A HTPC gone wrong.

[alucasa]

I always like strange builds.

Since I've played with Mini-ITX builds for few years, I was looking for something new and my attention was focused on low-profile video cards recently.

Namely, HD5750 low profile.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131363

And GTS 450 low profile.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261078

SLI or Crossfire in this case, http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112186

(All prices are in CAD.)

But a question remains for me.
Which one to go for? HD5750 or GTS 450?

If you have any words of advice, fire away.

CPU will be i7-870 and RAM will be 2 x 4gb.

 

[Deleted member 3]

And what exactly is the point of SLI/CF or i7 with 8GB in a HTPC?

 

[entropy13]

And what exactly is the point of SLI/CF or i7 with 8GB in a HTPC?

It wouldn't be strange if that wasn't the case.

 

[alucasa]

And what exactly is the point of SLI/CF or i7 with 8GB in a HTPC?

That is exactly the point. And while it will be in HTPC, it will be used as my main rig.

I want "Strange" builds.

 

[panchoman]

And what exactly is the point of SLI/CF or i7 with 8GB in a HTPC?

actually the cpu could be put to very good use just for video quality upscaling.. ffdshow will still give the i7 a run for it's money if it's using a majority of the features. i've been wanting to build a htpc with a phenom x6. as for the sli/cf, good for gaming, and also gpu accelerating in ffdshow. 8gb ram might be a bit overkill, but it's not like ram's too expensive.

i would go with the 5750 btw..

 

[scaminatrix]

Have you got any plans for airflow in your htpc? It's going to get warm in there.

 

[Deleted member 3]

That is exactly the point. And while it will be in HTPC, it will be used as my main rig.

I want "Strange" builds.

Then it's not a HTPC, just a small form factor PC.
I've seen some small cases that allowed full size PSU's, those might be handy considering the power the suggested setup would require.

@Pancho
Cheap GPU's have hardware acceleration for video.

 

[quick_2]

what are you going to use to cool that 870 that will be so low profile.. and again, you better cram all the fan slots full

 

[Yukikaze]

Gts450!

 

[newtekie1]

I'd go with the GTS450, it is overall better than the HD5750, and SLi scales better.

what are you going to use to cool that 870 that will be so low profile.. and again, you better cram all the fan slots full

The stock 870 cooler should fit in there just fine.

 

[wolf]

depends on the availiability and price of the GTS450 LP, If you can wait id SLi them, if not the LP 5750 is already out and seems to OC well, to get to 5770 territory.