switching to am2 , need advice

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mikey976

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 24, 2006
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ok im switching my current intel/nvidia based setup to an amd/nvidia based setup.
what i am looking for is a fairly cheap board and cpu that can handle high quailty, video files ie: mkv encoded blueray 1080p. and be able to handle 5.1 channel sound to my logitech z-640's

current specs,
evga 630i matx board
C2D e6600
2gb corsair ddr800's
evga 8500gt 512mb
3 sata hdds, 160/250/500 (os$music/pvr duty/growing movie collection both hd and sd)
dual tuners a oem pcie dual tuner and ati 550pro
antec veris fusion 430 w/lcd
my os is vista home premium

so i was thinking cpu wise possibly a 5000+ or 4850e 45w

key goal here is to reduce my electric bill, im beginning to switch all non essential pc's to low power amd rigs

thanks in advance for any input
 
Are you going with a board with integrated graphics? The 5000+ is the same wattage as the E6600. I would probably go with the 4850 or the 5050. The thing is, if you are looking to move to integrated graphics then you'd be better off with a Phenom. For the best explanation as to why, go to www.missingremote.com and read up on that; it's a better explanation than what I can give you. But if you go Phenom, I'm not sure you're going to be better off energy-wise.

You could just underclock your E6600. You could afford to knock off a few MHz, and you wouldn't see any loss in performance.
 
AFAIK, going with a Phenom is really only beneficial if the H.264 encoded video files he's trying to play are not DXVA compliant (thus needing the extra CPU horsepower) or he is going to need the full deinterlacing support from a CPU with HTT 3.0.

But if those "mkv encoded blueray 1080p" files are DXVA compliant, there's no need for a Phenom.
 
most people around here go with a 45w cpu and the 8x00 or 9x00 nvidia igp. no real need for &h in a htpc and with W7 and newer driver more and more non HA media is being able to be of loaded to the gpu.

htpcs are in the living room so quite is key for most.... video card usualy make a decent amount of noise and a x4 in a HTPC case could produce a good amount of heat.


also most people leave their htpc on all day to record tv so energy effecieny is key also. go with the cheapest 45w cpu like the be-2400 or the 4050 and a 8x00 motherboad and it will do most if not all hd content... definately all legal hd content

jmo
 
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