Rec for good current hardware?

[popechild]

I built my server about 2 years ago, and while it does the job, it's pretty borderline at 3500+ cpu, 1gb ram, nvidia 6150 board. I'm using a 8500gt video card. I feel it's time for a refresh though - I've had some freezing issues and just think I need to give myself more headroom for processing power on hd-pvr playback and the like. I'm totally out of the loop on current hardware though. My cheapest option is probably to just find a faster cpu, but it'd have to be a 939, which I think I'd have to find used somewhere.

If I don't get another 939 cpu, I assume I'm probably going to end up needing a new mobo, cpu, and ram. Any recommendations on good mATX combinations that won't break the bank but will get me more up to speed (pun intended)? And should I still be good with the 8500gt, or are there video cards much better out now? If so, what advantage would they give me over the 8500gt?

Thanks for any suggestions - I didn't see a pre-existing recent thread about this, so if I missed it just point me in the right direction.

[QueOnda]

Only a GIG of RAM. You need to max that puppy out. That would be a cheap temp fix.

Fry's ads has some inexpensive computers with dual processors starting at 300 bucks.

[Clift]

Originally Posted by popechild

I built my server about 2 years ago, and while it does the job, it's pretty borderline at 3500+ cpu, 1gb ram, nvidia 6150 board. I'm using a 8500gt video card. I feel it's time for a refresh though - I've had some freezing issues and just think I need to give myself more headroom for processing power on hd-pvr playback and the like. I'm totally out of the loop on current hardware though. My cheapest option is probably to just find a faster cpu, but it'd have to be a 939, which I think I'd have to find used somewhere.

If I don't get another 939 cpu, I assume I'm probably going to end up needing a new mobo, cpu, and ram. Any recommendations on good mATX combinations that won't break the bank but will get me more up to speed (pun intended)? And should I still be good with the 8500gt, or are there video cards much better out now? If so, what advantage would they give me over the 8500gt?

Thanks for any suggestions - I didn't see a pre-existing recent thread about this, so if I missed it just point me in the right direction.

Okay here's the deal:
Random crashes can be due to a lot of things. I would reinstall the OS (I assume XP here, not Vista). If you still have them, the next culprit could be your RAM or HDD are dying, but that's a bit less likely. Once you have a fresh install, reinstall the codecs and drivers you want and ONLY those. Leave the extra bloatware out. Then reinstall Sage and do the set up and don't touch it. With a 3500+ you should have enough power for a server/client. With the 8500GT you should have enough horsepower to do hardware h.264 acceleration. I was doing this with an Athlon 3000+ single core 939 and a GeForce 8400GS. I ended up upgrading to an 8600GT because I thought my jitters during the Olympics were due to the card not having enough memory throughput (64-bit memory vs 128-bit). It turns out it was a combination of the ArcSoft decoder and the Sage Demux. Your rig could use some more memory but I think you can get by. I had 2 GB and it was dual channel. If your 1 GB is dual channel (2 512MB sticks) you're fine. If not, I would upgrade to another 1 GB stick. Make sure your new memory is the same specs as your existing one. I have heard horror stories and stability issues with having different memories (CAS latency, 1 or 2 sided, etc).

What you want to do is set your client to Overlay, no FSE and use the ArcSoft Decoder for h.264 and use the NVIDIA Purevideo OR the sage MPEG decoder (with DXVA) for MPEG-2. This should work fine for you. With the micro jitters I spoke of, I get smooth playback if I set the H.264 decoder to Cyberlink using the latest Demux but it's still in Beta and not quite as stable as the release version.

If you really want to upgrade, I suggest getting an AMD 780G chipset. It comes with the ATi HD3200 graphics built in so you could save some power there. The built in video has HDMI out with sound or most boards come with optical S/PDIF out. For the money you also get eSATA, and Firewire on most boards as well. That card will be able to do full hardware decode of h.264 and MPEG2. If you get a new MB, Proc and Mem, be sure you get a dual core (I know, duh) and slap Vista on there. That way, you can take advantage of EVR with DXVA.

[CollinR]

My vote is P5B or IP35 and Q6600, keep the 8500.

The problem with the AMD side is the northbridges on the mainboards. I don't have any problems with AMD cpus.

Originally Posted by QueOnda

Only a GIG of RAM. You need to max that puppy out. That would be a cheap temp fix.

Fry's ads has some inexpensive computers with dual processors starting at 300 bucks.

I haven't ever used more then 1GB even though I have 2.

[popechild]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I definitely need to do a full OS re-install cleaning, but I think with my 3500+/8500 combination I'm just a little too close to the ceiling at times for comfort. Usually it does fine, but if I'm trying to watch h.264 hd locally, while also streaming HD to extenders, it can start to cause stuttering. I'm assuming that's a cpu issue. I also have absolutely no ability to do HD (even mpeg 2) commercial detection on the machine while anyone's watching anything anywhere. Finally, this is honestly a last gasp effort to hang onto the system at all - the WAF has been dropping like a rock lately due to all the problems we've had with the HD PVR. (So I'm also contemplating a switch to the r5000 - we have Dish). I can't say that I blame here when she has to call me every week or two to ask why she's getting a "signal not found" error, or why the audio is so out of sync, or why it's freezing and she has to completely reboot it. Honestly, the HD PVR has been a nightmare. When it works, it works great, but one or two failures every two weeks isn't good enough if I've got family using it who don't know how to debug it.

So I'm willing to spend a little more to give one last shot at a more bullet-proof system that i can just leave alone and get 99% positive runtime from.

What do you guys think of the ASUS P5N7A based on the nvidia 9300? I'm thinking about that with a E5200 processor and 2gb of RAM. Looks like all together it would cost me about $230 for the upgrade, which isn't terrible all things considered. That's assuming I stick with all my other same components (and XP as the OS).

If I do get a 9300 board (or a 780g for that matter), am I better off keeping the 8500 (which is DVI only) or going with the onboard hdmi video? Especially on the 9300 I love the 7.1 hdmi audio capability and not having to use spdif anymore...

Thanks again.