PVR Upgrade

[Barry Roberts]

Mike Lovell wrote:
> Alex Esplin wrote:
>> On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 6:58 PM, Joshua Lutes <joshua at lutes.me> wrote:
>>  
>>> Processor: 
>>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116064
>>>
>>> Do they seem like good things to be purchasing?  T
>>>     
>>
>> Stay FAR away from Celeron processors.  Bad news.  Even an older P4
>> would be a better buy than any Celeron.
> I agree with staying away from Celeron processors. If you are looking 
> for a bang for the buck processor and are set on getting an Intel one, 
> I would recommend getting a Pentium Dual-Core or a cheap Core 2. The 
> lower end Athlon processors cost roughly the same as the Celeron that 
> you listed but will still give better performance.
>
I second that.
> The bigger recommendation from me would be to avoid PCChips for 
> motherboards. I haven't used them in a couple of years so my 
> experience might be a little out of date. But they had a bad track 
> record of failures and combination of all around badness a few years 
> ago. If you want to get a Intel processor, then I would recommend 
> getting a motherboard with an Intel Chipset. I have rather good luck 
> with ASUS motherboards. This looks like a decent option for a few 
> dollars more 
> (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131288)
>
I STRONGLY second that.  It's also been a few years for me, but the last 
2 PCChips mobos I had were utter crap.
> As for the case, it looks like a decent option. In my opinion, as long 
> as it holds the guts together and doesn't look like butt then it is a 
> alright. There are extra features available in them that are just gravy.
>
Here we diverge a bit.  If you want a quality, quiet PS, I doubt you can 
get it for that price.  My recommendation is don't skimp on the PS for a 
PVR.  Get a decent rated quiet PS separately (ThermalTake, 
PCPower&cooling, etc. with lots of good ratings on newegg).

Also, I thought a VFD was stupid when I bought my htpc case.  Now I 
REALLY wish I had one.  If you do music, you can select it without 
turning the TV on.  I have a DLP TV, and I don't want to waste my bulb 
browsing music lists when I could do that with the remote and a VFD.  
But that  may not be an issue for you.

My tuppence,
Barry