dralb

OK, I have an old Dell 2400 I want to use for an HTPC. This will be used mainly for streaming video from netflix/hulu and watching DVD's. It has a 2.4 celly in it now and I have a 2.6 I can put in. I was also going to use an old MSI card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127294)

Will this be enough or should I plan to build something more current?

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3358 Windsor 3800

"[Vietnam] only made billionaires out of millionaires. Today's war is making trillionaires out of billionaires. Now I call that progress." -Kurt Vonnegut

pioneerisloud

You could TRY that X1550 card, and if it doesn't work out, just buy a HD3450 / HD4350 for like $20-30. The Celly is more than enough CPU, you just need a GPU capable of doing the rendering.

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dralb

OK, thx. Any advice on an OS for this? I have never used anything but windows, but would prefer to not pay for anything. I have a copy of Vista, but I think that is a waste and a bit much for this rig.

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"[Vietnam] only made billionaires out of millionaires. Today's war is making trillionaires out of billionaires. Now I call that progress." -Kurt Vonnegut

compuman145

XP FTW

Xp would run sweet as on that kit, unless you wanna go linux, but kinda pointless IMO

Regards

pioneerisloud

Well, if its got enough RAM, Vista really wouldn't hurt it any at all. And Media Center is very nice . I've ALWAYS used Windows, as I just can't understand Linux. So I would say use whatever flavor of Windows you have available for it....assuming it has enough RAM for Vista.

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dralb

The mobo has 2 slots and I have 2x512 for it. Also, I was looking for something free. I don't have any copies of XP anymore, so was going to try Linux or somthing like that. Maybe I'll try Vista just to see how it goes.

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Antec 1000 Case Mod Worklog

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"[Vietnam] only made billionaires out of millionaires. Today's war is making trillionaires out of billionaires. Now I call that progress." -Kurt Vonnegut

pioneerisloud

Even with a crippling 1GB of RAM in there, you should be just fine with Vista. I used to run:

Athlon XP @ 2.2GHz
1GB DDR333
7800GS OC AGP card
Leadtek Tuner

And that setup was able to do my HTPC use just fine. Granted I'm only on a 540p TV set. But going up to 1080p (if that's what you're doing), all that requires is a HD3200 or better GPU. I'll bet you'd be fine with 1GB of RAM .

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dralb

Well, seems to be a small issue. The mobo has no PCIE, lol. I guess I could eitehr find a PCI card or a 478 mobo with PCIE. I don't see this happening. Time to go shopping, I guess.

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Antec 1000 Case Mod Worklog

3358 Windsor 3800

"[Vietnam] only made billionaires out of millionaires. Today's war is making trillionaires out of billionaires. Now I call that progress." -Kurt Vonnegut

pioneerisloud

Well, they do exist. Just a LOT more expensive...maybe you can find one easier on ebay or something perhaps...

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dralb

I thought I had an old 939 chip somewhere, but I can't find it. I'll look again as it would be easy for me to just find a cheap mobo for that.

__________________
Antec 1000 Case Mod Worklog

3358 Windsor 3800

"[Vietnam] only made billionaires out of millionaires. Today's war is making trillionaires out of billionaires. Now I call that progress." -Kurt Vonnegut