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» ATSC HDTV and Upconverting DVD Under $170
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Monday, December 19, 2005
Cheap Start for an HTPC, under $100If you're considering building a Home Theater PC, as I have recently, you can save a lot of money starting with a used barebones PC to build on. A particularly good deal right now is the IBM NetVista for only $39. It is essentially just the Socket 478 motherboard and case/power, but that's just what we need. I like the desktop style case form factor I have, but I wish I'd had an IBM. Add to this the nVidia GeForce 6200 chipset for $59, and you have a quiet, fanless card that is great for video.The Socket 478 allows you to get into the 3GHz range for a processor, and the nVidia 6200 chipest gives you a GPU that takes a lot of the load away from the main processor and improves the video output, especially when used in conjunction with the nVidia PureVideo software. I use PureVideo, even though I only have the nVidia 5200, and its benefits are significant. Using the VLC Player, playing back HD MPEG-2, 1920x720, I use roughly 60% processor time. After installing PureVideo, playing the same back using Windows Media Player, it is consistently under 40% processor usage. With the 6200, it adds smoothing and a lot of other enhancements, including WMV-HD acceleration.
Great tips for a Home Theatre PC. Thanks! | ||
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Gadgetize: Cheap Start for an HTPC, under $100
