Specs alright for HTPC?

[da na]

Budget (including currency): $100

Country: Murica

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: VLC for DVD/local files, Firefox streaming of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, YouTube

 

I have a PC I would like to use as a HTPC. 

Specs: 

Compaq Elite 8200 USFF

32x DVD-RW

64gb SSD (boot) 

1tb HDD (media)

6gb DDR3 (may upgrade to 4+4 at some point, it's 2+4 right now since I'm using my lowest spec RAM for this)

i5-2400

Ubuntu 21.04

 

Finally for VGA card. A couple choices:

-GeForce 210. This is my preferred since it has HDMI, but it is passively cooled. Will it be powerful enough for 720p streaming and will it overheat? 

-ATI FirePro v3800. Has a loud fan and I'd need a DP to HDMI adapter but it is definitely powerful enough for streaming. 

 

And how do I set autoplay in Ubuntu? This is supposed to replace a DVD player so I want it to be like you put the disc in and it reads and automatically plays. Would that be something I would have to program myself or is that in a VLC/Ubuntu setting? 

 

Thanks in advance for suggestions!

[BondiBlue]

As far as the hardware goes that system is more than plenty for HTPC tasks. The integrated graphics should be fine, and that's a good thing since you don't have any expansion slots to use for a GPU. 

[jaslion]

Gt210 has no hardware acceleration for current codecs. So not an option. Ati firepro same problem. I advice you spend a little money on a quadro k620 or whatever other card that supports current codecs.

[BondiBlue]

2 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Gt210 has no hardware acceleration for current codecs. So not an option. Ati firepro same problem. I advice you spend a little money on a quadro k620 or whatever other card that supports current codecs.

 

23 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

Compaq Elite 8200 USFF

The HP Compaq 8200 Elite USFF doesn't support any expansion cards. The iGPU will have to do. 

[da na]

4 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

 

The HP Compaq 8200 Elite USFF doesn't support any expansion cards. The iGPU will have to do. 

My bad I meant SFF. 4 slots one 16x

[da na]

8 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Gt210 has no hardware acceleration for current codecs. So not an option. Ati firepro same problem. I advice you spend a little money on a quadro k620 or whatever other card that supports current codecs.

I have one of those lying around actually as well as an r5 240 and hd 8490 and lots of terrible FireMVs. I wanted to use the 210 for this since I won’t really use it for much else.

[jaslion]

Just now, Mel0nMan said:

I have one of those lying around actually as well as an r5 240 and hd 8490 and lots of terrible FireMVs. I wanted to use the 210 for this since I won’t really use it for much else.

I won't work for streaming since it's too old and the cpu will have to do all the work which well it's old and weaker so will not do a good job. It needs that hardware acceleration. The r5 240 can as far as I know provide it too.

[da na]

Just now, jaslion said:

I won't work for streaming since it's too old and the cpu will have to do all the work which well it's old and weaker so will not do a good job. It needs that hardware acceleration. The r5 240 can as far as I know provide it too.

OK, thanks. Will use that instead

[tkitch]

This should do 1080 just fine, but you'll be unable to do anything productive in 4K.

 

You would do yourself a favor to buy a cheap 512GB SSD and ditch the 64.  Going to 4+4 RAM or 4+4+4+4 for 16GB would help overall.

 

However, before spending anymore than 20 bucks...  Buy a new box.  HP i5 6500 or 7500 business PCs (similar to this) can be had on Ebay for ~100-125 bucks.

[da na]

11 minutes ago, tkitch said:

This should do 1080 just fine, but you'll be unable to do anything productive in 4K.

 

You would do yourself a favor to buy a cheap 512GB SSD and ditch the 64.  Going to 4+4 RAM or 4+4+4+4 for 16GB would help overall.

 

However, before spending anymore than 20 bucks...  Buy a new box.  HP i5 6500 or 7500 business PCs (similar to this) can be had on Ebay for ~100-125 bucks.

This is a PC I have already. I'd rather not purchase something new when an older system I already have would do the job fine. 

And the SSD, I already have the 64gb one and I'm just storing local 720 and 1080p files so loading times from a rust drive should be fine. 

And finally, the TV it's streaming to is 720p so 4k won't be needed. The wifi can only handle 720p in addition.