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Sfrick · 2015-06-01, 19:11

I have an old Desktop. It has a MS-7525 ver 1.0 motherboard with a LGA775 socket running a Pentium dual core E5300 at 2.6Ghz processor. I want to see if I can use this computer for a HTPC with Kodi. First question: should I upgrade the CPU? I see lots of LGA775 processors used on Amazon that are available cheap but I have no idea which one I should get. Second question: can I get a cheap video board that will provide for the video graphics via HDMI to my HD 1080p TV? I don't want to spend a lot of money but also don't want to sacrifice picture quality. Third question: I have 4gigs of ram (2x2). Do I need more for KODI? If so, what do you recommend. My power supply is 320W. I am running Windows 8.1 64
I appreciate any help offered.

k4sh1n · 2015-06-01, 19:25

You could get away with just getting a Nvidia GT210, low profile and fan less, no need to upgrade anything else.
$40-$50 bucks depending on where you get it

kuldan · 2015-06-01, 19:25

Hi, for starters, if the system otherwise is good enough for you (small enough, silent enough...) the CPU should be able to be just fine for 1080p workloads... for a GPU, you can get almost anything NVIDIA for it (I myself have a box running on an almost-8 year old Geforce 8400GS and a GTX210 respectively, and both do fine as they have all the encoders needed. so just get the smalled current nvidia card and you should be more than fine for decoding performance

shabuboy · (This post was last modified: 2015-06-01, 19:32 by shabuboy.)

my .02 cents... make this old desktop a NAS, then buy a just Kodi/media player, see this sticky thread... Pick the Right Kodi Box (UPDATED FEB 2015). Also look into the Zbox BI320 and HP stream mini, each have good threads out there if you go this route.

neutronspin · 2015-06-01, 19:32

CPU should be fine just add a cheap video card with HDMI. Kodi works fine under Linux...try Ubuntu or Kbuntu both work well. Check out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814150659 is an option for the video card. It has a low profile option if you have a smaller case. RAM is fine also.

Sfrick · 2015-06-01, 19:51

Thank you all for the quick response. I was looking at the Nvidia gtx210 low profile recommended and that seems like a good fit. One question I forgot to ask is about the HDMI and the audio. Does the GTX pass the audio through the HDMI or is the audio pass through mother board dependent? I need to get the best audio through the HDMI.

k4sh1n · 2015-06-01, 23:04

Yes it will do audio and video passthrough/bit streaming via HDMI

noggin · 2015-06-02, 00:39

(2015-06-01, 19:51)Sfrick Wrote: Thank you all for the quick response. I was looking at the Nvidia gtx210 low profile recommended and that seems like a good fit. One question I forgot to ask is about the HDMI and the audio. Does the GTX pass the audio through the HDMI or is the audio pass through mother board dependent? I need to get the best audio through the HDMI.

Modern graphics cards have on-board HDMI Audio devices, and so are entirely independent of the motherboard or any other aspect of the PC they are installed in. You just have to make sure you have the right drivers installed - which usually come with the graphics drivers in my experience.