2008-04-10, 10:00
Hi,
I am in the process of building an HD player slimline machine. For the moment I will install XP and partition the hdd and put ubuntu + the latest alpha of XBMC for linux so I can play around with it. Here is the question:
I have a p4 2.8 with an intel board with 2gb of DDR400 ram and a slimline GF FX5200, which fit into the case perfectly, but I'm not sure if this setup will have enough juice to play 1080p content without serious frame drop. I will be playing MKV's @ 1080p like the Star Wars stuff and Transformers.
I just need some input on what my options are (obviously price being a factor). This is how i c them:
1. Leave as is - may struggle (or seriously struggle) with 1080p stuff - no cost
2. Buy a GF 7x or 8x agp card with Purevide HD support - will that be enough? - small cost
3. Buy a whole new setup - AMD X2 entry level, 2gb DDR800 ram, GF 8x integrated display with HDMI output or separate GF8x PCI-X? - semi expensive
4. Similar setup with mid / top range Core2 Duo? - very expensive
O fcourse I would rather have a better working solution, but I'd like to not have something which I will need to upgrade anytime soon and options 3 and 4 I cannot afford right now - so this will have to wait a bit.
I see there are a lot of questions re dual-cores and dropping frames and cores being under-utilsed etc so I am a little confused on the XBMC for Linux front, although I know its still in early alpha atm.
Thnaks in advance - advice would be appreciated.
I am in the process of building an HD player slimline machine. For the moment I will install XP and partition the hdd and put ubuntu + the latest alpha of XBMC for linux so I can play around with it. Here is the question:
I have a p4 2.8 with an intel board with 2gb of DDR400 ram and a slimline GF FX5200, which fit into the case perfectly, but I'm not sure if this setup will have enough juice to play 1080p content without serious frame drop. I will be playing MKV's @ 1080p like the Star Wars stuff and Transformers.
I just need some input on what my options are (obviously price being a factor). This is how i c them:
1. Leave as is - may struggle (or seriously struggle) with 1080p stuff - no cost
2. Buy a GF 7x or 8x agp card with Purevide HD support - will that be enough? - small cost
3. Buy a whole new setup - AMD X2 entry level, 2gb DDR800 ram, GF 8x integrated display with HDMI output or separate GF8x PCI-X? - semi expensive
4. Similar setup with mid / top range Core2 Duo? - very expensive
O fcourse I would rather have a better working solution, but I'd like to not have something which I will need to upgrade anytime soon and options 3 and 4 I cannot afford right now - so this will have to wait a bit.
I see there are a lot of questions re dual-cores and dropping frames and cores being under-utilsed etc so I am a little confused on the XBMC for Linux front, although I know its still in early alpha atm.
Thnaks in advance - advice would be appreciated.