Upgrading my htpc, need advice

[einsi]

hi

as it says in the subject i need an advice for upgrading my htpc as my current does not handle playing hd material. I have been browsing the internet for several days now and i'm getting more and more confused by the second what i should buy, so many types of motherboards and so many types of video cards. I think i have chosen a cpu (Intel E5300) and now i need recommendations on what mobo and video card to buy.

Thanks in advance,

Einsi

[redwudz]

For a basic HTPC, a Micro-ATX MB is the easy way to go. Many of the newer ones have HDMI outputs and can play HD or BD video without having to add a PCI-E video card. A few important items:

What's your budget and what exactly do you want to do?

Play Blu-ray from the HTPC? Play HD MKV?
Do you plan to add a TV tuner? Use Window Media Center? What operating system?
Play HD to a LCD TV over HDMI or other connection? What TV do you have or plan to purchase?
For BD discs, you need a software BD player and a BD ROM drive. MKV can use a regular DVD drive or you can play them from a HDD.
The Arcsoft software players are popular for BD playback.
Do you plan to rip BDs with this setup, or just playback?

I prefer the Gigabyte MBs at present, but there are a lot of choices out there. JMO, but I would recommend a quad core if you are dealing with HD.

[jagabo]

For HD playback a dual core E5300 is fine. Having a graphics card that supports hardware h.264 decoding (pretty much all of them over US$50 now) and a dual core CPU gives you the option of using either for h.264 decoding. Some h.264 features aren't supported by DXVA and being able to fall back to CPU deciding takes care of that. The only place you will run into problems is 1920x1080p60 videos from some camcorders. DXVA doesn't support it (yet?) and a dual core CPU won't be fast enough.

For real Blu-ray disc playback you need HDCP support all the way from the BD drive to the HDTV/monitor. HDCP support is pretty much a given these days but make sure your graphics card and monitor support it.

[einsi]

Thanks for the reply

My budget is around $400. I plan on buying a blue-ray drive but must mostly it will HD MKV that will be played on the system. I already own a TV tuner which i will use. I haven't decided yet wheter i will use windows media center or go with XBMC. My current HTPC is connected to the LCD via vga-cable but HDMI is an option that i want to have on the system and has to have spdif optical output.

I already was planning on Gigabyte MB as i have one on another computer and i like it well.

[jagabo]

Playing Blu-ray discs will require HDMI.

[usually_quiet]

If it has been a while since you upgraded, and you have EIDE drives you want to re-use, I remember seeing very few motherboard that had 2 EIDE connections. For the most part motherboards still had 1 EIDE connection that supports 2 EIDE devices, but a few had no EIDE connections.

When I was shopping for parts a few months ago, I first looked at Intel motherboards and processors, since that is what I had in the past. My budget was about the same as yours. I eventually decided I could get more for my money with AMD. In general, Intel processors had a small advantage in performance in most areas, but unless that is critical to the work the computer performs, I don't see a practical reason to get one.

AMD's new Athlon II X2 and Athlon II X 4 processors are pretty reasonable. A 3.0 GHz dual-core processor in a retail package costs around $80 and a 2.6 GHz quad-core processor in a retail package costs around $100.

The difference in price between Intel and AMD is less of an issue with dual-core CPUs that are not the fastest in their respective product lines. However, as the clock speed increases, the difference in price increases dramatically. The Intel processors that are most similar to AMD's fastest new processors cost around twice as much.

I decided on DDR3 memory, figuring it would be around longer than DDR2, but that is the only reason.

I won't get a BD-ROM until I get an HD monitor or HDTV and can rent Blu-Ray locally, but I wanted to be prepared. I bought an AMD MATX motherboard with on-board graphics and HDMI, capable of playing Blu-Ray and h.264/AVC. The regular price was about $90, but it was on sale for less at the time.

I considered this Gigabyte motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128397

I ended up buying this MSI motherboard because of the orientation of the SATA ports, and a slightly better layout for my needs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130233

I have been using it for a couple of months now with an Athlon II X2 3.0 GHz processor, and like the combination a lot.

[einsi]

thanks for the advice usually_quiet.

Now i have put these items in my cart:

MSI 785GM-E65 Micro ATX Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B002KP1G2O/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UT...BZJQ6&v=glance

AMD Athlon II X4 620 95W AM3 2MB 2600MHz Retail
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B002MAPTFW/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UT...BZJQ6&v=glance

Liteon 4X Bd-rom Sata Retail
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B002EE996Q/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UT...BZJQ6&v=glance

The cart is now $260

and now i only have to choose memory. Do i go with 2gb or 4gb and are there any brands i should avoid?

[jagabo]

Looks good.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3663

[JimmyS]

and now i only have to choose memory. Do i go with 2gb or 4gb and are there any brands i should avoid?

2 Gig. would be adequate. If your budget allows it 4 Gig. sure can't hurt. According to the manual, for Dual-Channel mode, you need either DIMM slots 1 & 2 populated, or else all 4 slots populated.

Here is the MSI recommended memory module list for your M.B.

http://www.msi.com/uploads/test_report/TR10_1864.pdf

As far as brands go, I don't know which to avoid. I have had very good results with Kingston, Crucial, G Skill and Mushkin. Others may have more info. regarding this. It's usually a good idea to stick with ones that are on the above list, that way there are no surprises, unless someone can recommend others they have used.

Good luck.

[usually_quiet]

If you can afford it, buy 4GB, although if you use a 32-bit OS, part of the 4GB won't be accessible. Choosing something from MSI's list of tested memory is safest.

I am using a 32-bit OS, and couldn't afford 4GB, so I bought a 2 GB kit, Kingston Value RAM KVR1333D3K2/2GR, which was on sale at the time. It is DDR3 1333 MHz but only runs at 1066 MHz. (Unless the CPU I have is overclocked, DDR3 memory won't run faster.) It doesn't have heat sinks. I have a MATX case so the memory sits very close to the drive cages and heat sinks would be a tighter fit, at best.

Most people here wouldn't want it because they game, or do a lot of video encoding, or overclock. Since lacks a heat-sink, it could overheat under those circumstances, especially when used for hours at a time, but I'm not doing any of that.

The processor you chose seems to support 1066 MHz and 1333 MHz DDR3 at its standard clock speed. See http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/processors/athlon-ii-x2/Pages/AMD-athlon-ii-x2-...omparison.aspx

I bought that particular motherboard with the idea that it would be good for HTPC use some day, though it's still part of a general-purpose computer now. Ask other people's opinion of it too.

[Edit] One more thing, make sure your PSU can handle the power requirements. Depending on its age, you might want to replace it anyway. According to MSI, the minimum recommended for that motherboard is 300 W.