If I buy a Blu-Ray drive, what spec of pc will I need?

[JonnyTester]

I have an Athlon 64 3500+, overclocked to 2.6Ghz with 1.5Gb of ddr333 ram and a GeForce 7600GT graphics card. I was thinking of buying a blu-ray drive when I'm stateside on holiday but I'm concerned my pc will not be up to the job. What sort of spec will I need to get blu-ray movies running without stuttering?

[Sonic67]

I have an Athlon 64 3500+, overclocked to 2.6Ghz with 1.5Gb of ddr333 ram and a GeForce 7600GT graphics card. I was thinking of buying a blu-ray drive when I'm stateside on holiday but I'm concerned my pc will not be up to the job. What sort of spec will I need to get blu-ray movies running without stuttering?

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/support/answerbox_productfaq.jsp?FID=2576&nProdId=31&ProdVerId=175&nCateId=5


http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/support/answerbox_productfaq.jsp?FID=2577&nProdId=31&ProdVerId=175&nCateId=5


I think your graphics card is at the minimum needed. Processor may be too slow.

[ChrisAllenFiz]

You will probably be alright if you get an ATI 2400HD pro. They have just turned up at Dabs and overclockers.co.uk. Only 37.99 and are the best cards for HD playback, either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.

However, if you are needing AGP rather than PCI-E, then you will have to wait for AGP parts to come out.

Oh, and btw, the blu-ray drives aren`t that much cheaper in the states. The Pionner is $300 or £150

[dubious]

You will probably be alright if you get an ATI 2400HD pro ....... and are the best cards for HD playback, either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.

Very interested in that bold statement, how can that be proven as any graphics card is only as good as it's drivers? I am very pleased with the PQ of my Nvidia 8600GTS but the Vista drivers are a huge let down for HTPC use with all current development on the drivers concentrating on gaming use and I can't see this changing much for at least 6-12 months. :mad:

So although these new ATI cards may appear good on paper I think it very much depends on the drivers. Do they currently have adjustment for overscan and custom resolutions? How good and how quick are ATI at fixing issues ?

TBH I would change to one of these new cards in an instant if there is better support for HTPC use as I'm tired of waiting for Nvidia to get their act together :(

[ChrisAllenFiz]

Very interested in that bold statement, how can that be proven as any graphics card is only as good as it's drivers? I am very pleased with the PQ of my Nvidia 8600GTS but the Vista drivers are a huge let down for HTPC use with all current development on the drivers concentrating on gaming use and I can't see this changing much for at least 6-12 months. :mad:

So although these new ATI cards may appear good on paper I think it very much depends on the drivers. Do they currently have adjustment for overscan and custom resolutions? How good and how quick are ATI at fixing issues ?

TBH I would change to one of these new cards in an instant if there is better support for HTPC use as I'm tired of waiting for Nvidia to get their act together :(

Ok, I`ll qualify my statement by saying that they offload the processing load the most, and therefore for a slow processor they may be the only option. PQ is of course a subjective thing.

[leeb]

Indeed. I read an online review/test where a 2400 was able to offload nearly all the processing off a Sempron 2800+ for both VC1 and h.264 and played everything perfectly!

EDIT: Here's the link - http://www.hardspell.com/english/doc/showcont.asp?news_id=622&pageid=629

[DownToTheBone]

Try this Testing GeForce 8600 and Radeon HD 2600 in HD with HD-HQV (http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/443/)

[Donnacha]

I have an Athlon 64 3500+, overclocked to 2.6Ghz with 1.5Gb of ddr333 ram and a GeForce 7600GT graphics card. I was thinking of buying a blu-ray drive when I'm stateside on holiday but I'm concerned my pc will not be up to the job. What sort of spec will I need to get blu-ray movies running without stuttering?

I'm in the same boat as you - my PC is a P4 2.8ghz, but I'm holding out for the ATI 2000 series AGP version (my mobo doesn't have PCI-E!). By all accounts these offload all the processing donkey work to the graphics card, meaning lower spec machines will handle bluray / hddvd!! I hope so, this is my plan. as I don't want to have to completely upgrade the machine!