 is nowhere near the amount of resources required for a good full HD viewing. I would recommend a HD 6450 or a GT 520, both are available for less than $50 in US. As you have a 40" TV maybe even 720p should be good enough for you, IMHO 775 setup with HD 6450 or a GT 520 should be enough to play at 720p

 

[DesiPower]

Here's a possible setup -

Motherboard - $37 (after MIR)
CPU - $68
GPU - $33 (after MIR)
Memory $40

Total $178

 

[Golgatha]

I am using a 40 inch lcd 1080p as a monitor. What is the least expensive motherboard/cpu that would suit my needs?

Honestly, the Intel Core 2 is fine for your needs on the media side of things. I would replace the 8400gs, as it's very long in the tooth. Go for a GT630 or better if you want to do some light gaming. Also, I'd just remove the Audigy and bitstream the audio directly from the video card to the TV or receiver. All that should run you $30-$100 depending on what video card you end up with.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131338

This isn't a bad deal if you're strapped for cash. However, I've personally not had good luck with Radeon drivers for media playback and nVidia has always been flawless for me. I know others wouldn't agree or don't have problems, but that's been my experience.

This is what I would probably get if I were in your shoes, provided you have at least a bit of airflow in your case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121778

 

[Charlie98]

Honestly, the Intel Core 2 is fine for your needs on the media side of things.

Reading the OP's post, I wondered if the C2 was up to HD and BR, the G620 Pentium in my HTPC hardly every breaks a sweat streaming...

However, I've personally not had good luck with Radeon drivers for media playback and nVidia has always been flawless for me. I know others wouldn't agree or don't have problems, but that's been my experience.

I have a HD6450 in my HTPC... it works very well... but I'm not always jacking with it, either.

 

[hoorah]

I have a similar HTPC in my upstairs bedroom (what used to be the file server in my sig, need to update).

Its an older core2duo 1.8ghz, 4GB DDR2, a 250GB IDE hard drive, and an ATI4850 (soon to be replaced by a low power 6450).

I don't know how well the core2duo will decode blu-rays in software mode, but I'd say that you'd be much better off getting a $15-30 card with native HDMI and DXVA support. Then the blu-ray playback won't be an issue.

My Core2Duo is plenty for 3 stream HD recording, so thats no big deal. I haven't tried using it as a plex or any other kind of media server so I can't answer that for you.

With an old 250g ide drive, it can get a little noisy/crunchy when working with lots of data, especially guide updates for some reason. Its not my main HTPC, so it doesn't store a lot of recordings.

I did notice that it was a bit smoother when I upgraded from 2 to 4 gigs of ram, less hard drive crunching.

For reference, I also have an XII 250 (dual core 3.0ghz) with an ATI 4350 in it (very low end card). I can play a few low end steam games, nothing major. With a GT630 or a 6450, I'd say you could probably play a few things on low at 1080P, but don't expect anything much more demanding than source games.

I tried playing Dirt3 on my above setup at 1080P, all low details, and got around 15-20fps.

 

[lucklessgorath]

The 8400GS should be fine for video play back. Though it may depend on which version the OP owns as Nvidia produced three different 8400GS cards with totally different cores.

The first version used a G86 core and did full hardware decode for H.264. And partial hardware decode for Mpeg2. Partial decode means that the CPU will have to do some of the work when decoding Mpeg2. BluRay uses H.264 for video so this card should be fine for BluRays @ 1920x1080p. DVD uses Mpeg2 , but I think this card and a core 2 should be able to handle DVD's 720x480 resolution. The only question I would have is if it can handle broadcast/cable TV's Mepeg2 @ 1920x1080i should the OP add a tuner.

The second version of the 8400GS used a G98 core. This card improved on the previous version by adding full hardware decode for Mpeg2.

The third version of the 8400GS used a GT218 core. This card added full hardware decode for Mpeg4 part2 which isn't really relevant for the OP. This is the version of the card I have and it handles every video I throw at it. I'm using it on an Athlon II X2 which should be about the same performance as a core 2 duo.

The problem with the 8400GS is sound. The 8400GS does not natively support sound on the HDMI connector (if it has a HDMI connector). You can use a patch cable from a spdif header to an spdif header on the video card. But that will only get you Dolby Digital 5.1 via spdif. The 8400GS can not do Dolby TrueHD 7.1 which is available on BluRays. That is fine for me as I only have a 5 speaker surround system.

Since the OP mentioned flac, which is a lossless format, Dolby TrueHD is also lossless. Dolby Digital 5.1 is a lossy format. So when it comes to BluRay audio playback I think the OP would prefer a card that supported Dolby TrueHD. Both cards recommended by Golgatha will do Dolby TrueHD.


Plex is a different animal, and I know transcending is very CPU intensive task. But I have no experience with plex so can't answer that question. I do know that my Athlon II X2 is extremely slow when trying to transcode using handbrake.