[eskro]

it should eventually fit PeaPodDoggy, good luck!
keep it up

the one i was recommending tho is this one
[FAN] Scythe Slipstream 120mm 800RPM 40.17CFM 10.70dBA ($13 + $0)

.

[Superorb]

There's an AMD Fusion board out right now that is cheaper and performs MUCH better than an Atom +ION system for around $115 shipped. There's a post on Slickdeals about it.

[Crytone]

Curious about opinions about building new versus recycling old.

My current desktop needs an upgrade (specs: Intel E6600, Gigabyte atx mobo, 4gb DDR2, ati 4890. 620w corsair modular PSU) which is going to happen this spring. I figured if I recycled my old stuff I'd likely only need to get a new matx mobo and SSD, just to keep the form factor to an acceptable size. Plans for the HTPC are XBMC, obviously, and emulators (perhaps including PCSX2/Dolphin, would be nice!).

So, is it worth it to save my current parts or am I better off maybe salvaging what I can from it (PSU & vid card maybe?) and selling the rest off? And before anyone suggests building a NAS with the parts, I already built myself a (currently) 10TB NAS last year with new parts, but would likely steal the 4gb RAM to swap into that.

Power savings would be nice (fixed power cost so not a huge deal atm) and newer tech is never a bad thing either. I've thought of maybe getting an i3 2100, 4gb DDR3 and a decent matx mobo, might be a better option.

[Subliminal Aura]

There's an AMD Fusion board out right now that is cheaper and performs MUCH better than an Atom +ION system for around $115 shipped. There's a post on Slickdeals about it.

Have you got a link to the article making the claim ? I'd be interested in reading it.

Plans for the HTPC are XBMC, obviously, and emulators (perhaps including PCSX2/Dolphin, would be nice!).

Never heard of these emulators until you mentioned them but am interested... Do they run fine on your e6600 ?

Seems like they need a fast platform to run on.

http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Will-PCSX...puter-copy

http://forums.dolphin-emulator.com/showt...?tid=15932

[poofyhairguy]

Power savings would be nice (fixed power cost so not a huge deal atm) and newer tech is never a bad thing either. I've thought of maybe getting an i3 2100, 4gb DDR3 and a decent matx mobo, might be a better option.

My main HTPC is basically your old rig and it works fine. but if you want an i3 you will find emulators easier to handle. I say price what the upgrade will cost and if you can afford it do it otherwise rebuild the old tech.

[Crytone]

Thanks for the replies!

Never heard of these emulators until you mentioned them but am interested... Do they run fine on your e6600 ?

I actually haven't tried either yet as I still have my Wii/PS2 hooked up in my entertainment unit so I just play my collection on those so I'm a bit on the fence about those emulators. Mostly because emulators aren't perfect by default so why play on an emulator when I have the real hardware hooked up already?

But going by the threads you posted and other sources I read, I should easily be able to run PCSX2 with my hardware and it should be able to adequately play Dolphin also. Maybe I'll give them both a whirl soon to make sure.

Basically I'd love to be able to play some of my old collections on my TV as my NES, Genesis, SNES, N64, Dreamcast, etc... are all currently sitting boxed in my closet. My PC will easily play NullDC, as I have tried it, the biggest pain associated with it being ripping my games to the proper format.

My main HTPC is basically your old rig and it works fine. but if you want an i3 you will find emulators easier to handle. I say price what the upgrade will cost and if you can afford it do it otherwise rebuild the old tech.

I figure if I used my old rig I'd need a case, SSD and mATX mobo and probably a new cooler too. That's not too bad really but it wouldn't be upgradeable, use more of power and it's running on hardware that's ~4 years old. As for my budget, it should remain reasonable (ie- under $500). Nothing wrong with wanting to make this as cheap as possible still though!

The 4890 I know is still a powerful card and would be overkill for XBMC alone, but is great for my emulators. Downside being that it is power hungry, big and a bit louder than newer cards. I don't believe it does bitstream audio either, but I don't know if that's a feature I really need.

[Subliminal Aura]

But going by the threads you posted and other sources I read, I should easily be able to run PCSX2 with my hardware and it should be able to adequately play Dolphin also. Maybe I'll give them both a whirl soon to make sure.

Hmmmm I'm a little skeptical tbh - sounds to me like they need decent hardware to run at 60fps / 1080p... Emulators are a mixed bag - some games may work great whilst others struggle.

Keep us posted with your findings

[Crytone]

Hmmmm I'm a little skeptical tbh - sounds to me like they need decent hardware to run at 60fps / 1080p... Emulators are a mixed bag - some games may work great whilst others struggle.

Keep us posted with your findings

I decided to test it. Newest Beta of PCSX2 (0.97) and tried both FFX and MGS3. FFX played great. MGS3, which is a pretty demanding PS2 game IMO, also played pretty good. 50+fps in gameplay. Cutscenes got a bit slow but no lower than about 25 fps, mostly staying at 40+fps. Still perfectly playable! I still hadn't played with the setting much but did set it to 1920x1080 for all testing and configured my gamepad. Additional speed is likely with more tweaking or simply trying a different video plugin even. I have a fairly large PS2 collection so might try more games later.

[Evin]

Hey, I've got question.

I want to build a XBMC-HTPC for my brother and I've some components, including this mainboard (M2NPV-VM) with an AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+.

Can I add a GT 210 to achieve sound & video over HDMI?

Will it work, or am I missing a point?

[Superorb]

Hey, I've got question.

I want to build a XBMC-HTPC for my brother and I've some components, including this mainboard (M2NPV-VM) with an AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+.

Can I add a GT 210 to achieve sound & video over HDMI?

Will it work, or am I missing a point?

Sounds good to me. I've got a 15+ year old PC with an 8400GS for my XBMC box that works fine. You don't need the latest and greatest as some would lead you to believe

[eskro]

I've got a 15+ year old PC with an 8400GS for my XBMC box that works fine. You don't need the latest and greatest as some would lead you to believe

true if u dont use Heavy Skins like AEON...

[Superorb]

true if u dont use Heavy Skins like AEON...

Also true

[T800]

I'm in the process of getting the parts together for the i3 build here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=721011&postcount=1

Will I need any extra brackets to mount an SSD? I presume they are the same as a 2.5" in size.

[Superorb]

I'm in the process of getting the parts together for the i3 build here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=721011&postcount=1

Will I need any extra brackets to mount an SSD? I presume they are the same as a 2.5" in size.

Any reason you would use the older i3 instead of the newer, much more efficient Sandy Bridge i3?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

[T800]

Any reason you would use the older i3 instead of the newer, much more efficient Sandy Bridge i3?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

Lack of knowledge. I just copied the build I linked to (and started buying parts two weeks ago) because I wanted to get on and start building a HTPC that I know would work.

Would it make a noticeable difference on XBMC?

I could maybe take it back.