Rebuilding system

[Asus]

Currently I have my main PC on 24/7 with 2 TV tuners for capturing TV episodes. But with the summer heat coming and this machine using more power and hotter than my old PC, I would like to switch the tuners to my older PC since it runs cooler and uses less power.

One tuner is a PCI card and would be no problem. The other is PCI-Express but the motherboard in the old PC does not have any PCI-Express bus. So...

Do I buy another PCI tv tuner for $120 or buy a Socket 754 motherboard with PCI-Express for $50 for the TV card I already have?

Also, does anyone know of some quiet 80mm fans and a good fan controller?
The kingwin case (w/window) I am using has 5 stock sleeve fans which are pretty loud. Although I have a basic Antec case I may switch to since it does not have a window and therefore better insulated for sound.

Old PC:
CPU - A64 3000+
RAM - 2x512MB (1gb)
Mobo- MSI MS-7030
GPU - ATI Rage 128 AIW 16MB

EDIT
I'm leaning toward a new motherboard. $120 for a upgraded TV tuner (650 Pro) only gets me OTA digital (not QAM support) and slightly better analog quality over the 550 Pro cards I have. If it could pick up unencrypted digital signals over cable then it would be awesome.

But $50 for the board gets me the 1x PCI-Express slot for the other TV tuner I have plus a better GPU (6100 onboard passive), SATA 3.0 support over SATA 1.5 and a full 16x PCI-Express slot which my current one doesn't have.

Anyone have ASRock motherboards? How are they?

EDIT
I might make this into a HTPC project. I would have to pick up a different case and maybe a different HSF for the CPU.
The Lian Li PC-V800B looks really nice.
review

Would be a good excuse to use the 2 bay LCD I have laying around.

 

[Asus]

Yeah, I think I'm going to make an HTPC with some of my parts.
Wishlist

Already have:
A64 3000+ (SK754)
Thermalright XP-90 HS
Panaflo 90mm fan
Corsair 1GB DDR
ATI 550 PRO TV TUNER (PCI)
Powercolor 550 PRO TV TUNER (PCI-Express)
Beyond TV
Firefly (RF remote) with Beyond Media Basic.

I love this Antec NSK2400 case. The Antec Fusion is the same case but it has a small display, volume control and only 1 optical bay (covered). I can easily do a stealth mod if I put a DVD drive in the other case. Hopefully the Antec Tricool fans will be quiet enough. If not I'll pick up a couple yate loons or Scythe fans.

I have not bought the stuff yet. I'll probably drop the 8500GT for a cheaper video card that has Composite/S-Video/DVI output but without HDCP support. I don't own a HDTV and I won't be putting the lovely DRM OS known as Vista on there where HDCP support might come in handy. Plus the 550 Pro tuners will not be supported in Vista because they do not have any DRM in the hardware (650 Pro cards do).

 

[Link]

My last 2 MBs have been ASRocks. They are fantastic, with some really clever shit, such as AGP and PCI-E on the same board. They are not the fastest, but if its not for gaming, they are great (And they've served me fine for gaming, come to that)

However, if your looking to build a SFF HTPC, you might want to consider a dual tuner pci card, which are only a little more expensive, and save you using a second card, which is a great space saver. You can sell your old tuner on ebay to recoup the difference.

 

[Asus]

Thx for the feedback on ASRock boards. I'm undecided on this particular ASRock board because I'm confused what newegg is saying under specifications about the 16x slot. I'm still researching though.

The only other choices for S754 with a PCI-Express slot were Biostar (hate) and the Asus VIA board.

Going with the dual tuner card would be an option. And I can always pick that up later too. I've always heard good things about Hauppauge cards. But I don't require a new tuner since the case I'm picking up uses MicroATX boards and my old board is a full ATX board. So I do need a new motherboard anyway and both of my tuners (PCI + PCI Express 1x) I have now will work in the new board.

Checked reviews at Techreport and Anandtech and they both show the 550 pro's doing best for IQ. Probably just stick with what I got.

EDIT
Went ahead and bought this Motherboard, GPU, Case and 2 Fans.

 

[MRG]

I fully agree with Link. I love my ASRock 775Dual-VSTA mobo. Stable performance that allows me to use my older harder with newer hardware all in the same setup. (6800 Ultra AGP + DDR2 RAM + C2D CPU) Sure higher end mobo's might be better, but for the money, ASRock simply cannot be beat.

I'll be buying from then when I finally get new hardware. (In like 50 years if my wife has anything to say about it.)

Glad to see you got new hardware. Have you got it yet? Hows the performance?

I would like to humbly advise you to return the 8500 video card. It supports DX10, but it's performance is very poor. A client of mine wanted one & I showed him the performance of it & he soon realized that it would be in his best interest to save up a little more and get a better card.

Ask yourself this question:

Whats the point of having a card that supports DX10, if it's too weak to actually render the game thats in DX10?

-MRG

 

[Asus]

I fully agree with Link. I love my ASRock 775Dual-VSTA mobo. Stable performance that allows me to use my older harder with newer hardware all in the same setup. (6800 Ultra AGP + DDR2 RAM + C2D CPU) Sure higher end mobo's might be better, but for the money, ASRock simply cannot be beat.

I'll be buying from then when I finally get new hardware. (In like 50 years if my wife has anything to say about it.)

Glad to see you got new hardware. Have you got it yet? Hows the performance?

I would like to humbly advise you to return the 8500 video card. It supports DX10, but it's performance is very poor. A client of mine wanted one & I showed him the performance of it & he soon realized that it would be in his best interest to save up a little more and get a better card.

Ask yourself this question:

Whats the point of having a card that supports DX10, if it's too weak to actually render the game thats in DX10?

-MRG

Yeah, I got the stuff. The board and everything else works great.

The reason I got this 8500GT was because:
1)it was passively cooled so the media box would be as quiet as the other electronics by the TV.
2)it had outputs for Composite, S-Video, Component, VGA, DVI and HDMI (if I buy an adapter) so I could use it with any TV that I wanted. Analog, Digital or HDTV. (A lot of cheaper cards do have these too.)
3)it supports HDCP encryption unlike so many other cards. So if I wanted to buy a Blu-ray or HD-DVD drive I could play those formats without issue.

I think you are right, it is pretty low on performance for 3D. I mean I got it for less than $100. If I was going to play games on it as well then I would have got a different card. Although I didn't buy it for 3D performance or DX10. /shrug

 

[MRG]

I think you are right, it is pretty low on performance for 3D. I mean I got it for less than $100. If I was going to play games on it as well then I would have got a different card. Although I didn't buy it for 3D performance or DX10. /shrug

(Inserts foot into mouth)

Sorry Asus, didn't read that part about the PC being used for non-gaming activities. In which case, it should do very well for what you will be using it for.

-MRG