Upgrade my PC into makeshift Media PC?

darren_eaf · 02-12-2008, 4:36 PM

Hi guys,

on a bit of a tight budget, but want to make some changes to my PC to turn it into a makeshift Media PC.

Below are the specs of the pc (about 4 years old!).

CPU - Intel Pentium 4 550J (3.4 GHz)
Motherboard - MS 7046
Memory - 2GB DDR2 RAM
Hard Drive - 250GB WD2500JD Western Digital 7200RPM SATA
CD Drives - Artec DHM-G48 16X DVD-ROM
- Pioneer DVR-108DB DVDRW
Video Card - nVidia GeForce 6600 (256 MB)
Sound Card - Realtek High Definition Audio (Azalia)

I upgraded the memory in January of this year from 512MB to the 2GB.

What would I need to make this into a makeshift Media PC. Mainly want to rip DVD's to the hard drive and replace the DVD-ROM with a blu ray player.

Any help would be appreciated.

Andy98765 · 02-12-2008, 4:47 PM

Run the Cyberlink BD Advisor and it will tell you CyberLink Blu-ray Disc Support but first off the grapics card will most likely have to go as I am sure it will not support HDCP on its DVI output.

AnthonyG · 02-12-2008, 4:51 PM

I am not sure if the CPU will be enough for Hidef playback.

However if it was you will need a GPU that has onboard HD acceleration.

The Nvidia 6xxx series does not have this, the earliest was the 7xxx series.

So a new graphics card will be needed.

darren_eaf · 02-12-2008, 5:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony1uk

I am not sure if the CPU will be enough for Hidef playback.

However if it was you will need a GPU that has onboard HD acceleration.

The Nvidia 6xxx series does not have this, the earliest was the 7xxx series.

So a new graphics card will be needed.

What graphics card would you recommend?

I have played a couple of demo clips that I got from Apple/Microsoft websites, so I *THINK* the CPU may be ok. These would not have had HDCP protection though.

Would also be looking at a bigger Hard Drive

AnthonyG · 02-12-2008, 5:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darren_eaf

What graphics card would you recommend

Does your motherboard have the older AGP, or new PCI express Graphics slot.

If its the former that limits things a little, if the latter then you are laughing.

darren_eaf · 02-12-2008, 5:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony1uk

Does your motherboard have the older AGP, or new PCI express Graphics slot.

If its the former that limits things a little, if the latter then you are laughing.

It's PCI-E.

AnthonyG · 02-12-2008, 5:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darren_eaf

It's PCI-E.

If so then one of ATI's 4xxx series cards would be a superb choice.

If you just want HTPC, the ATI 4350 or ATI 4550 would be great.

Moderate gaming too would be ATI 4670.