# DELL Inspirion 530



## Gillig500 (Apr 2, 2012)

Just purchased a 27 " iMAC for the misses for xmas . What i would like to do is turn the Dell 530 into a HTPC .
Advice would be appreciated greatly ! My thoughts are put in a ssd 60 or 128gb for the OS . And then a 2TB green drive so it would'nt be noisy . Should i invest in a sound / video card as well ?


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## jimbodude (Jul 26, 2011)

Can it already output the video resolution and sound quality you want? If so, no need to buy parts. If not, then definitely need to do upgrades.

Another option, which is what I'm running with now, is to use that box as a storage server and get yourself a little network device that has no fans or moving parts to run the playback side of things. There are some android based systems-in-a-stick that look neat. I'm currently having great luck with a Raspberry Pi running RASPBMC. I've previously done the HTPC, build thing, but and I've always had noise and heat issues. With this setup, I can have a big old ugly noisy box in another room with all sorts of storage and nice big fans. It's also more cost effective, since the RPi is less than 50 bucks and so are most of those android sticks. So instead of shelling out for SSDs, fancy heat sinks, and upgraded parts, I bought more audio toys. 

There is a thread about the RPi and XBMC in this forum.


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## Gillig500 (Apr 2, 2012)

It can put the resolution & sound that i want, I wanted to turn it into a server . Thanks for 
response .


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