[tooter]

Hi im upgrading my htpc money is a major factor need to keep it as cheap as pos. my current spec is asus m2a-vm mobo 2gb ram amd Athlon 5000 CPU under clocked to keep noise down on board graphics card x1250 2.5"IDE hdd
Sythe kozuti cooler and a ps3 remote all squeezed in to a ps3 fat case.
I'm looking at upgrading the following.
Case
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product....=CA-SONATA
Or
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/compo...ision.html
Add a extra 2gb ram
And a gt210 or gt520
2 Port Dual SD SDHC MMC RAID to SATA Adapter Converter, No SD Card Size Limit
From eBay
With 2x32gb sd cards

All I need it for is to run different skins and play 1080p smooth and speed up boot times current system struggles.will this do the trick for my needs or are there other things I need to think about. Thanks for looking.

[tooter]

Can anyone give me tips pls

[matt77303]

Ive got that novatech case.

Nice, use a hairdryer to remove the fucking ugly novatech sticker though. Also I found the built in remote sensor was un-reliable. I use a usb one in conjunctiom with a harmony one remote.

Matt

[tooter]

Thanks I have a ps3 remote but not shure if it will work with linux I'm on win 7 at mo

[teeedubb]

Definitely get a gt210 or 520 and try openelec, from what ive seen your remote should work - install it on a usb thumbdrive to test it out. The 2gb of ram you already have will be more than enough, get a new cpu cooler/fan instead. Is the sd adapter and cards for your os? Have you priced a small ssd instead of that? Would be alot better and I reckon there wouldnt be a huge price difference. I like the look of both cases.

[tooter]

Thanks for ur input would a SSD be a lot faster not to up on them but wes lookin at the adapter as it conectts to sata I presumed maybe stupidly that it would act as a SSD and still perform as well. With the added bonus of being able to up the storage at a later date the SSD I was looking at was a lot more expensive than the converter and 2x32gb sd cards.This is the one I was looking at.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Port-Dual-SD...2a26b77cba

[Rick P.]

Go with an SSD over twin SD. It should be MUCH faster since the fastest SD cards out there right now have maximum read / write speeds of less than 200 MB/s (most a lot less than this). The fastest cards also come at a premium price - their prime market is the DSLR crowd. I agree that you don't need any more RAM if you're using linux.

[tooter]

Ok I'll try and stretch to a SSD how big do I need ? all my media will be on my nas hopefully using openlec if I can get my ps3 remote working will have to run test when I get my graphics card. Will the gt210 be good for my needs or should I go with the gt 520. Thanks

[matt77303]

I have a 64gb ssd and its plenty big enough.

Matt

[tooter]

Hi 64gb is abit more than I can afford at the moment. Do indeed that much for running openlec?.

[Rick P.]

Hi 64gb is abit more than I can afford at the moment. Do indeed that much for running openlec?.

No - buy whatever you can get the best deal on. I have a 50GB SSD in one of my HTPCs. It's running XBMC on a full Ubuntu install along with a year's worth of stuff I and the kids have installed (including the LibreOffice suite) and has at least 30 GB free. A 30GB drive would be plenty.

[teeedubb]

30gig would be plenty.. openelec can run off a lot less - but last time I looked 30g ssd's weren't that much cheaper than 60g ssd. Try openelec on a sub thumb drive to see if its fast enough before getting the ssd just don't waste your money on the dual SD cards. The gt430 is better than the 520

[tooter]

Thanks for all ur input it's appreciated. I found a 8gb SSD at a good price I'd that enough?.

[nickr]

xbmcbuntu needs only 4G so that will be plenty

[Six_Shooter]

There are 8 GB SSDs?

I would use no less than 60 GB, that way if you need to install a larger OS, or want to add other files (possibly games or specific movie files to be locally installed).