turning old Dell into a multimedia PC

[barlowc]

My father has a Dell Dimension 4600C desktop computer that recently hit "end-of-life" when the motherboard died. Because the computer was 8 (or more) years old anyway, he decided to upgrade and purchased a new Dell Inspiron 660.

The old 4600C is a slimline case and I was thinking about trying to "bring it back to life" and build a multimedia that I can connect to a TV and use to stream Netflix, etc. It looks like I can get a new motherboard for under $30 and assuming that is the only problem, I can get it back up and running with the following specs:

Pentium 4 2.6 GHz
2 GB RAM (which is the maximum)
80 GB HDD (ATA 100, EIDE, 7200 RPM)

I think Windows 7 with Windows Media Center will run sufficiently and that's really all I'd have installed and running. I'd then need to find a low-profile video card that I could send video+sound out on via HDMI.

What do you guys think? Worthwhile effort, or too old/slow to make useful for this?

 

[SLCraig]

That is a tad too slow for any real HD/multimedia use.
The good news is, you still dont need anything too modern to do what you need.
I am currently looking at a Core2Duo which for the price/performance is right in the sweet spot for a cheap HTPC build.

Actually considering just a prebuilt and saving myself some money.

 

[barlowc]

Originally Posted By: SLCraig
That is a tad too slow for any real HD/multimedia use.

I wonder if there's a faster motherboard/processor combo that will fit in that case? I generally hate proprietary, slimline cases like that. But in this case, it would lay on it's side and look similar to an Xbox on the shelf of an AV stand.

 

[Pajamarama]

Yes, I think you could make it work. Full HD (1080p) would be a stretch, but anything under that might be usable.

What you really need is a fast and supported graphics card. That is going to be the main constraint for a HTPC machine.

I was planning to do basically the same thing with an old machine using a Linux version of HTPC software called Myth TV.

Link here: http://www.mythtv.org

 

[yesthatsteve]

A discrete graphics card will also require a stronger power supply. Small form factor PSUs generally cost a bit more than standard ATX.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Pajamarama
I was planning to do basically the same thing with an old machine using a Linux version of HTPC software called Myth TV.

XBMC is another option worth considering.

I was initially planning on running XBMC on a small Intel Atom-based box, but in the end, decided it would struggle too much. Ended up buying a lower end Dell machine in a slim tower case based on Pentium Dual Core E5300 and ATI Radeon 4350. It's not a speed demon by today's standards, but XBMC runs smoothly and plays 1080p with room to spare.

 

[BearZDefect]

In my opinion, it is not worth putting time and new hardware around a Pentium 4. You have to pass the Pentium 4 generations altogether to reach worthwhile territory.