Upgrade or dedicated PC?

[Boondy]

Hi All,

I have just setup GameEx on my system, and thanks to some help from the forum, it is now working perfectly.

I am planning on upgrading my existing PC, but thought i might get some suggestions before i go ahead with anything.

GameEx and Media Centre both work fine, however as i use my PC for other tasks which run constantly, every now and again Media Centre lags a bit at the menus and very occasinally while watching video.

My current setup is as follows:

P4 3GB Processor

1GB DDR 333 RAM

2 x 300 GB EIDE HDD's (OS and Data)

1x 400 GB SATA HDD (Most Video and Audio located here)

NVidea GFORCE FX 5200

Creative SB Audoligy 2 ZS Soundcard

Monitor 1 - 22" Samsung LCD Monitor (using Analogue port)

Monitor 2 - 42" Panasonic Plasma HDTV, running through HDMI port back to PC (using DVI on PC)

I was thinking about the following upgrades:

Pentium Dual core Processor

2GB DDR2 RAM

2 x 400 GB SATA HDD's (to use for all data and OS, in conjunction with exisiting SATA HDD)

128MB PCI-E Dual DVI Video Card (havent decided on model yet)

I have already spent considerable time (and money) on my exisitng PC, so i would prefer to upgrade it rather than buy a new dedicated system just for media centre. However, if I will be better off with a dedicated system, then i might do that instead.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

[mec11]

from your description it looks like you are replacing almost everything... does your current mobo support dual core?

also as that is most likely your most expensive part (maybe the graphics card) look into if dual core will actually help you any... ie read articles about multitasking with a dual core. I have not read up on them too much myself so I can not offer advise on that frount.

where I game and where I have my gameex machine are in two different places so it was a no brainer for me. I originally used a old 900mhz puter that just did not cut it so I recently built the below machine in my sig for about $300 (including a 250gb hd that is not listed, but the graphics card was taken from the old machine).

Runs n64 4 player & ps1 games just fine. I have not tried some of the harder to emulate mame games yet.

[Tom Speirs]

Hi All,

I have just setup GameEx on my system, and thanks to some help from the forum, it is now working perfectly.

I am planning on upgrading my existing PC, but thought i might get some suggestions before i go ahead with anything.

GameEx and Media Centre both work fine, however as i use my PC for other tasks which run constantly, every now and again Media Centre lags a bit at the menus and very occasinally while watching video.

My current setup is as follows:

P4 3GB Processor

1GB DDR 333 RAM

2 x 300 GB EIDE HDD's (OS and Data)

1x 400 GB SATA HDD (Most Video and Audio located here)

NVidea GFORCE FX 5200

Creative SB Audoligy 2 ZS Soundcard

Monitor 1 - 22" Samsung LCD Monitor (using Analogue port)

Monitor 2 - 42" Panasonic Plasma HDTV, running through HDMI port back to PC (using DVI on PC)

I was thinking about the following upgrades:

Pentium Dual core Processor

2GB DDR2 RAM

2 x 400 GB SATA HDD's (to use for all data and OS, in conjunction with exisiting SATA HDD)

128MB PCI-E Dual DVI Video Card (havent decided on model yet)

I have already spent considerable time (and money) on my exisitng PC, so i would prefer to upgrade it rather than buy a new dedicated system just for media centre. However, if I will be better off with a dedicated system, then i might do that instead.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

To be honest with a system like you have already I am surprised you have any performance issues, maybe it the dual display output thats slowing stuff down and you just need a better video card, because I have a similar system spec (but on AMD) here with MCE and GameEx and I do other stuff on it. Seems to fly to me.

EDIT: I think a dedicated PC for home theatre use is a must, really not to clever running a secondary display in my opionion, so I would just get a cheapish but new/modern pc purely for your plasma.

EDIT2: Something though that people forget is it costs a lot in energy bills to run a PC all year round, about £100 for me.

[mec11]

EDIT2: Something though that people forget is it costs a lot in energy bills to run a PC all year round, about  £100 for me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've got mine set to go to standby when I press the power button... that or setting up the power saver settings (or whatever they are called) to go to standby. Its not ready to go at a click of a button but is quicker than booting up (but obviously when using windows reboots are a neccesity). My 2 cents on that matter.

[Ricci]

I've got mine set to go to standby when I press the power button... that or setting up the power saver settings (or whatever they are called) to go to standby. Its not ready to go at a click of a button but is quicker than booting up (but obviously when using windows reboots are a neccesity). My 2 cents on that matter.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dedicated all the way! One purpose, one function is always best....!