Will an AMD 2400+ supply enough juice for an ATI HDTV Wonder?

[cheesehead]

I'd like to build an "HDTV TiVo" on a budget, and was hoping to use my Shuttle SFF (for the handy-dandy optical digital output) with an ATI HDTV wonder. Problem is, the old Shuttle only has an AMD XP 2400+ and a GeForce4(which will likely need to be upgraded.) Can I get away with this ancient CPU, and if so, how much RAM should I have and what's the minimum video card I should use?

 

[nenforcer]

I assume you are using Windows XP or preferably Windows XP Media Center Edition? You shouldn't really need more than 512MB but 1GB is ideal.

The HDTV Wonder should handle all of the decoding so you shouldn't really need to upgrade the CPU to an XP 2800+. You are limited to AGP video cards in that motherboard and your best upgrade would be the Radeon 3850 AGP if the power supply can handle it.

 

[cheesehead]

Originally posted by: nenforcer

The HDTV Wonder should handle all of the decoding so you shouldn't really need to upgrade the CPU to an XP 2800+. You are limited to AGP video cards in that motherboard and your best upgrade would be the Radeon 3850 AGP if the power supply can handle it.

It can't, annoyingly. I was thinking a 9500 or 9600.

 

[nenforcer]

I don't think you'd have to go that far back? You can still buy new AGP 8x x1650 Pro cards without any external power supply requirements.

Although sometimes those SFF cases with the built in motherboards come with the smallest wattage power supply possible.

 

[phaxmohdem]

IF you can find a video card that supports good HD playback it may be possible. My old SD HTPC was an Athlon 2800+ and a Geforce 6200 that worked just fine, however even 720P content was a little choppy on that box. I would surmise your rig could currently record HD video just fine, but playback will be troublesome. (I Seem to remember 3.0GHz P4/Athlon 3000+ being the recommended min. spec to playback early HD videos.)

 

[cusideabelincoln]

It'll also depend on the software as well as the videos you use. I've tested HD (720p) video on an Athlon XP machine, and when played in WMP it was choppy and basically paused for 10 seconds at a time. When I played the same video in VLC it ran smoothly.