Upgrade of PC needed

bigtom71

I have a self-built PC that I mostly use as a HTPC. These are the specs:


Aerocool I-Curve+ Schwarz, ATX case
Corsair VX550W 550 Watt PSU
Intel Pentium Dualcore E5200 CPU
4GB-Kit OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Titanium Dual Channel, CL4
MSI P43 Neo-F, Intel P43, ATX board
3 x 1TB SATA drives
Radeon HD3650 Silent Magic PCI Express 2.0 512Mb DDR3 128Bit 2xDVI-I Graphics card
DVD/CD internal drive
Windows 7 64 bit
connected to a 46" Samsung Plasma TV

The trouble is the graphics card is running very hot when using anything graphics related, e.g. if I watch a movie through MCE. The PC is used by the whole family for movies and Internet, no games. My first thoughts is to upgrade the GPU to 1gig. Elara.ie has a Radeon HD6450 for €40, which won't break the bank. So, will this run a little cooler than my current card, and do the job it needs to? Is it compatible with my motherboard? Is it worth my while?

The other thing I am idly thinking about is to change my setup and see if I can salvage some of what I have and turn it into a smaller (maybe m-itx) htpc setup with a NAS. The NAS is easy enough and there are loads of second hand cases out there for cheap money. The HTPC setup I know less about. Is it worth my while doing this? I hope to limit spending to a couple of hundred euro and would want something at least as good as what I have, or preferably better. The above setup is four years old.

bigtom71

Anyone? I'd be grateful for some help as I really don't know if what I currently have is any use holding onto and upgrading. My query might be a little convoluted but I want to know if getting a bigger graphics card will fix the temp problem, and also what I would need to turn what I have into a small, neat htpc.

Many thanks.

Mr McBoatface

Is the gpu overheating and causing any issues, or is it just a concern ?

Your pc demands are not huge, and what you have would continue to do nicely for a while. The graphic card upgrade could be a waste of money should you decide to change to a HTPC setup with either itx or matx motherboards.

If you do go down the HTPC route in my opinion there is great value to be had with AMD FM1/FM2 setups with A75 chipset, it would match your needs nicely. The FM1/FM2 are procesors and graphic all in one. The FM1 socket is no longer in production but there really is alot of cheap cpu's and motherboards floating around, some great deals on second hand stuff on ebay. You would need DDr3 ram for this setup, at a minium I recommend 4GB PC3-12800.

You could reuse all of your setup excluding the Intel Pentium Dualcore E5200 CPU, DDR2 PC2-6400 and the MSI P43 Neo-F M/B. Which you could sell on adverts and get some money back to reduce your cost.

Again it's just my opinion, but alot really depends on if you want to go the HTPC route.

bigtom71

Hi jobyrne, thanks for replying. The GPU is running hot when I use windows 7 Media Center Edition. At least it is according to the case temperature readouts which uses probes in the case. Then the case temp and CPU temp start to go up and the case goes bleeping mad. It doesn't cause any problems with the output from the card, but I am concerned about it, and the ambient temperature can't be good for the CPU and hard drives.

I really like your idea of the integrated graphics on the FM1 mobo and might well go down that route if I can be assured that there are PCI-E cards out there that will fit the board and do both saorview AND freesat. I need to do a bit of research on that front. There's a lot to be said for this option, aside from the neatness of the setup against the behemoth I have at the moment. If I have a NAS I can stream files to all the PCs, iPads, Nintendos, etc. in the house which would be welcomed.

In the meantime, could you give a few links on E-Bay as to what a good board, CPU, etc. would be in the FM1 or FM2 configuration?

Gumbi

bigtom71 wrote: »

Hi jobyrne, thanks for replying. The GPU is running hot when I use windows 7 Media Center Edition. At least it is according to the case temperature readouts which uses probes in the case. Then the case temp and CPU temp start to go up and the case goes bleeping mad. It doesn't cause any problems with the output from the card, but I am concerned about it, and the ambient temperature can't be good for the CPU and hard drives.

I really like your idea of the integrated graphics on the FM1 mobo and might well go down that route if I can be assured that there are PCI-E cards out there that will fit the board and do both saorview AND freesat. I need to do a bit of research on that front. There's a lot to be said for this option, aside from the neatness of the setup against the behemoth I have at the moment. If I have a NAS I can stream files to all the PCs, iPads, Nintendos, etc. in the house which would be welcomed.

In the meantime, could you give a few links on E-Bay as to what a good board, CPU, etc. would be in the FM1 or FM2 configuration?

When you say hot, what kind of temperatures do you refer to?

Lu Tze

bigtom71 wrote: »

Hi jobyrne, thanks for replying. The GPU is running hot when I use windows 7 Media Center Edition. At least it is according to the case temperature readouts which uses probes in the case. Then the case temp and CPU temp start to go up and the case goes bleeping mad. It doesn't cause any problems with the output from the card, but I am concerned about it, and the ambient temperature can't be good for the CPU and hard drives.

I really like your idea of the integrated graphics on the FM1 mobo and might well go down that route if I can be assured that there are PCI-E cards out there that will fit the board and do both saorview AND freesat. I need to do a bit of research on that front. There's a lot to be said for this option, aside from the neatness of the setup against the behemoth I have at the moment. If I have a NAS I can stream files to all the PCs, iPads, Nintendos, etc. in the house which would be welcomed.

In the meantime, could you give a few links on E-Bay as to what a good board, CPU, etc. would be in the FM1 or FM2 configuration?

HAve you tried giving it a good clean?

bigtom71

Gumbi wrote: »

When you say hot, what kind of temperatures do you refer to?

I checked the Radeon software and the GPU had an idle temp of 53 degrees Celsius. I've opened Windows MCE and it has immediately gone up to 59 degrees. I will leave it for a while and see how it goes. The weather certainly won't help.

Lu Tze: I clean it out every now and again and have put filters on most of the vents. It is fairly clean.

Edit: topping out at around 68 degrees and just checked the CPU which is quite happy at 41 and 49 for the cores.

Mr McBoatface

Hi bigtom71

Regarding ebay links, I find the best value is usually found in auctions. Personally I use ebay.co.uk and parcel motel.

Just an example but I just got this brand new AMD FM2 socket A4 4000 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251293537301?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 at total cost of less than 17 euro which is less than half price to what it would retail for.

Regarding ITX setup's, IMO itx boards are expensive and don't offer the same expansion posabilities as matx. If you add to that the limited and some what expense ITX case sellection I actually feel MATX offers better value. Again just my opinion, I actually love ITX systems. I've a few ITX boards myself which I will use in future builds ....but i'm pepared to wait the long haul and see if a good looking good value case comes along. I've ordered an itx case from aliexpress in china that looks really good at a super price, hopefully it will arrive the next 2-3 weeks, I plan on putting some pictures of that build here.

Another possible setup I never mention to you, an AMD E350 motherboard/cpu/gpu setup. These are great for HTPC systems and light internet browsing, word editing etc. In terms of the gpu it would be a massive improvement on what you have, cpu wise what you have would be better, but these systems with the correct psu can idle at around 10watts and will draw around 20-25 watts when doing 1080i TV DXVA (which is more stressful than 1080p DXVA).

For Saorview and Freesat on one card there are a few options ...if you can find one the Black Gold BGT3595 http://shop.blackgold.tv/BGT3595. This has 2 DVB-S2 and2 DVB-T tuner, So it work with freesat HD and saorview, record one freesat channel and watch another.

The Pinnicale 7010ix is a simular older card, however it's only DVB-S so some of the freesat HD channels will not work. I actually have one for sale (see sticky at the top of page) There is not alot of HD content on DVB-S2 on freesat so you wouldn't miss much, the SD variant is always availible too

The advanatage of matx over itx comes into play when looking at TV cards. I can be cheaper and easier to get two or three TV cards over the one pci-e card.

bigtom71

jobyrne: Many thanks for your reply and plenty of food for thought. I agree with you on the mATX/itx argument, although you can squeeze a lot into a tiny itx setup. But for costs and flexibility I am leaning for mATX.

I never knew about Parcelmotel - this has opened up a whole new world for me!:D There's been many a time I wanted something online and gave up or got something else, when I couldn't get postage to Ireland. There is a great selection of cases on Aliexpress. I am actually bombarded with choice now.

I might go down your AMD A4 route and keep it simple. I came across the Blackgold card before, and it is perfect for my needs, but they are nearly impossible to find.

Can you send me some links for an mATX board maybe on EBay?
Cheers.

Mr McBoatface

Just to be clear I wouldn't recommend aliexpress, VAT will be charged on imports, long shipping times. I took a chance on a really nice case I got at massively reduced price.

I'll see what i can find on ebay later today.....

yeah parcel motel is great.