Old system for HTPC

[F1Fish]

I would like to setup a HTPC system with one of the two systems below.
I have no need for a PVR but a HD tuner would be nice.
Audio output at this time would be handled via SPDIF.
Can either of these systems Blu-ray. If so, what kind of upgrades are need?
With what I have, which software would be best for Windows or Linux (debian).
Or can system 2 operate as a file server and a HTPC?


The file formats are.
video .mkv (x264), .mp4, .wmv and Flash
Audio mp3, .flac
Maybe a few Pics


System 1

CPU
Pentium 4 Northwood 2.80G
Motherboard
MSI 865PE Neo2-FIS2R
Memory
Kingston HyperX 1GB PC3200 Dual Channel
Drives
1. ST3120814A (120.03 GB)
2. ST3120814A (120.03 GB)
Optiarc AD-7200A
Display adapter
SAPPHIRE RADEON 9200SE ATLANTIS
C-Media AC97 Audio Device
OS
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 OEM

System 2

CPU
Pentium D 805 2.66G
Motherboard
Memory
Kingston ValueRAM 1GB PC2-5400
ASUS P5L-MX
Drives
ST3500418AS (500 GB)
NEC DVD_RW ND-3550a
OS
Debian ?lenny? headless File/Backup server

 

[kalrith]

I think your only shot at doing HD with one of those systems is with an AGP 3650 video card. I'd probably go with the second system since dual-core processors function better as HTPCs.

Blu-Ray is probably easier on the system than broadcast HD, because there's no deinterlacing involved (most broadcast HD is 1080i). I would think that you could use the second system as the file server and HTPC. That's what I do with my HTPC, but it's a much faster system. I have no experience with Linux, but your biggest problem with Linux is going to be driver support and possibly the lack of hardware acceleration. Hardware acceleration from the video card is key, because neither of those cpus will handle HD without it.

You might be better off reusing your copy of Windows XP, your case, your 500GB hdd, and possibly your power supply and building a new system. If you shop around for some good deals, you can probably come in around $300 not counting the BD player (which you would have to buy whether building a new system or reusing your old one). It would really suck to drop $80 into an AGP card only to find out that it didn't work. I'd do plenty of research on what works for others before putting money into an old system. I recommend checking out MediaPortal (what I use) and GB-PVR as free Windows XP media solutions and MythTV as a free Linux solution. You should be able to see what hardware works for other people's systems and use that to determine if your old system plus a new video card will work.

Edit: I just noticed that your second system is PCI-e. In that case, I bet getting an ATI 4xxx video card would do the trick. You might need to upgrade to 2GB of RAM as well. The 4670 would be my top recommendation for an HTPC video card. Anything less won't do as well, and anything more will only add to gaming performance (and power consumption as well).

Edit2: Here's an example of what hardware acceleration will do for HD playback. I have an AMD Athlon X2 BE-2300 cpu in my HTPC. I use CrystalCPUID to overclock the cpu to 2.66 GHz but underclock it to 1.12 GHz at idle. In the BIOS it's clocked at 1.12 GHz by default. One time I forgot to run CrystalCPUID and tried playing a 1080i broadcast (basically the most-intensive video file to play) with my cpu at 1.12 GHz. It would skip every 5 seconds or so, but it definitely played. I've never tried the cpu at stock speeds, because I'm an overclocker at heart. But I bet it would play HD smoothly at stock speeds. The 805 should be on-par with the BE-2300 at stock speeds. You can compare the two cpus here. If you want me to, I can try some HD playback around stock speeds to see if it'll work. BTW, here's the rest of my system:

• Abit AN-M2 mobo
  Athlon X2 BE-2300 cpu
  4GB DDR2-800 RAM
  9500GT video card
  Hauppauge HVR-2250 HD tuner
  1TB WD Green hdd
  Already had Windows XP Home, case, and power supply
  diNovo Mini keyboard-mouse combo
  Media Center IR Receiver

I paid $400 for all of that.