The motherboard on one of my HTPCs burnt out again, and I'm stuck trying to figure out what I want to do. There are about four options, but if I upgrade the HTPC at all, I want it be at least a little future proof (i.e., no upgrades for about 4 years). It's not my main system, or even our main HTPC, but it is used for some gaming at 1920x1080, and probably going to add some bluray playback as well. I'm not worried about audio and video for motherboards, both will be discrete cards. I'm just looking for some advice before I plop down $1000 wasteful dollars 
1) The current system is decent, 939 A64 X2 4400+ and 4GB ram, and before the demise of the motherboard I was planning on adding a newer graphics card, a Radeon 5670 or similar. I could try to buy another used 939 mobo and probably a new PSU (don't know what happened to the last two motherboards, but that's my guess for a culprit). ~$100 for the replacements and ~$100 for a graphics card, and probably an upgrade sooner than later for the entire system.
2) The most expensive, but also most enticing option, but upgrade my main gaming/video and audio rig and pulling parts for the htpc. I'd guess about $600, maybe more. The parts I'd be using are a Core 2 Quad Q9450 and 4GB of DDR2.
$200 for a Core i7 930 at microcenter
$200 for a SATA6/USB3 x58 motherboard
$100 for 6GB DDR3
$60 for a mATX 775 motherboard (with solid caps)
$70 for a power supply
Video card will probably have to wait, I'll make do with what's in the system now.
Do you think the Q9450 will see me through a few years of gaming? Would the Core i7 be that much of an upgrade for me?
3) Build a new AM3 system, but I'm not quite sure how much I'd want to spend. Should I save money and get an Athlon II X2 system, spend about $50 more for an Athlon II X4 system or to spend $50 more again for a Phenom II X4, or anywhere in between. This option got a little worrisome for me when I recently read an article on Tom's about the poor performance of the Athlon II range in StarCraft 2, which makes me a little worried about the longevity of the CPU.
4) Build a Clarkdale or Lynnfield based system. This option seems to be a lot more expensive than the AM3 route for not a lot more, but I could be mistaken. Really not sure where to go on this build. A Core i5 760 at microcenter is only $150, though, so it could be an enticing option as well. Same thing with the AM3 build, I'm a little worried about the longevity of the dual-cores.
The types of game vie been playing on the system are sports games (MLB 2k10, virtue tennis, etc), what could be considered console games (batman arkham asylum, borderlands, others), and a few others, so it may not require as much CPU horsepower as I think, though I want everything except the graphics card to last me 4 years (or more) if I really put any money into it.
Thanks for the advice!!
1) The current system is decent, 939 A64 X2 4400+ and 4GB ram, and before the demise of the motherboard I was planning on adding a newer graphics card, a Radeon 5670 or similar. I could try to buy another used 939 mobo and probably a new PSU (don't know what happened to the last two motherboards, but that's my guess for a culprit). ~$100 for the replacements and ~$100 for a graphics card, and probably an upgrade sooner than later for the entire system.
2) The most expensive, but also most enticing option, but upgrade my main gaming/video and audio rig and pulling parts for the htpc. I'd guess about $600, maybe more. The parts I'd be using are a Core 2 Quad Q9450 and 4GB of DDR2.
$200 for a Core i7 930 at microcenter
$200 for a SATA6/USB3 x58 motherboard
$100 for 6GB DDR3
$60 for a mATX 775 motherboard (with solid caps)
$70 for a power supply
Video card will probably have to wait, I'll make do with what's in the system now.
Do you think the Q9450 will see me through a few years of gaming? Would the Core i7 be that much of an upgrade for me?
3) Build a new AM3 system, but I'm not quite sure how much I'd want to spend. Should I save money and get an Athlon II X2 system, spend about $50 more for an Athlon II X4 system or to spend $50 more again for a Phenom II X4, or anywhere in between. This option got a little worrisome for me when I recently read an article on Tom's about the poor performance of the Athlon II range in StarCraft 2, which makes me a little worried about the longevity of the CPU.
4) Build a Clarkdale or Lynnfield based system. This option seems to be a lot more expensive than the AM3 route for not a lot more, but I could be mistaken. Really not sure where to go on this build. A Core i5 760 at microcenter is only $150, though, so it could be an enticing option as well. Same thing with the AM3 build, I'm a little worried about the longevity of the dual-cores.
The types of game vie been playing on the system are sports games (MLB 2k10, virtue tennis, etc), what could be considered console games (batman arkham asylum, borderlands, others), and a few others, so it may not require as much CPU horsepower as I think, though I want everything except the graphics card to last me 4 years (or more) if I really put any money into it.
Thanks for the advice!!
Facebook
Twitter