Has my HTPC reached its final days?

[ssterb1]

I have been using WMC since the XP days with my old HP Z555. Back in Sept 2008, I built my own system to replace it:
• Core 2 Quad 9550
• Asus P5N-D motherboard
• Nvidia 8800GT
• 4 GB DDR2 800
• 1 TB HDD
• LG Blu-ray / HD-DVD drive (format war was still going on)
• Hauppauge 2250 dual, hybrid tuner
• Vista Media Center

Until recently, the HTPC was next to the TV in the living room with a receiver (formally a DMA 2200 and now an Xbox 360s) in the bedroom. Since then, I’ve made the following upgrades.
• HDHomerun Prime
• Nvidia GTX 550 Ti
• PCI – 4 port USB 2.0 expansion card
• PCI Express 4x – 4 port Sata 3.0
• 128 GB SSD
• (1) 1TB, (2) 2TB, and (1) 3TB HDD’s (in addition to the first TB HDD, 9 TB total, all internal)
• Win 7 Media Center when it came out, and then Win 8 Media Center late last year ($40 promotion)

Recently, due to my mother giving my daughter a Kinect for her birthday, I bought another 360s for the living room and moved the HTPC into the office. I was actually glad to do this, because now I can do other things on it like office work, file organization, and video conversions without interrupting tv for everyone else. I even invested in a new 23” touch monitor to play with the Metro interface.

Since moving the HTPC to the office and adding the second extender, I’ve noticed that windows 8 reports my onboard LAN speed as 10/100 instead of Gigabit. This is confirmed by the hardware lights on the LAN port itself. I think this is the culprit behind the lag and freezing in the UI and videos on the extenders (which my wife just called me about again during this writing). I’ll run some tests to measure the network traffic when I get home.

Could this be a sign that my hardware is starting to go, or could this just be Windows 8 not playing nice with my onboard LAN? After all, the motherboard and CPU are almost 5 years-old, and except for scheduled nightly reboots, it runs 24/7. If the latter is the case, I think I have (or at least can get) a Windows 8 compatible PCI gigabit LAN card to occupy my last expansion slot.

Lastly, is anyone else still using CPU’s and motherboards from the 775 socket days in what you would consider to be a reliable WMC HTPC, and expect to get a few more years out of it? Or is it time to send it out to pasture?

[Bryan]

Since moving the HTPC to the office

Have you tried a different cable? With a move involved, I would bet it's just a bad end on the Cat5e, re-crimping (or just replacing the cable) would fix it.

It could be the onboard NIC flaking out, but I would think you'd see other symptoms besides this. Could be driver related, but I don't recall the last time I saw that happen. Network card drivers usually just work or they don't.

[foxwood]

Look at the NIC properties in Device Manager. is GigE mentioned as an option? If it is, it's not a driver issue.

Are you much further away from the switch since moving the PC?

[foxwood]

I .. moved the HTPC into the office. I was actually glad to do this, because now I can do other things on it like office work, file organization, and video conversions without interrupting tv for everyone else.

Video conversion is typically CPU intensive, and will be very likely to impact on any any simultaneous use of a 5 year old system.

You really shouldn't plan on dual use for a HTPC - TV needs to be pretty much turn it on and watch, and not have to worry about someone else stealing cycles from the user interface.

[Shackleford]

I would look at cables, make sure its got 4 pairs and not just 2.

[barnabas1969]

I would look at cables, make sure its got 4 pairs and not just 2.

I think we have a winner! In order for gigabit Ethernet to work, all 8 wires in the cable need to be correctly connected at both ends.

[barnabas1969]

I .. moved the HTPC into the office. I was actually glad to do this, because now I can do other things on it like office work, file organization, and video conversions without interrupting tv for everyone else.

Video conversion is typically CPU intensive, and will be very likely to impact on any any simultaneous use of a 5 year old system.

You really shouldn't plan on dual use for a HTPC - TV needs to be pretty much turn it on and watch, and not have to worry about someone else stealing cycles from the user interface.

Agreed.

[ssterb1]

I haven't had a chance to try any more troubleshooting since the last post other than swaping out the cable to a verified 4 twisted pairs Cat5e cable that gets me to 1000 Mbps on my laptop. Windows 8 still shows 100 Mbps in LAN connection status. Also since last post, there were 3 seperate "random" incidents where it droped to 10 Mbps without having ever touched the hardware (for those thinking connection short). After missing recordings each time and calls from my wife about the tv's not working, I decided to bite the bullet and get a new CPU, motherboard, and memory:

- Intel Core i7-4770
- ASUS Z87-DELUXE
- G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600

I .. moved the HTPC into the office. I was actually glad to do this, because now I can do other things on it like office work, file organization, and video conversions without interrupting tv for everyone else.

Video conversion is typically CPU intensive, and will be very likely to impact on any any simultaneous use of a 5 year old system.

You really shouldn't plan on dual use for a HTPC - TV needs to be pretty much turn it on and watch, and not have to worry about someone else stealing cycles from the user interface.

Agreed.

I know this is overkill for an HTPC, but hopefully these specs will sufficiently address the multifunction HTPC concerns stated above. I plan on these components getting me through the next five years, and beyond if possible. And I plan to eventually upgrade my PSU, max out those (10) SATA 3 ports, and maybe even max out the memory if needed during its lifespan.

[foxwood]

No. Instead of spending $800 for an overspecced system, buy 2 $400 systems, and dedicate one to HTPC use!

Unless you plan to use 3 or more Extenders, 4GB is enough for a HTPC. Unless you plan to do automated commercial skipping, you don't even need a Core-i3, never mind an i7.

If WAF is a factor in your decision, then forget about a dual use system.