Computer Question - PCI Bus compatibility & older computer as media server

[Chainsaw_Willie]

I have an old P4 3.2ghz computer laying around that's pretty bare-bones and thought i might put it to use as a media server. Has an Asus p5pe-vm motherboard in it with 2gb RAM. This mobo also has 5 channel audio built in. Specs for this board say it has 3 pci expansion slots and two SATA ports. This computer has a 230gb e-ide hard drive in it currently which should be big enough to hold a lot of MP3s.

As this is an older computer (like 5 or 6 years) I'm guessing the PCI and SATA are whatever the original spec for these technologies was.

I can get a new Asus PCI express 2.0 graphics card with HDMI output for $25. Will this card be compatible with the slots on this mobo?

I can also get a new Blu-Ray player for $50 with a SATA interface.

Any reason why adding a new graphics card and the blu-ray player won't give me what I need to watch DVDs on a 1080p TV and listen to music through my stereo using this older computer? Is the bus or processor on this mobo too slow for this?

[ARL67]

Points to Ponder:

- be sure to flash the BIOS with the most recent available from ASUS.
- old hard drives are slower than new hard drives drives.
- for audio, you will want digital-out ( spdif or hdmi via your new graphics card ) going into your receiver or pre/pro.
- analog out of your PC will totally blow sonic-wise, may be prone to static, hum, etc.
- your CPU is probably single-core.

All things considered with an old PC, I doubt you will get quality playback.

The cheapest brand-new computer you can buy ( < $400 ) will run circles around your old PC.
And it will be running Windows 7 - a modern, very stable OS, and probably come with a 500gb as standard.

I wouldn't spend a nickel on the old PC for a media server.
Put the money you were going to spend on parts towards a new box.

- Andy

[bern43]

PCI-e cards won't work in PCI slots. You could probably get it to work with a pci card but it won't be that great on the playback. And you'd likely need to spend a bit more than $25 on the videocard. What asus videocard are you looking at?

In the end its probably not worth dumping money into the old computer when new stuff that is much better is pretty cheap. Depends on your budget though.

[RShea]

Your board will only handle AGP or PCI video cards. AGP cards are still out there and available. As bern43 stated you can't use any PCI-Express cards since they are newer style slot and not at all compatible with PCI card slots. So a new motherboard (and probably new memory and CPU too) would be required if you want to use any PCI-Express video card. Also remember that there are PCI-Express 16 slots used for most higher end video cards today and PCI-Express article worth reading is:http://www.directron.com/expressguide.html

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Meh. I'm on a really tight budget, was hoping that with a couple cheap upgrades I could make this machine work.

Windows XP is plenty stable. Probably the most stable OS I've ever run. That old machine was my daily driver for over 5 years and I never had any OS related problems except for the one time I got a virus. Spent a few hours reformatting/reinstalling windows and problem solved. It was just too slow for video editing which is why I finally upgraded.

Number of processor cores is a non-issue when simply playing a DVD or listening to music. In fact, the processor is hardly doing anything at all, the DVD drive is just passing the signal off to the video card when watching movies and the audio chips are doing all the work when listening to music off the hard drive or off a CD. Media player apps are typically not multi-core enabled because they simply don't have to be.

The machine I'm typing this on right now is in my bedroom. It has all the capacity needed and then some to be a media pc but not sure how I could control it from the living room where the TV & audio stuff is and don't want to do my surfing & e-mail from the living room most of the time. It would be embarrassing to be fapping to midget porn on a 42" screen when the pizza delivery guy comes to the door.

Would a wireless keyboard & mouse be able to transmit through the wall into my room? Is it possible to use both the wired keyboard & mouse I have now AND a wireless setup? If that would work, I could just run a video cable through the wall to the TV and control the computer with the wireless components when I'm out in the living room.

[bern43]

I'm not sure on the wireless stuff. But I may have an older video card that you could have for shipping if you want. It's either AGP or PCI. I'll find it tonight and edit this post with the info.

Edit: couldn't find the card. Sorry.

[Canada Guy]

I'm betting any AGP/PCI videocard will be unable to decode 720p let alone 1080. I tried this a while back prior to a few iterations of what is now my current media pc and I could never get smooth playback of HD content.

A cheap Intel Core 2 Duo would work just fine if you found a board with integrated video. Something with a nvdia 8400/9400 integrated would run blueray perfectly.

I have no idea what your budget is but here is a pretty barebones build that would play 720/1080p without issue. If you repurpose your old power supply and hard drive this would come out to $184 US. You might even be able to do a bit better if you scoured ebay. Then if you decide you want blue ray its a relatively cheap add-on later.

One thing to keep in mind is HDCP compatibility in the GPU. For blueray to playback properly you need an HDCP compliant card which is basically just complaince with security features on blueray. Blueray wasn't around when AGP/PCI cards were the norm so I'm betting they will not be compatible.

Motherboard w integrated gpu - $114
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813500041

Memory $12 x2 = $24
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820178153

CPU - $46
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116348

[RShea]

Chainsaw- first question is how are you planning on connecting the TV- HDMI is pretty popular way, but very few AGP video cards have HDMI ports on them since it is older technology. There maybe a few PCI video cards that do- but PCI is the oldest and slowest of the 3 bus slots out there. OK for a picture slide show or whatever- weak for say playing Blu-ray or HD stuff at a high resolutions.

As for the keyboard- there are a few ways to handle this. First there are a couple of keyboard/mouse extensions out there that probably would allow wired keyboard in the other room. If you have PS2 (round keyboard and mouse ports) you could also try a wireless USB keyboard and mouse- but infrared (like is used in TV remotes etc.) probably will not go through any wall even to the next room. Probably until you test it there is no sure way of saying it will or will not work. There are too many variables- the type of wall materials, distance, type of wireless keyboard (bluetooth is out there too besides the standard infrared). USB distance is supposed to by 15 ft max, but you could try a USB powered hub and maybe get the wireless receiver of the keyboard/mouse on the other side of the wall you take the video cable through.

I understand that you want to reuse the old computer- and you probably could if VGA signal and all was OK or if you just wanted to do music and basic stuff, but if you want high end video stuff then you may be disappointed and chasing money down an upgrade path.

[summit]

I had an inherited P4 3Ghz /w a DVI AGP card that I made my media server. It worked fine as a print/audio/SD video player and alright as a file server, but it didn't really have the power to do HD.

When I upgraded laptops, I turned my old core duo laptop and dock into my media server DVI->HDMI 46" tv and SPDIF to my receiver + wireless keyboard/mouse. Using less than 1/20th the power of a desktop saves me money over time for sure and it is smaller and dead quiet. The whole setup would cost ~$300 if you wanted to buy similar and throw in a BluRay. Maybe as low as $250.

[ey_allen]

Lots of good info here, but just wanted to add that if you want to play back blu-ray your PC will need to support HDCP. This likely means you will need a newer video card, as well as software to play this back. I spent a lot of time mucking with mine to get it to look good, but a standalone player will likely still give you the best quality.

If you are serious about wanting a media box that will actually work, I'm in Seattle and can help you get something setup.

[jfost]

the cheap logitec wireless keyboard/mouse package has a little wired receiver that plugs in, on mine the cable is about 6' long, so you could theoretically run that through the wall next to your video cable and use the wireless keyboard/mouse in the living room. I think you could have a wired setup in the bedroom that would override the wireless for inputs if you put it on a USB hub.

Oh nm, what RShea said above...

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Thanks for all the input.

There is some guy on a PC forum telling me it will work fine with this video card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161318

$75 for the card and another $50 for the blu-ray player... I dunno. would be a big waste of money if it didn't work. Think I'll wait 'til after I get the TV and see how my budget is around the first of the year.

[RShea]

From a look at the specifications and connections on that card- yes it may in fact work fine and be a solution if you have your heart set on using the existing board. I have never heard of the brand (HIS) but it is based on the ATI video chipset.

[Snow Dog]

I've found the biggest expense of a computer is the case and power supply these days. Most new MBs have HDMI and 5 channel sound for the price of a graphics card. The older power supplies don't support overclocking but that's not needed. I might even have some AGP cards lying around from a computer where the MB became intermittent but I can't check until tomorrow.

[RShea]

There are tons of used AGP video cards on EBay etc. but many of them do not have the HDMI port or capabilities of handling Blu-Ray HDCP. So he is back to what resolution will be driving the TV and how important is Blu-Ray for this media server. You can pick up a basic case and power supply (400 or 450 watts) for $60 or so and if you don't care about the quality and looks, deals for less than that like this:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=6023G&cat=CAS

Major expense still tends to be hard disk drive(s) and decent CPU and higher end video cards, as well as the price of Windows if you go that route vs Linux OS for your build.