Upgrading weak HTPC

[rpf717rpf]

Hey all,

I have a HTPC that I've been using for a while which has served me well. However, with increased HD videos (ie mkv files etc) it doesn't seem to be handling the load well.

I won't be using it for games really, my goal for the upgrade is to make sure it can play any high def video that I can throw at it . . . and for as cheap as reasonably possible.

Here's what I've got:

Semperon 3000+ socket 754
Raedon 9600 128mb (I think 128?)
cheapo ECS MB (forget the model) with AGP slot
512 MB of "value RAM"

I'm considering getting:

Athlon 64 3200+ - $53
7600GS 256mg - $120 passively cooled

both from Newegg.

The graffics card MUST be passively cooled or otherwise completely silent. The 7600gs isn't a good deal it seems, but its hard to find a decent card without a fan.

Do you think this upgrade would be able to handle the most complicated HD movies? Is anything overkill? Any other suggestions from the GPU? If I upgrade the GPU only, do you think I'd need the faster CPU as well?

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[tomt4535]

As far as an AGP card goes, the 7600gs is a good deal. It will be a huge step up from that 9600. The 3200+ should help things out a bit too. Maybe grab another 512mb of ram? Ram prices are dropping so it shouldnt cost too much.

 

[stogez]

Another 512MB ram is probably the cheapest upgrade and probably make the most difference.

 

[Texun]

I recently went from a Sempron 3100 to a Venice 3200 in my home brew video rig and saw very little improvement. It was there but not by much. I agree that adding more ram would probably be your best bang. And yes the silent GS card would be a must have. I screwed up and got a 6600GT and it's way too loud.

 

[rpf717rpf]

Thanks for the suggestions. Is the concensus that the 7600gs is an appropriate choice? ie not under nor over powered to render 1080p movies in any compression format?

Sounds like a total of 1 gig memory would be appropriate? Hadn't planned on that. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[rpf717rpf]

What about the processor upgrade? How much difference will sempron 3000+ to Athlon 3200+ give me?

 

[bigsnyder]

I wouldn't say huge, but if you can get one cheap enough, it wouldn't hurt.

C Snyder

 

[ZetaEpyon]

Well, if you intend to play h.264 video at 1080p resolutions, I don't think the 3200+ and 7600GS is going to cut it, unless the 7600GS is a lot better at offloading decoding than I expect.

I have an Athlon 64 3000+ with a 6800GT (so no decoding help), and I can generally play most h.264 720p content without trouble, but 1080p is out of the question. Depending on the bitrate, even some 720p stuff can get a bit dicey if I'm running other stuff at the same time.

 

[brandonr23]

im not positive but im not sure that the a64 is gonna be enough to push 1080p. i'd say check out the htpc forum on avsforum.com They are extremely knowledgeable and informative for exactly this type of question