Overclock.net › Forums › Specialty Builds › HTPC › Upgrading Media Center's Hardware
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Upgrading Media Center's Hardware

post #1 of 5
6/20/12 at 1:09am
Thread Starter 
I built my first Media Center about 5-6 months ago just using mostly spare parts that we had laying around the house. This now resides in the Living Room and myself and my roomates use it almost on a daily basis. However, I believe the hardware being used probably is not enough as it is starting to seem sluggish despite the fact it really isn't used for much aside from media content.

Current Setup:

Processor: Intel E8400
RAM: 4GB DDR2
Drives: 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas
Graphics: Geforce 8800GT

Upgraded Setup:

Processor: Intel i5-2500k
RAM: 8GB DDR3
Drives: *same*
Graphics: Radeon HD 6950

The Upgraded Setup is exactly what I have in my current Desktop PC right now for gaming and its an absolute monster. We have started trying to also use a Wii Emulator, and play some less intensive Steam Games, and I think at this point in time it is worth putting up the money for the upgrade. Any thoughts on upgrading to this build?
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 5
6/20/12 at 1:35am
  • Joined: Nov 2006
  • Location: Indiana, Huntington
  • Posts: 2,852
  • Rep: 148 (Unique: 139)
  • Trader Rating: 17
  • Folding Team Rank: 975
  •  
    Name Team Rank Points / May Work Units / May
    terraprime 975 1,982,669 / 624,738 2,116 / 83
     
  • Select All Posts By This User
When was the last time you defragged the hard drive? Ran disk cleanup and cleared your browser cache and temp folders. oh and what crap have everyone installed as many things during start up for a mechanical HD will thrash the crap out of it due to the massive amount of random reads and writes going on during start up.

other then what i stated above ahh is that are you planning to overclock the cpu/gpu at all.

Also any ram beyond 1600mhz with 9-9-9-28 timings is pretty much a waste then capacity of the ram becomes more important. If you want cheapest ram with decent timings then the Samsung 30nm sticks will be good as Ive seen them run from 1600mhz 7-7-7-24 1T up to 2500mhz with REALLY relaxed timings all within the specs of what intel recommends to keep it with in.
Edited by terraprime - 6/20/12 at 1:45am
3rd Generation Jumper
(6 items)
 
Problem Solver
(15 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
intel Core i5 3570k 4.4ghz 1.200v - 0.000 offset  Gigabyte z77X-UP4 TH Sapphire 7950 3GB @ 1100/1600mhz v1.2  GSkill 2x4gb 1333mhz 7-7-7-21 2T 
CoolingOS
Corsair H80i AIO liquid cooling Windows 7 Professional x64 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
C2Q Q6600 GO @ 3.2ghz 1.28 Gigabyte P35 DS3-L Pencil modded Nvidia 9800 GT 512mb 2x1gb Gskill 1066 5-5-5-15 & 2x1gb Gskill Pi 80... 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Crucial m4 CT128M4SSD1 128GB SSD - OS Drive Samsung HD103UJ & SJ 1 Terabyte HDD LG 22x DVD burner Arctic Freezer Pro 2  
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 HannsG 27.5" Widescreen Red thingy 750w Single rail old raidmax from 1st build beat to death 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
3rd Generation Jumper
(6 items)
 
Problem Solver
(15 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
intel Core i5 3570k 4.4ghz 1.200v - 0.000 offset  Gigabyte z77X-UP4 TH Sapphire 7950 3GB @ 1100/1600mhz v1.2  GSkill 2x4gb 1333mhz 7-7-7-21 2T 
CoolingOS
Corsair H80i AIO liquid cooling Windows 7 Professional x64 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
C2Q Q6600 GO @ 3.2ghz 1.28 Gigabyte P35 DS3-L Pencil modded Nvidia 9800 GT 512mb 2x1gb Gskill 1066 5-5-5-15 & 2x1gb Gskill Pi 80... 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Crucial m4 CT128M4SSD1 128GB SSD - OS Drive Samsung HD103UJ & SJ 1 Terabyte HDD LG 22x DVD burner Arctic Freezer Pro 2  
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 HannsG 27.5" Widescreen Red thingy 750w Single rail old raidmax from 1st build beat to death 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #3 of 5
6/20/12 at 1:38am
  • Joined: Sep 2011
  • Location: Sydney, Australia
  • Posts: 605
  • Rep: 31 (Unique: 28)
  • Folding Team Rank: 2,545
  •  
    Name Team Rank Points / May Work Units / May
    Phenomanator53 2,545 245,901 / 125,734 86 / 33
     
  • Select All Posts By This User
I don't think you would really need a 2500k and a 6950 for a media PC, I would buy a 2100 and a Radeon 6850 , you planned upgrade is way overkill for just a media center pc.
Now i can't use AMD cards :(
(14 items)
 
Folding PC
(14 items)
 
Future Rig feat. Volcanic Islands
(12 items)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7 2600k Asus P8Z68-V-Pro GEN3 OEM GTX 570 rev.2 Kingston HyperX 2X4GB 
Hard DriveCoolingOSMonitor
WD Black 1TB FAEX Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO with Gelid Wing 12... Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Dell S2330MX 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Microsoft Sidewinder X4 Antec High Current Pro 750W CM 690 II Advanced Nvidia edition Generic Lenovo Optical Mouse 
Audio
Logitech THX 2.1 Z-2300 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Gigabyte G41  GTX 555 2GB transcend 
Hard DriveCoolingOSKeyboard
Barracuda 7200.12 320GB Stock cooler Windows 7 x64 Lenovo 
PowerCaseMouseMouse Pad
Gigabyte 450W circa. 2003 Lenovo None 
AudioOther
None Delta EFB0912HHF as the one and only case fan 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Haswell or AMD equivalent Mini-ITX Volcanic Islands / Maxwell 8GB or 12GB 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
2TB Green Intel 128GB SSD with 5 year warranty  lolwut? AIO Liquid cooler 120mm 
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows x64 Dell S2330MX Any 80+gold 600W+ PSU Bitfenix Prodigy or another case that is simila... 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Now i can't use AMD cards :(
(14 items)
 
Folding PC
(14 items)
 
Future Rig feat. Volcanic Islands
(12 items)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7 2600k Asus P8Z68-V-Pro GEN3 OEM GTX 570 rev.2 Kingston HyperX 2X4GB 
Hard DriveCoolingOSMonitor
WD Black 1TB FAEX Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO with Gelid Wing 12... Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Dell S2330MX 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Microsoft Sidewinder X4 Antec High Current Pro 750W CM 690 II Advanced Nvidia edition Generic Lenovo Optical Mouse 
Audio
Logitech THX 2.1 Z-2300 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Gigabyte G41  GTX 555 2GB transcend 
Hard DriveCoolingOSKeyboard
Barracuda 7200.12 320GB Stock cooler Windows 7 x64 Lenovo 
PowerCaseMouseMouse Pad
Gigabyte 450W circa. 2003 Lenovo None 
AudioOther
None Delta EFB0912HHF as the one and only case fan 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Haswell or AMD equivalent Mini-ITX Volcanic Islands / Maxwell 8GB or 12GB 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
2TB Green Intel 128GB SSD with 5 year warranty  lolwut? AIO Liquid cooler 120mm 
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows x64 Dell S2330MX Any 80+gold 600W+ PSU Bitfenix Prodigy or another case that is simila... 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #4 of 5
6/20/12 at 1:48am
  • Joined: Nov 2006
  • Location: Indiana, Huntington
  • Posts: 2,852
  • Rep: 148 (Unique: 139)
  • Trader Rating: 17
  • Folding Team Rank: 975
  •  
    Name Team Rank Points / May Work Units / May
    terraprime 975 1,982,669 / 624,738 2,116 / 83
     
  • Select All Posts By This User
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phenomanator53 View Post

I don't think you would really need a 2500k and a 6950 for a media PC, I would buy a 2100 and a Radeon 6850 , you planned upgrade is way overkill for just a media center pc.

Wi emulating does take some video card guts plus they wont have to worry about upgrade for a bit longer since the 6950 can be had for $190 off newegg

If you dont plan on overclocking at ALL just get the cheapest i5 you can buy since they can still be overclocked above stock but like 400 mhz at most tho.
3rd Generation Jumper
(6 items)
 
Problem Solver
(15 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
intel Core i5 3570k 4.4ghz 1.200v - 0.000 offset  Gigabyte z77X-UP4 TH Sapphire 7950 3GB @ 1100/1600mhz v1.2  GSkill 2x4gb 1333mhz 7-7-7-21 2T 
CoolingOS
Corsair H80i AIO liquid cooling Windows 7 Professional x64 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
C2Q Q6600 GO @ 3.2ghz 1.28 Gigabyte P35 DS3-L Pencil modded Nvidia 9800 GT 512mb 2x1gb Gskill 1066 5-5-5-15 & 2x1gb Gskill Pi 80... 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Crucial m4 CT128M4SSD1 128GB SSD - OS Drive Samsung HD103UJ & SJ 1 Terabyte HDD LG 22x DVD burner Arctic Freezer Pro 2  
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 HannsG 27.5" Widescreen Red thingy 750w Single rail old raidmax from 1st build beat to death 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
3rd Generation Jumper
(6 items)
 
Problem Solver
(15 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
intel Core i5 3570k 4.4ghz 1.200v - 0.000 offset  Gigabyte z77X-UP4 TH Sapphire 7950 3GB @ 1100/1600mhz v1.2  GSkill 2x4gb 1333mhz 7-7-7-21 2T 
CoolingOS
Corsair H80i AIO liquid cooling Windows 7 Professional x64 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
C2Q Q6600 GO @ 3.2ghz 1.28 Gigabyte P35 DS3-L Pencil modded Nvidia 9800 GT 512mb 2x1gb Gskill 1066 5-5-5-15 & 2x1gb Gskill Pi 80... 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Crucial m4 CT128M4SSD1 128GB SSD - OS Drive Samsung HD103UJ & SJ 1 Terabyte HDD LG 22x DVD burner Arctic Freezer Pro 2  
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 HannsG 27.5" Widescreen Red thingy 750w Single rail old raidmax from 1st build beat to death 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #5 of 5
6/20/12 at 2:03am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the responses, and +rep for the feedback.

@terraprime - All of the normal upkeep is handled almost on a weekly basis. It is just stuff like PlayOn Media Server that really seems to consume a lot for some reason. Good call on the RAM Timings though, as I generally just grab the best capacity for the buck for home PCs.

My thoughts exactly. The Wii emulator ran a couple games okay, but the stuttering and lagging during the course of most games was almost unbearable, even after applying all of the tweaks to improve performance. The reason I was thinking the i5-2500k is the fact it is such an excellent processor and only about 25$ more than the the bottom like i5. The 6950 may be a little overkill, but as you mentioned, its down to 190$ on Newegg now and comes with 2 free game codes that would help to recoop the cost anyways.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: HTPC
Overclock.net › Forums › Specialty Builds › HTPC › Upgrading Media Center's Hardware