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Forums › HTPC › Opinion on secondhand HTPC


3 posts

Wannabe Geek
Topic # 110941 19-Oct-2012 21:43 Send private message

Hi guys

I have the opportunity to purchase a secondhand HTPC. From what I can see, if I price out the components of the build individually, this seems pretty good value - at least on first sight. It looks to be in good shape too - it's about a year old.

Components:

AMD fusion A6 3500 2.4 GHz
Gigabyte GA-A75M-D2H - USB3, HDMI
4 GB DDR3 ram 
Radeon HD 6530 graphics
Windows 7 home 64 bit.
Blu-ray player DVD writer
Media center remote
TP-link wireless N internal card
Hauppauge hvr-4400 tv card
1TB hard drive WD black
Antec NSK 2480 htpc case.

Price is $700.

Worthwhile do you reckon?

Thanks in advance
Duncan

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3 posts

Wannabe Geek
  Reply # 703978 20-Oct-2012 12:17 Send private message

About to pull the trigger - anyone want to attempt to persuade me otherwise? :p

692 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber
  Reply # 704377 21-Oct-2012 18:10 Send private message

not sure this is much help.  I have same case.  I had AMD 640 cpu using onboard video and then tried with nvidia and ati video card with hauppuage 2200 and 3000 and also tried avermedia trinity tuners.  Always got pixelation. Couldnt fix it.   Then went with everything the same except intel i3-2120 still no good for uhf freeview. In both times satellite excellent.    Anyway I wanted quieter. I now have same tuners but AMD A4-3400 processor using onchip video.  Excellent, no more pixelation on UHF freeview. (touch wood).  With AMD cool and quiet it is silent. couldnt get the others silent and I am using stock cooler and fan.  I would say the A6 would be excellent as well.  As far as I am concerned from my experience the AMD Fusion series make excellent HTPC systems.




HTPC AMD A4-5300 cpu, Gigabyte ga2fa75m-d3h motherboard, , 4GB DDR3 ram, onboard  graphics. Hauppuage HVR 3300 tuner,  Antec 2480B case, Windows 7 home premium 64 bit using media center



3 posts

Wannabe Geek
  Reply # 704380 21-Oct-2012 18:14 Send private message

Thanks for this - hopefully all good then!

Cheers
Duncan

1844 posts

Uber Geek
  Reply # 715330 10-Nov-2012 22:16 Send private message

Won't comment on price, but the specs should be fine for HTPC and 1080i Live TV. with smooth DXVA.

The commend above is not relevant to you because you wont be using the onboard gpu.

The Antek NSK2480 is a really noisy case. The fans are really really loud at full speed, so you should either use a Y-adapter with a variable voltage control header on the motherboard or buy some inline fan resister cables to redyce the fan speed. Both can be bought from dx.com for around $2-2.50 incl P&P. Not sure how much of the NSK2480 fan noise is due to the PSU, which would be more difficult to silence.




HTPC - Intel i3-2100 / 12GB / 13TB Storage / HD4670 / HVR2200 / Win 7 x64 + MediaPortal 1.3 Final
PC - Intel e8600 / 8GB / HD5830 / Win7 x64

16696 posts

Uber Geek

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Subscriber
  Reply # 715359 11-Nov-2012 07:22 Send private message

It took AMD 5 years since Freeview launched, but they finally fixed their drivers early this year so they would finally work properly with H.264 interlaced content. I never recommended anybody go near AMD cards for Freeview|HD, but now use a Fusion board myself and it works well.

IMHO nVidia still offer better deinterlacing, but at least the AMD cards are now usable, something that hasn't been the case in the past.




*Need help configuring your Linksys ATA or IP Phones for New Zealand? Check my blog post

1844 posts

Uber Geek
  Reply # 715361 11-Nov-2012 07:35 Send private message

been using amd since freeview launched and havn't had any major driver issue related h264 problems. But have had issues with nvidia 8600GT and h264 in the past.




HTPC - Intel i3-2100 / 12GB / 13TB Storage / HD4670 / HVR2200 / Win 7 x64 + MediaPortal 1.3 Final
PC - Intel e8600 / 8GB / HD5830 / Win7 x64

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