Media PC Build

[Fike]

I have an Athlon 64 3700 (SanDiego) that I will use in this box
I also have two 160 GB PATA hard drives to go in the system

Athenatech Case
Asus A8V Micro ATX Mboard
EVGA GeForce 7600GT
KWorld ATSC HD Tuner Carc
1 stick of 1 GB of Value RAM (for possible future upgrade)
Wireless Keyboard
Asus DVD Burner
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Logitech 5.1 Speaker set

Will this setup render HD well?
When I get an HDDVD (or blueray) player will this system be able to keep up?
How good a video card do I need? How much processing power do I need

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Fike


I have an Athlon 64 3700 (SanDiego) that I will use in this box
I also have two 160 GB PATA hard drives to go in the system

Athenatech Case
Asus A8V Micro ATX Mboard
EVGA GeForce 7600GT
KWorld ATSC HD Tuner Carc
1 stick of 1 GB of Value RAM (for possible future upgrade)
Wireless Keyboard
Asus DVD Burner
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Logitech 5.1 Speaker set

Will this setup render HD well?
When I get an HDDVD (or blueray) player will this system be able to keep up?
How good a video card do I need? How much processing power do I need

At 1080p, it's pushing it. It should handle 720p no prob, but bluray/HD-DVD are 1080p. Also, I'm not sure youll be able to play back 1080p over component/HDMI without HDCP, which a 7600gt doesnt have. The 8600/8500 series Geforce cards with HDCP should give you enough of a boost that you'll have no problem playing it back, but you'll probably be forced into using powerdvd in order to take advantage of the acceleration.

 

[Fike]

My HDTV is only 1080i and it has component inputs. I don't know how that will play out when Blueray and HDDVD become more common on PCs. How is an HDDVD down converted for 1080i?

Do you think my bottleneck would be the video card or the athlon processor. I guess I could get a higher end video card, but I can't have my media PC have better 3D performance than my desktop... ;-)

 

[jtvang125]

Originally posted by: Fike
My HDTV is only 1080i and it has component inputs. I don't know how that will play out when Blueray and HDDVD become more common on PCs. How is an HDDVD down converted for 1080i?

Do you think my bottleneck would be the video card or the athlon processor. I guess I could get a higher end video card, but I can't have my media PC have better 3D performance than my desktop... ;-)

If your video card does not have any h.264 acceleration then the CPU is taking all the pounding. A system with a lower end cpu with no acceleration on the video card usually hits around 50+% CPU utiliziation with 720p. 1080p will peg it to 99%. This is with h.264 and x.264 files.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Fike
My HDTV is only 1080i and it has component inputs. I don't know how that will play out when Blueray and HDDVD become more common on PCs. How is an HDDVD down converted for 1080i?

Well, the source of BR/HD is 1080p, so its going to have to decode it in full. It'll then resize to 1080p or 1080i. 1080i TVs are CRT, and even though it claims 1080 lines, the actual resolution isnt going to be any higher than 720p. (unless you have one of the newer black bezel XBR960 Sony sets).

So set it to 720p or 1080i, whichever looks best to you. I cant tell any difference between the film image, but text is much easier to read at 720p, so I go with that.

How its done is up to you. You can set the TV-out to 1080i. Or you can set it to 720p, and let the TV convert it.

Do you think my bottleneck would be the video card or the athlon processor. I guess I could get a higher end video card, but I can't have my media PC have better 3D performance than my desktop... ;-)

The video card is the bottleneck. But if you want GPU decode assitance, you dont have the buy the highest end card. The lowest end 8 series is going to do a better job decoding HD than the highest end 7 series.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: jtvang125

Originally posted by: Fike
My HDTV is only 1080i and it has component inputs. I don't know how that will play out when Blueray and HDDVD become more common on PCs. How is an HDDVD down converted for 1080i?

Do you think my bottleneck would be the video card or the athlon processor. I guess I could get a higher end video card, but I can't have my media PC have better 3D performance than my desktop... ;-)

If your video card does not have any h.264 acceleration then the CPU is taking all the pounding. A system with a lower end cpu with no acceleration on the video card usually hits around 50+% CPU utiliziation with 720p. 1080p will peg it to 99%. This is with h.264 and x.264 files.

The bitrate of actual HD-DVDs and BR is way higher than what you'd get from even a 1080p x.264 on the net. I'm pretty sure even a 3700+ is going to have trouble decoding BR/HD on its own.

 

[Fike]

This 8 series v-board looks appealing....especially because it is silent--no fan. That would be nice for a theater PC.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814121072

 

[venkman]

Core 2 Duo or bust. I ran HD DVD movies just fine on an E4300@2.7Ghz + 7600 GS using the Xbox 360 Player, AnyDVD-HD, and PowerDVD HD DVD Version.

 

[nullpointerus]

For a media PC, I think an 8-series board is a better investment than a C2D, especially if the OP already has an Athlon64. Recording takes basically zero CPU time. Playback takes a certain amount of the processor, so you must have enough to ensure zero dropped frames, but any CPU power beyond that is wasted.

If the OP will be gaming, additional CPU power might be worth it, but it would probably not be the wisest upgrade if he's using with such an inexpensive GPU. A better choice in that case would be to spring for an 8600 GTS that would have the same HD decoding acceleration and be decent for gaming at lower resolutions.

 

[Fike]

I am not too concerned with gaming or encoding. I mostly want to have good playback of movie downloads, DVDs and HDDVD/Blueray when I get one.

 

[Fike]

Hmmmm.....

Asus 8600 Silent with 256 MB

This could be interesting.