Possible client PC for under $200

[gazoo]

I was already planning on the quieter fan. The OEM version from newegg doesn't come with AFAIK so I will get a pick.

[nitrogen_widget]

I was running a 1.8ghz P4 with the intel extreme! onboard graphics out of an old Gateway PC as a client using 1.1.5 version.

With PVRX2 & VMR Custom the CPU was a little on the high side watching live TV. (75% average)

GBPVR.exe dropped it down to about 50% in Overlay.

I think the high CPU was due to the onboard network card not having it's own processor because a DVD barely registered on the CPU.

[fender]

Yeah, mpeg-2 decoding is not a big deal these days. It's the newer formats (VC1, H.264, etc) that requires a more sophisticated setup.

[bdgbill]

150W is a lot... but then again, it's a P4... out of curiosity, how much is it using at idle? my current box athlon 2400 is 110W at idle & 130W under load. current systems obviously depend upon the chosen CPU, with an low TDP & onboard GPU they range between 45W at idle & 80W under load

It's at about 108 watts @ idle. Oddly, I put Ubuntu on this machine the other day for grins and it only pulled about 75 watts @ idle.