# recycling old Dell PC for a cheap HTPC



## sdjtech (Mar 9, 2011)

HI,

I'm wondering if this is even possible...

I have an older Dell tower running XP pro with a decent video card (VGA only, don't know specs, has NVIDIA drivers), DVD-RW, 2 gigs DDR2 RAM, 160 gig HD, 2.9 ghz Dual-core Pentium 4, Win XP pro. I have a Vista Home premium OEM CD around too. 

I want to retrofit this computer to work with my 32-inch LG TV as the center of my home entertainment. It has a VGA input. It doesn't have to look sexy, I'm not an audiophile or a videophile, and my apartment is super tiny. I'm not really archiving anything beyond the local news and some other local shows then deleting them after watching. So I don't really need the hard drive space.

My questions are:

Will this setup be able to handle 720p video? 

What software will be required to seamlessly handle Netflix and other streaming sites? I'm only subscribed to Netflix but I occasionally look at the others. I also use Miro a lot.

Remotes? I'd much rather not deal with bulky wireless keyboards and mice if I don't have to. 

Recommendations on a cheap dual-tuner TV-card? 

I also need the audio running off the HTPC and I'm just going to stick with the on board audio and my home stereo. 

If this isn't going to work, I'm just going to have to save up but any advice would be appreciated.


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