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Computer for watching HD movies?

Forum Index > Tech Support
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1 2 Next All
Cmon
Profile Joined August 2010
38 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-11 12:02:12
July 11 2011 12:00 GMT
#1
Someone suggested this:
Intel core 2 duo 2.93ghz e7500
Memory 4gb ddr3
Mobo gigabyte ga-gb1mt
Hdd 500gb
Vga ? Gforce gt210 1gb ddr3
Dvd rw lg
Casing towel ? Psu 500w
Ldd 19"
regular Mouse & keyboard, maybe logitech

Around $460 ?

I have no idea whether the name is right/not.
What do you guys think? It's for playing HD movies 1080p. Maybe play some games like The Sims (don't know the newest, 3?). It's not for SC/SC2 ultra

I prefer an AMD & ATI since it should be cheaper, or is AMD still having an issue with the heat?

Any other suggestion? (prefer other suggestion tbh)
Thanks!
Madoga
Profile Joined January 2011
Netherlands471 Posts
July 11 2011 12:11 GMT
#2
You prefer AMD & ATI but you pick intel and nvidia. Thats kinda funny.
Besides that those are all old components which are no cheaper than the new once.
If you tell me which country you live in I might be able to help you.
GTR
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
51507 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-11 12:15:26
July 11 2011 12:15 GMT
#3
dunno why you'd buy a computer with outdated parts when you can buy a better (and newer) computer for much cheaper.
Commentator
Cmon
Profile Joined August 2010
38 Posts
July 11 2011 12:47 GMT
#4
I said someone pick that & it's not me & the computer not for me.
If I know, I wouldn't ask. I live in Indonesia, maybe the temperature in my friend's room's around 20-28 degrees

The requirement is only for playing HD movies & playing games like The Sims 3 (dunno if this require that great spec, I assume not that much?)
S.O.U.L
Profile Joined March 2011
Latvia149 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-11 13:09:41
July 11 2011 13:06 GMT
#5
if you really need like a media pc amd has the best option, cause theyre CPU's like amd athlon II x2 250 are totally capable of playing 1080p movies (there is no overheating on amd cpus!), and motherboards with am2+ or am3 which both supports the athlon II and phenom II CPU's are very cheep, and for a videocard, dont know if you want ati, maybe hd 5450 or hd4350 they are capable of that! for ram, dont really think that you would need more than 2GB, but 4GB is so cheap nowadays that you can get that too! for the psu it would not need more than 300w, so you can get them very cheap! for a case jsut go whats cheap and compatible with youre motherboard! you wont really need any coolers if youre not planning to overclock, and i think that for a media pc you wont need it! you could actually not buy a videocard and just use the integrated graphics, cause amd has the best integrated graphics on the market! if you dont believe me in that jsut watch this www.youtube.com, ofcourse it is outdated for about a year, but an amd athlon II x2 is a better choice then the more expensive old dual cores, that someone suggested to you, from intel! for a hardrive, just get something with 7200 rpm and you will be good to go!


EDIT:actually that kind of system would be capable of playing SC2 aswell, but on lowest ofcourse ^^

and this probalby would go out to like $200-$300 so yeah! and the guy who suggested that build to you is pretty bad, cause cmon what it was liek 500w psu? you dont need that much for such a system!
CezA
Cryhavoc
Profile Joined April 2010
372 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-11 13:24:16
July 11 2011 13:23 GMT
#6
19" for watching HD movie you are doing it wrong
Get a 24 or 22 inch atleast
En Taro Adun!
S.O.U.L
Profile Joined March 2011
Latvia149 Posts
July 11 2011 13:26 GMT
#7
On July 11 2011 22:23 Cryhavoc wrote:
19" for watching HD movie you are doing it wrong
Get a 24 or 22 inch atleast



that whole build is crappy :D and if you want to watch in 1080 p you should really get a full hd monitor, they aint that expensive if you get a good deal! a question from where are you ordering youre parts?
CezA
Elasticity
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
3420 Posts
July 11 2011 13:33 GMT
#8
just build a CPU first, then wait for any offer. My friend just bought a 27" monitor for 100 bucks. That was an limited offer. Well works totally fine for coding (for him). Also, just buy an i3-build. You can run sc2 on medium ^^ or even high graphics with some other settings on Low.
S.O.U.L
Profile Joined March 2011
Latvia149 Posts
July 11 2011 13:47 GMT
#9
On July 11 2011 22:33 Knightess wrote:
just build a CPU first, then wait for any offer. My friend just bought a 27" monitor for 100 bucks. That was an limited offer. Well works totally fine for coding (for him). Also, just buy an i3-build. You can run sc2 on medium ^^ or even high graphics with some other settings on Low.




do you even read? he needz the pc for watching 1080p movies! and an i3 can run on ultra aswell, it depends on the RAM and the GPU! and i3 would be an overkill for a media pc!
CezA
Cmon
Profile Joined August 2010
38 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-11 14:03:21
July 11 2011 14:01 GMT
#10
S.O.U.L's suggestion looking good.

About the monitor itself, maybe not full HD then?
About ordering the parts, actually maybe I just list it first then just give it to a pc shop to make one for me. Maybe I could make it by myself, but the cost shouldn't that much of a difference in my country (at least I hope so )

for the time being, probably I'll just use newegg to know the price.
Maybe now I'm thinking about this:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 7200 500GB : link
CORSAIR 4GB : link
Radeon HD 5450 512MB 64-bit DDR2: link
AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W :link
LG DVD burner: link
Mouse & keyboard logitech (probably around $25 for both)
Total so far: around $200

PSU (maybe from coolermaster?) 300-350 watt?
Monitor Samsung, how much is it for HD ready one (& ? inches?)
No idea about motherboard
Any other that I miss?
Speaker probably around $20-30?
Thoughts?

Thanks
Elasticity
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
3420 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-11 14:20:23
July 11 2011 14:05 GMT
#11
On July 11 2011 22:47 S.O.U.L wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 11 2011 22:33 Knightess wrote:
just build a CPU first, then wait for any offer. My friend just bought a 27" monitor for 100 bucks. That was an limited offer. Well works totally fine for coding (for him). Also, just buy an i3-build. You can run sc2 on medium ^^ or even high graphics with some other settings on Low.




do you even read? he needz the pc for watching 1080p movies! and an i3 can run on ultra aswell, it depends on the RAM and the GPU! and i3 would be an overkill for a media pc!

O.o don't you use logic that often?

he said he wanted to buy 19", which is "OMGWTFBBQ" for watching movie purpose. His build is, as many people already said, crappy. So I suggest him a 27" monitor with Full HD (which is 1080p o.o) and a better CPU with not much more price. And i3 isn't overkill, a late duo core with 2GB can easily not respond with 2 tabs of youtube in 1080p(already happened to me). Furthermore, if he doesn't use something a bit better than standard, he'll have to upgrade soon, that is just not efficient.

Plus, I said waiting for an offer of 27" monitor or just a 24" monitor would do because after that he could spent >$300 for CPU, enough for i3 build.

Well, anyway i3 is a bit high, but it will pay off in any way. I've seen my friends upgrade parts like him and then 1 year later, they have to upgrade again, that is just sad. You spend more now, later less. That's what I'm gonna going with. You get what you pay for
LetoAtreides82
Profile Joined January 2011
United States1188 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-11 14:18:18
July 11 2011 14:11 GMT
#12
HD movies are mostly reliant on the video card, not the CPU. You'd want a motherboard that has space for a good video card (they're huge), and you want to make sure you keep the case cool. And of course you would want a blu-ray drive, an HD soundcard, and software to play the movies, like TotalMedia Theatre 5.

Oh and if he does get a 24" monitor, he'd want to make sure he sits about 3 feet from the monitor as that would give him the full benefit of the 1080p resolution. Any closer and he'll start noticing individual pixels, and any farther and he'll start losing the 1080p resolution. If he sits about 5 feet away from the monitor he might as well buy a 720p monitor because there'd be no difference between the two.

The bigger the monitor, the farther he can sit from it and still have the full benefit of 1080p. See this chart for more info:
http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html
The spice must flow
Lwerewolf
Profile Joined August 2010
Bulgaria78 Posts
July 11 2011 14:16 GMT
#13
www.tftcentral.co.uk
www.flatpanelshd.com/
24'' at least. Since it's for movies only, 16:10 is not needed (still for w/e else get 16:10 unless it's 2560x1440 16 - that seems decent, otherwise vertical IS important). If you can, shell out for an IPS/PVA LCD monitor, check the reviews on those two sites. If you think TN is enough, just go to a showroom or something and see what you're missing. I'd start with this (~10ms input lag(that's low) + VA contrast/stuff sounds really awesome, especially for ~300-350$). Just search around for it - if it's bad or there are better/alternative options, they'll most likely show up
As for the PC - can't really help you with an HTPC (would most likely lie), however sites like AVSforum, OCN and hardforum are full on info for HTPCs. If you want to maybe play SC2 at low or smt like that just go for the recommended sc2@low builds - those are overkill for 1080p. If you're after the sound too - Xonar DG + a decent pair of headphones (NOT razer, search around, head-fi.org, for example) should be decent enough.
Cmon
Profile Joined August 2010
38 Posts
July 11 2011 14:18 GMT
#14
ah, no need for blu ray drive since my friend won't need it (just download the movie from random torrent sites).
the software probably just a free one, except coreavc (use a cracked one probably)

What's the range for a 22 inches monitor? (I saw 24" before, kinda too big imo if I use it regularly for browsing/playing games)
Madoga
Profile Joined January 2011
Netherlands471 Posts
July 11 2011 14:27 GMT
#15
For the pc itself, you might want to consider the new Llano from AMD which is a CPU+GPU. I didn't read that much about it so far, but from what I read it's good for watching HD content and has a very good price/performance ratio.
JingleHell
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States11308 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-11 15:12:56
July 11 2011 15:06 GMT
#16
Anandtech did an article about llano for HTPCs.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4479/amd-a83850-an-htpc-perspective

They concluded it isn't quite ready for the full HTPC experience, but then, they're also shooting for a higher standard than you might need possibly. I'd suggest skimming through here, seeing if you need it do do the things they dinged it for, and consider it a contender.

If it's not on par, a Sandy Bridge Pentium and a GT 430 might be a solid consideration.
S.O.U.L
Profile Joined March 2011
Latvia149 Posts
July 11 2011 15:45 GMT
#17
On July 11 2011 23:01 Cmon wrote:
S.O.U.L's suggestion looking good.

About the monitor itself, maybe not full HD then?
About ordering the parts, actually maybe I just list it first then just give it to a pc shop to make one for me. Maybe I could make it by myself, but the cost shouldn't that much of a difference in my country (at least I hope so )

for the time being, probably I'll just use newegg to know the price.
Maybe now I'm thinking about this:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 7200 500GB : link
CORSAIR 4GB : link
Radeon HD 5450 512MB 64-bit DDR2: link
AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W :link
LG DVD burner: link
Mouse & keyboard logitech (probably around $25 for both)
Total so far: around $200

PSU (maybe from coolermaster?) 300-350 watt?
Monitor Samsung, how much is it for HD ready one (& ? inches?)
No idea about motherboard
Any other that I miss?
Speaker probably around $20-30?
Thoughts?

Thanks



looks ok, but the ram is abig problem xD its laptop ram, but you will need desktop ram, so here you go, the parts you listen by yourself are ok, excwept the ram!
motherboard - link (you will be able to upgrade to more powerfull cpu's if you will have a need, but the ram is capped at 4gb!)
RAM - link
PSU - link
Case - link
monitor - choice #1, choice #2, choice #3, this pretty much depends on the size that you want!
speakers - link, 5.1 is the minimum you want for watching movies, cause it will deliver nice surround sound! i recommend putting speakers all over youre room (the small ones!), then it will sound even better (from my own experience!)
i guess i covered all over here ^^ just dont order the laptop ram xD but everything else you chose is pretty decent ^^
CezA
S.O.U.L
Profile Joined March 2011
Latvia149 Posts
July 11 2011 15:51 GMT
#18
On July 11 2011 23:27 Madoga wrote:
For the pc itself, you might want to consider the new Llano from AMD which is a CPU+GPU. I didn't read that much about it so far, but from what I read it's good for watching HD content and has a very good price/performance ratio.



linus from NCIX did some testing, it is ok with 1080p movies, but i dont really know if its reliable, as its pretty new, i would rather go standart! you never know, cause when he tested on youtube, the videos lagged a bit on fullscreen, so its barely capable of it, i think not sufficient enough!
CezA
JingleHell
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States11308 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-11 15:54:33
July 11 2011 15:53 GMT
#19
You're suggesting an iffy PSU.

Newegg feedback isn't your best bet for reviews, but that's a whole lot of DOA and warranty complaints, along with build quality complaints.

2GB of RAM is kind of pathetic these days, and bear in mind on the CPU, if you get that junk thing S.O.U.L is suggesting, you're going to be hurting on anything related to media encoding/transcoding. You know, kind of a reasonable task to expect your HTPC to be up to?
S.O.U.L
Profile Joined March 2011
Latvia149 Posts
July 11 2011 16:00 GMT
#20
On July 12 2011 00:53 JingleHell wrote:
You're suggesting an iffy PSU.

Newegg feedback isn't your best bet for reviews, but that's a whole lot of DOA and warranty complaints, along with build quality complaints.

2GB of RAM is kind of pathetic these days, and bear in mind on the CPU, if you get that junk thing S.O.U.L is suggesting, you're going to be hurting on anything related to media encoding/transcoding. You know, kind of a reasonable task to expect your HTPC to be up to?



actually the athlon II is a stable CPU for a home theather! lots of people have built systems and now can play games on low graphics, ofcourse, and they can watch full HD videos without any problem! even few of those builds are on youtube, dont know if theyre still there though! i think that 2GB is totally enough for watching movies at 1080p, if my dell inspiron 6400 c with a 1.73 dualcore, 1gb of ddr2 537 mhz ram, intel gma 450 64mb integrated graphics can play 1080p, then i would say that he will need no more! and as he said just a home theater pc, which means no massive stuff done on it, just movies! maybe some games as he said like sims 3, but that pc will be capable of it! whats the point of paying more for bigger ram, better graphics card, and more expensive CPU if he wont be needing that much power from his pc? but about the PSU i dont really think that theres too big of a difference between which you take in this occasion, cause he wont need much power for this build! but if you have better suggestions, youre welcome!
CezA
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