Hello, I recently was given a dell optiplex 745 (Pentium D 820, 2 gb ram, 80 gb hdd onboard video/audio) and my plan is to retrofit it into a new HTPC. My current HTPC is an old optiplex GX 240 (2.4ghz P4, 1gb PC 133 ram, AGP radeon 3450, and an auzentech soundcard)
With my current setup I run a DVI to HDMI cable from the video card to the TV, and I run a fiber optic cable from the auzentech card to my reciever (The reciever is a pioneer elite VSX 07tx or something to that effect, it has no switching, etc.
The master plan is to throw either a radeon 5450 or 5570 into the computer (it has to be a sff card.) I imagine that I would connect the HDMI from the card to the tv, then use a toslink cable from the TV back to the receiver. Does this make sense? would I be losing any audio quality?
as far as the video card is concerned wich would be a better bet for HTPC duty? I would like the 5570 as it has more power then the 3650 that i use in my current "good" computer, and I could always swap the 5570 into my good computer to get a little more performance/power savings. but if i am looking at a budget will the 5450 suffice?
also does it make a difference if i go with a512MB/1gb card for htpc duty? it should be worth mentioning that I will be using it at 720P resoloutions, and I typically dont play any games past 2007 lol. If this setup could handle SC 2 when it comes out i would be happy.
Please let me know what you think.
Reg
With my current setup I run a DVI to HDMI cable from the video card to the TV, and I run a fiber optic cable from the auzentech card to my reciever (The reciever is a pioneer elite VSX 07tx or something to that effect, it has no switching, etc.
The master plan is to throw either a radeon 5450 or 5570 into the computer (it has to be a sff card.) I imagine that I would connect the HDMI from the card to the tv, then use a toslink cable from the TV back to the receiver. Does this make sense? would I be losing any audio quality?
as far as the video card is concerned wich would be a better bet for HTPC duty? I would like the 5570 as it has more power then the 3650 that i use in my current "good" computer, and I could always swap the 5570 into my good computer to get a little more performance/power savings. but if i am looking at a budget will the 5450 suffice?
also does it make a difference if i go with a512MB/1gb card for htpc duty? it should be worth mentioning that I will be using it at 720P resoloutions, and I typically dont play any games past 2007 lol. If this setup could handle SC 2 when it comes out i would be happy.
Please let me know what you think.
Reg
I do live in Canada and if I could find a good deal on a 5570 I would grab one. BTW, any Idea when ATI would be doing their card refresh? do they typically show any love to the low end segment during a refresh?
Facebook
Twitter