Media Center Help

[MoonPig]

Hey,

I built a media center for the family when we got our 42" 1080p TV. I built it with the intention of playing games on it, however, after afew months, i've played non. So, i'm wanting to downgrade it.

Currently it has a basic AMD setup with 2GB Ram, HD3850, 80GB HD, Hiper 425w.

Now, i was told that it's the CPU being 2.4GHz that makes a difference for 1080p playback of movies, not the Graphics Card (aslong as it can output 1080p).

So, i've found someone selling an 8400GS. He has it for £20, i think that's too much, i mean, it's not a great card...

So, what would be a good price? and will i still be able to watch HD films fine with an 8400GS over a HD3850?

Thanks

 

[MoonPig]

Ok, he's lowered the price to £16 posted. I think thats fair, it's pretty new and uses passive cooling. Perfect.

Now i just need to know if the card will be fine with HD movies.

 

[toastem2004]

well, i'm not too sure that the 8400gs will have the power to output blu-ray at 1080p. To give you a point of refrence, i have a 2600 pro w/ an athlon x2 5400+ in my media center, it seems to handle 720p movies ok, but the only 1080p movie i can get it to play back smothly is MPEG-2 & WMV/VC-1 encoded videos. so far, all h.264 encodes are choppy playback.

 

[MoonPig]

well. The TV is set to 720p as it's unreadable at 1080p. So, im only playing back at 720p.

 

[digibucc]

even so ... is the point of this to get that card into another rig for gaming? because downgrading for the heck of it doesn't make sense.

you are good for a HTPC, actually mine has a 4870 instead, my file server has the 3850. and though you could downgrade , you are not that over-powered to begin with.

I wouldn't really have tried to play any of my games on my 42" without my XFire 4870s. there is no way my 3850 could have handled it. similarly, i wouldn't want to try a HTPC without at least a 3850, as it dogs. tbf my cpu was a 2.0 DC Athlon, not the PII I have in there now.

 

[MoonPig]

I'm downgrading as im thinking about doing a sale and making some money (running a little low). Also, its using a 6pin, the 8400GS doesn't require that, so less power

 

[BroBQ]

84-- will be fine for 1080p aslong as you don't grade your CPU. You might even be able to get away with using a 2Ghz for full HD, but I wouldnt wanna use anything less