At 11:04 AM 2/28/2007, you wrote:
It should be fine, was more a poke at the how hot the P4s run, although
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the CPU gave out more heat then a
passive 7600gs, especially for the uses a HTPC sees.
I have seen many people run P4s and the old socket A Athlons, even in
those very slimline HTPC cases and haven't seen any overheating issues
yet. If your just watching TV and DVDs you aren't going to be pushing
the components to their limits.
I would look for any power saving features on the motherboard though,
they can be great for HTPCs.
Regards,
Jason Tozer
Might want to watch out if you're ffdshow-ing your DVDs though. The post
processing can get a little taxing. If you're concerned about playing back
HD content, you could try playing back a few test files. Here's what I use :
Chronicles of Narnia - QT HD 1080p
Spiderman 3 Trailer - QT HD 1080p
Step into Liquid - WMD HD 1080p
Dead or Alive 4 Promo - WMV HD
If these play back fine, you should be good to go. Given the cost of an AGP
vs. PCI-E 7600, you may also want to consider shifting to a single-core A64
PCI-E platform. IINM, it'll perform better and end up running cooler than your
current P4, although nothing will come close to a Core 2 or mobile chips.
It shouldn't be too hard to unload your P4 CPU + HSF + mobo at a reasonable
asking price. Just gave the old mobile Celeron 1.6 @ 3.2GHz the boot in favor
of an OC'ed A64 3000+ @ 2.5GHz.
HTH
--
JW
