Need a little help

[Modular]

I've got the 3400+ in an HTPC with a few drives and a few capture cards one of which is the Hauppauge HVR 1600 that does QAM at 1080i. The 3400+ can't really drive 1080i well at all, so I was thinking of "upgrading" to the X2 3600+ since they can be had for cheap. Does anyone know how much of a performance increase this would be? Can I expect smooth 1080i from the 3600+?

 

[o1die]

You may be on the wrong track. Your 1080i reception might depend more on signal strength and antenna quality, not the cpu or video card. I recently bought a cheap hd lcd tv on black friday. Reception was choppy until I installed a full sized radio shack antenna in the attic. Then 1080i was fantastic on about half the channels; the rest defaulted to 780p. I don't use any cable boxes. I'm going to research dt converter boxes before deciding on keeping an old tv or not.

 

[Modular]

Thanks for the info, but I'm sure it's not the reception. I use GB-PVR and can watch live HD streamed through the network on my other more powerful machine, so I'm sure it's the processor. I could get a better video card, but I would rather start by upgrading the processor.