3 months ago, I had to build a new HTPC and the specs are as follows:
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ASUS M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core black edition
2 x Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply
I'm using onboard video and sound
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I am now building a second PC since I need another system and the specs for this second machine are below:
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ASUS M4A78-E AM2+/AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD
AMD Phenom 9950 Agena 2.6GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit
Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply
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As you can see, the MB's are almost the same with some minor differences. The CPU's are both black editions with the latter being a quad core. Lastly, the memory frequency and size are different.
My question to fellow HTPC builders is, should I keep the dual core cpu in its original system or throw in the new quad core when it comes in? Would it be overkill and the 2 extra cores won't give me much improvement?
To further help answer this, my HTPC runs Vista Premium 64 bit, Symantec Ghost, Symantec Endpoint Protection, a silicon image controller (java based raid 5 program), and MyMovies (program to watch ripped DVDs off a hard drive). If more information is needed, please let me know.
It depends what you do.
For example, I like to game, and play newer games, so i got the PII x4 955. Works great for WHAT I USE IT FOR.
Though if your just surfin' the net and what not, playing slightly lower end games, a dual core would be fine.
It depends what you do.
For example, I like to game, and play newer games, so i got the PII x4 955. Works great for WHAT I USE IT FOR.
Though if your just surfin' the net and what not, playing slightly lower end games, a dual core would be fine.
This thing is strictly an HTPC. It's hooked up to a tv and I watch DVDs and record tv with it. I was using it to encode video files to various formats but noticed some stuttering/slow response while watching video in Vista Media Center. So, I'll probably stop doin that and use the quad core setup for that purpose too.