HTPC to Upgrade or Repair (1 Viewer)

So I started experiencing some issues with the USB Ports on my motherboard that when something is plugged in the system won't power on and I've narrowed it down to 2 ports. Now I know sooner or later it will have to be repaired or upgraded there is no way around that.

Here is my current dilemma, My HTPC is an ASRock P55 Pro running a i7 860 and 16GB RAM. It's near impossible to find a 1156 Motherboard used or otherwise and everyone I have found is going to set me back $100 for used up to $200 for new.

I haven't used AMD Chips in a long time not since the P4B days or earlier and I'm out of the loop but for an HTPC I have to assume I can get a bundle Mobo & CPU around the same price as just a replacement or repaired motherboard.

So from you AMD experts out there what would you suggest? I use my HTPC as a full blown media server, Video Rendering and it's also my Streaming server for gaming so it's pretty much an all in one box and was my old gaming system.

(A general comment).

For a computer that is more than 4 or 5 years old, I would be inclined to just buy a new machine. No point anymore in trying to "fix" a machine that is older than 4-5 years old.

I usually got a new machine once the primary hard drive died.


My present machine (a bottom of the line entry-level machine from 2009-2010) is starting to show signs of cracks, such as: the mouse and keyboard disconnecting suddenly and reconnecting, windows puking on monthly updates, etc ...

If you are intent on keeping this thing up and running...

Anything for USB(2.0 will be "dead" soon)...move on to BlueTooth.

I find that unless you are gaming you don't need a powerful htpc at all. You could use an old laptop instead or grab one for around the same price as that motheboard replacement.

i7 is overkill for an HTPC. My son wants to upgrade his gaming PC's processor (currently i5) and graphics card (GeForce GTX 650), so I may pick up a mobo, case and power supply and build an HTPC from his cast offs.

If it's only the use port that is failing and you need them for your htpc setup, I would suggest getting a usb PCI or PCI-e card if you have space to add one. Much cheaper than building a new system.

Blacksheep said:

If it's only the use port that is failing and you need them for your htpc setup, I would suggest getting a usb PCI or PCI-e card if you have space to add one. Much cheaper than building a new system.

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Agreed, just buy a USB 3.0 card or external hub.

If you're going to build a new HTPC stay away from AMD. They may be slightly cheaper but when it comes to price vs performance AMD CPUs are actually more expensive. They are also crap when it comes to dealing with the HD audio codecs. If you only use DTS and Dolby Digital you'll be fine but really a core i3 is preferable and a lower end i5 is ideal. Buying an i7 for anything other than video editing or workstation (AutoCAD/Maya etc...) use or the like is a complete waste of money. You may not need the muscle of an i5 now but a little future proofing never hurt. You can get a Haswell i3 and motherboard for roughly $225.


I personally run an i3 with a cheap low profile nVidia 520GT (you can do much better now as the selection of low profile nVidia cards was a bit scarce when I built my system) and I run full Blu Ray rips and images from my 12TB NAS with no issues. Full 1080p (no compression) and DTSMA / DD-HD without a hickup. The few budget minded AMD systems I used really struggled here and there were many noticeable issues including video freezing do not being able to decode the audio fast enough.

schan1269 said:

If you are intent on keeping this thing up and running...

Anything for USB(2.0 will be "dead" soon)...move on to BlueTooth.

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This couldn't be any more wrong.
Anyone using Bluetooth to stream movies either doesn't have a proper home theater and is unable to discern the drastic loss of quality or doesn't deserve one because they can't tell the difference between Blu Ray content and streaming video. Also USB isn't going anywhere anytime soon and you should probably stop taking tech advice from whoever told you that.

js1974 said:

it's also my Streaming server for gaming so it's pretty much an all in one box and was my old gaming system.

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Sorry for the double post and the slightly off-topic question but do you just use Steam to stream your games or is there something better out there. I've been having issues of late with the Steam streaming feature, mainly with manually added non Steam games like Diablo 3, Dragon Age Inquisition and Far Cry 4.

Excuse me...AptX BlueTooth handles 5.1 DD and DTS. Television makers are incorporating it to get rid of ARC.And I didn't say "USB in entirety". I said USB 2.0...in regards to audio. Not data transmission. Not internet.

schan1269 said:

Excuse me...AptX BlueTooth handles 5.1 DD and DTS. Television makers are incorporating it to get rid of ARC.And I didn't say "USB in entirety". I said USB 2.0...in regards to audio. Not data transmission. Not internet.

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Again, not HD audio codecs.
Also, data transmission is data transmission. Bluetooth, USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 none of them know the difference between audio/video/or bullshit. The only thing that matters in this case is the bandwidth. USB 2.0 may be obsolete in the retail market but, being as that it's completely backwards compatible with USB 3.0, computers that still have the 2.0 standard are still perfectly viable. Either way, given the specific topic of the thread and the problem the OP is having, your comment is wrong at best or disingenuous at worst.

If anything he can add a bluetooth adapter (if he's interested in streaming wirelessly) as well as a USB card/hub but going all Bluetooth to an HTPC is not good advice.

schan1269 said:

Excuse me...AptX BlueTooth handles 5.1 DD and DTS. Television makers are incorporating it to get rid of ARC.And I didn't say "USB in entirety". I said USB 2.0...in regards to audio. Not data transmission. Not internet.

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What's wrong with ARC?

I'd rather not have to rely on BT instead.