What are my options?

[Matt-LivUniSkydivers]

Hi,

I'm currently on my desktop, which is using the following Motherboard: msi k9n neo v3
My problem is that I really want a small PC to shove under my HDTV in the lounge, for playing HD content etc. So, I was wondering what the smallest case is that I could get away with using this Motherboard? I've tried looking at Case sites, but they don't seem to have a clear cut ATX section, unless I'm barking up the wrong tree completely. The motherboard is currently in a huge tower with lots of empty space. It only really needs space for 1 or 2 HDD, a gfx card and one disc drive.

I'm open to alternatives aswell, such as buying a new motherboard and case if all the bits are able to be transferred over etc. Failing that I'll sell the PC to my dad and start from scratch! Doesn't need to be a gaming powerhouse, just needs to be able to play HD content.

Any help appreciated!

 

[jaffa]

Heres an alternative...you didnt say how much you wanted to pay but this may well interest you as it attaches to an hdtv.

Play.com (UK) : Acer Aspire Revo / Intel Atom N230 1.6GHz / 1GB / 8GB SSD / Linux / Desktop PC (92.G1DYZ.UF0) : Computing - Free Delivery

 

[Matt-LivUniSkydivers]

Hi,

That's the kind of thing I'm looking for, price bracket will certainly be sub £200.

Another thing to note, I currently have my old PC connected to the HDTV which is hidden in a cupboard (crap ventilation!) which is fine for streaming most media, but it can't handle anything High-Def (BBC iPlayer HD, or HD content from the piratebay etc.!) It's 2.8Ghz P4, 512MB RAM with a GeForce FX 5200. Is there something I could do to my old PC to make it play HD?! What is it lacking?

 

[neorage]

Hi,

That's the kind of thing I'm looking for, price bracket will certainly be sub £200.

Another thing to note, I currently have my old PC connected to the HDTV which is hidden in a cupboard (crap ventilation!) which is fine for streaming most media, but it can't handle anything High-Def (BBC iPlayer HD, or HD content from the piratebay etc.!) It's 2.8Ghz P4, 512MB RAM with a GeForce FX 5200. Is there something I could do to my old PC to make it play HD?! What is it lacking?

you call that old .. i gota p2 933 with 512mb of ram... with a bit of waiting and ajustment to buffering can just get HD content through..

dunno why your strugging with a p4

 

[Matt-LivUniSkydivers]

you call that old .. i gota p2 933 with 512mb of ram... with a bit of waiting and ajustment to buffering can just get HD content through..

dunno why your strugging with a p4

I'll need to have a fiddle then. So you think my "old" PC shouldn't be struggling? I've tried tons of different media players, all with stuttery/unwatchable results. Are you using Windows?
Could it be the GFX card?

 

[neorage]

what exactly are you doing..

streaming to the p4 from another machine and using the p4 to play on your tv or using your pc as a server and playing through for instance an xbox or ps3

..

 

[Matt-LivUniSkydivers]

Nothing that fancy. I'm wanting to play media directly from the P4 onto the HDTV but it stutters.
That includes the new BBC iPlayer HD content, and the x264 HD files I got from the piratebay.org, think they had .mkv extensions.

i figured it was the P4 struggling because this PC played the same files just fine, and that was streaming over the network from the P4.

 

[neorage]

how are you connecting the hdtv to the pc

via a hdtv card ? or std tv card

 

[Matt-LivUniSkydivers]

The PC is connected to the HDTV via a standard VGA out on the GeForce FX 5200. It's a samsung HDTV with a VGA port on, so it is essentially acting as a huge monitor. The resolution is set to match the HDTV

 

[Matt-LivUniSkydivers]

The PC is connected to the HDTV via a standard VGA out on the GeForce FX 5200. It's a samsung HDTV with a VGA port on, so it is essentially acting as a huge monitor.

 

[Matt-LivUniSkydivers]

From the BluRay thread currently being discussed:

Buying the blu-ray rom is only half the battle to get the films to play.
You have to have a decent CPU (my dual core 2.4 couldnt handle it so I went Intel quad core).
Also you need a pretty good graphics card as the data throughput is vast compared to dvd.
As a test download a 1080p MKV file and if it doesnt play smoothley the you have no chance with blu-ray as they have about 8 times more data to be handled.

A 1080p MKV files would be arounf 4-8Gb, and a blu-ray film is typically 30-50Gb.
Also blu-ray is 1080p so if your TV isnt full HD then dont waste your money.

I have the LG Blu-Ray writer, a quad Q6600 2.4 cpu, 8Gb ram and an Nvidia 9600 GT with 1gb ram and I still get problems with stuttering if there is anything else running.

I'd like my PC to have a BluRay drive at some point, so looks like I'm going to need a powerhouse.

 

[little_pob]

To be honest I don't think you'll need anything that powerful.

I've had a blu-ray running stutter free on an AMD X2 4000+, 3GB RAM, BD-ROM and 6800GS under XP SP2, Nero 8 with Blu-Ray plugin + AnyDVD HD (as the graphics card didn't support HDCP).

I've also not long built the 'rents a HTPC using an AMD X2 4850e, 2GB RAM, BD/HDDVD combi and an nvidia 8400GT running XP SP3. I am having a little trouble with PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra throwing up a 80040154 internal error - I think I'm going to have to uninstall, reinstall and reapply the patches. Will post back when I confirm.