Socket 775 HTPC

[beardyboy]

Hi,
I'm thinking about putting together a 'Frankenstein's monster' HTPC (from a bunch of spare parts). I have a socket 775 motherboard, 4GB DDR2 RAM, HD5450 1GB, HDDs and some TV cards.

I only have a Core2 E4400 (2GHz), I've been looking at the E8600 and the Q6600, which one do you think I should get for full 1080p 3D playback?

 

[rwpritchett]

Any of those CPU's will work just fine. The E4400 might be the better choice to keep temps down though. If you plan to game on this HTPC, the faster dual or the quad would be more ideal.

 

[daswilhelm]

just keep the e4400, upgrading the CPU isnt going to change anything as far as video playback. that would depend on your GPU.

 

[nukemaster]

unless you have a HD tv card. not many of those that will work with the HD content protection, HD may be out.

Bluray will be just fine with that setup, but I am not sure if that card will support the 3D part.

 

[pauls3743]

I would put together what you have and then troubleshoot. The HD5450 should handle most of the blu-ray playback, but I don't know what card you would need to go to get 3D. Although 3D has been around for a while the providers of it haven't really settled on a common standard so you'll need to look at what each provider offers and go from there.

 

[beardyboy]

Thanks for your help, I'll just put it together and see what happens. Any gaming on this machine will likely be old console emulators.