Building a HTPC from an old PC - the right GPU

Hello everyone,

so I remembered that I have a old mobo with RAM and a CPU from my old PC. It's an Asus P5K-SE, with 4GB of DDR2 RAM and a Q8200 2.33GHz Quad Core CPU.

I'm planning to build a HTPC out of it (a really big one when looking at the mobo's size) and I'm sure about this current hardware, a quad core cpu and 4 gigs of ram will hopefully be enough to run Kodi.

My question is.: because I'm short on cash, I'm looking for a NVidia GT 6/7 series. I'm trying to decide between a GT730 (with a fan) and a GT630 (without a fan) for around the same price (±30€). Because it's a HTPC, I'm trying to keep the noise down, and then I want the GT630, but, being afraid of too low perfomance, I think of the GT730.

Please, if somebody can try to help me decide which one I should get and why, also please recommend if there's a better gpu for this price range.

Also, I'm not looking into something futureproof. NOTE: I'm not going to run anything higher than 1080p.

Also, are those components supported by LibreELEC?

Thanks in advance.

Quote from JohnBoyz

I now use a $40 ARM device which runs Kodi fine.

No need for cooling and no noise.

Tiny size so easy position.

I had previously built a new HTPC and regretted how much I spent on it.

I later used an old Dell dual core Pentium machine saved from the dump, as the backend, with the wee ARM device as the client at the TV.

You might be better served using the old PC as a server/NAS/backend for holding media files and maybe tuners - no need for any good graphics for that either and it can generally be managed remotely so it could be put out of the way where its size and noise won't interfere.

Display More

Well, firstly I wanted to use RPi3, seemed liked the best way, but, in my country people are selling those for such an unreasonable price (and only RPis are sold here, nothing else of that kind), and when you actaully see how much I would spend on the gpu and psu for the old pc, it's much cheaper than buying a RPi, sure, RPi has other fuctions than just being used as a Kodi device, but that's all I need right now.

And I really don't need something to hold my stuff on a network, got one TV in the whole house so I don't really need anything special in that kind.

I really appreciate your answer!

Quote from smp

Get a Raspberry Pi 3 B+.

Why not import it from China for a reasonable price? Way better option than buying a crappy videocard for a crappy PC

Raspberry Pi 3B+ is a great choice if you don't need 4K.

Nah, need to wait too long for it, also, whenever I ordered something from China it was never what I actually ordered... but still, buying it here you get ONLY the board, now, you have to get a non-knockoff power supply for it, also a quality SD card (if u want it smooth)... and again the price goes much higher than a gpu and a psu.

Quote from harrym

For fully supported HDMI output (with 1920x1080 px = Full HD) you need at least AMD Radeon HD 5xxx (or above) or nVidia GT 2xx (or above).

Ideal are (TDP < 20W - passive cooling) HD 5450, HD 6450, GT 210, GT 710, GT 720.

Pentium Q8200 is more than sufficient.

4 GB DDR2 too.

My experience confirms, that for everything in full HD is enough Core 2 Duo 2,66+ GHz or Core Quad 2,33+ GHz (more powerful is of course not a fault :-).

Those CPUs can suprisingly with Libreelec handle common H265 HDR streams too (only up to full HD, of course - no 2k or 4k videos!).

1GB of system memory is fully suficient.

I am using Intel G31+E8400, 1GB DDR2 800, Radeon HD 5450 1GB DDR2 (complete consumption at the wall - idle 38W, burn 66W).

i am using it with small pico PSU (10 USD) and home-made 12V/8A switching supply (from spare part - 7 USD).

From second-hand components this can be completed very cheaply.

Now I am preparing new Librelec machine for friends - I bought old ITX board with Celeron 1037U (for 12 USD) with HDMI output.

Display More

Thanks, that's the info I needed!

Oh well, that's sad to hear.

But, if it's true that harrym says that's it's going to be actual in 2020, I'm not really worried. That's a whole year ahead.