Hi all,
This next week I'm FINALLY building my PJ and am looking to make my dell computer an HTPC. I plan on using FFDShow and am just looking for hints on what to get to upgrade or do I need to upgrade the whole motherboard and processor?

My specs.
Intel P4 2.4ghz
1.25 gb ram
window xp with sp2
The dvd player is the one that came with my dell system a year ago
as for dvd decoder and player I am open to any of them.

I guess I need to know if the 2.4g and 1.25 gb of ram is good enough if not I will have to wait until this winter to upgrade. If it is good enough what video card does one recomend? also I need a sound card with dolby 5.1, any recomendations?

Thanks,

Lucas in Alaska

Will you be using this for DVDs or video games?

I reccomend dscaler or Nvidia with the surround sound hack for a dvd decoder. You might want to try over-clocking your processor.

What "surround sound hack"???

I'm also running a P4 2.4Ghz utilizing 1GB RAM. The processor wasn't pegged as it was running a 1.4GHz processor. I don't see any reason to upgrade your hardware as of yet. Try it out first and i'm sure you will be happy with the results with the system you have now.

Yes, a sound card capable of 5.1 is certainly a necessity (IMO) if you're going to be doing movies. 6.1 and 7.1 is attractive, but not necessary as most movies i've seen only release in 5.1 anyway (of course receiever will process 5.1 to 6.1 or 7.1 itself). Depending on how you plan to connect the PC to your sound system (ie. speakers directly, TOS link, RCA digital, etc...) will depend on what sound card you might like. Someone posted a like to a nice inexpensive card in Waterfowls thread in this forum, which would be good for suppling a digital signal to a HT receiver.

I suggest using FFSshow with the DeScaler 5 MPEG decoder (free) rather than the sonic cineplayer (I think about $15-20) one that is listed in a how-to guide listed in these threads. DeScaler 5 decoder is just as good and is free.

I don't recommend overclocking your Dell motherboard. (actually I don't think that is possible anyway).

Lastly, and most important... don't worry about your HTPC now anyway... take the time to do your PJ, and you will be very happy with just a simple windows destop being projected at 120" !!

Enjoy the ride...
cheers,
gs

I agree with Gadgetsmith... your PC specs are fine for now. Get building!

If you do upgrade anything, it'd probably be the video card (assuming you've still got whatever stock card came with the Dell, which is probably a generation or two back). If you're going to be using your PC like an actual HTPC, a video card with a TV tuner and dual outputs (one for the monitor, one for the PJ) would be nice... though not even 100% necessary.

Well the surround sound hack is more for MCE users. It's in the AVS forums. If anyone needs a link, hit me up.

I plan on using the pc for mostly playing DVD's but sometime I do plan on playing one of two games Morrowind and Oblivion when it comes out.

As for my surround system I purchased a Logitec Z-5500 system so I will feed directly into it with digital optical.

Any suggestions on a Video and Speaker card?

Thanks for the replys, load off my mind for upgrading.

Lucas in Alaska

Well, I hate to burst your bubble on Oblivion, but I know that's gonna be a system hog. I would be surprised if the "recommended" requirements are over a 3 gig processor. You'll probably be able to run it at low settings, but I think a Geforce 6600GT is the cheapest card you'd want. I've got one... and while I'm happy with its performance, I know I'll want to go SLI or upgrade to a better card in a year / year and a half.

I totally agree on Oblivion being a system HOG!! I have been keeping tabs on the game for 6 mths now and am just floored with everthing about the game. I love Morrowind and completed it on XBOX and recently purchased it for PC. A lot of people ask me what I love about Morrowind and I say "it's like taking a vacation to a foreign land and exploring and you can do it all on your own time"

I'll cross the Oblivion problem when it finally comes out.

As for the Geforce 6600GT, do you mean the 128mb card?

Should I look more twards a 256MB card?

Also do I want an AGP card or a PCI Express Video Card?

From what I'm reading I should look for something with the NVIDIA chipset.

I just looked up my DVD it is an NEC DVD+RW DN-1100A

I also noticed that I have a GeForce4 MX 440 With AGP8X.

So I guess my motherboard can handle 8X from a AGP. I just wonder how I can tell for sure.

I'm looking at getting something like aeVGA GeForce 6800 GT for the video card. Would this make up for only a 2.4 Ghz processor and be good for Oblivion in the future?

Also for the Sound Card I'm looking at the TurtleBeach Montego 7.1 any comments on it?

Thanks
Lucas

Even Morrowind was a system hog... 'course, that was when I was still running on a 1.4 gig celeron upgrade card.

You won't be able to use the PCI Express version of the 6600GT unless you buy a new motherboard (which would also require a new CPU, RAM... etc). The AGP 8x will be fine... I don't think you'd see a difference. I'd recommend PCI Express for a *new* mobo purchase only for future upgrades.

Also, I'm not sure you'd get much performance gain from the 256 meg version of the card. If the price is close enough, go for it. Otherwise, I'm not sure a 2.4 gig CPU can push a 256 card any faster than 128 one.

(To the peanut gallery - please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)