i mean, if i wanted HDMI it would, but i'm not willing to pay for a card that nice...it's just a 37" 720p HDTV, so i would think that using the DSUB input would be best (or am i wrong there?)...if that's the case, a basic card would work, right?

GeForce 7300LE, $7: http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=202540650#cRevSec

or i could get this:

GeForce 8500GT, $30: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143104

is there any compelling reason for me to be particular? oh, forgot to mention that the mobo i got doesn't have integrated video (something i wasn't aware of), but it was also only $20, so dropping another $20 on a PCIe card isn't a big deal...then again, would onboard VGA be enough?

the setup will be mythbuntu using schedulesdirect and some $130 (overpriced, IMO) linux-certified ATSC tuner

otherwise, core duo E2180 (2.0ghz, 1mb cache), 2gb mushkin DDR2, a cheap ECS board, an 80gb seagate drive with perpendicular recording for the OS/processing, and a 500gb drive for storage

[Edited on February 11, 2008 at 12:02 PM. Reason : .]

2/11/2008 11:58:37 AM

the new 3450/3470/3650 Radeons all include HDMI out + onboard audio, UVD for Blu-Ray/HD-DVD decoding, direct X10.1, blah blah

And all 3 are under $100. The 3450 and 3470 even come in passive cooling configurations (a requirement in my HTPC).

I'm picking up a passive 3470 as soon as I can get my hands on one.

2/11/2008 12:05:30 PM

3450: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102724

i don't see HDMI out

2/11/2008 12:10:00 PM

it comes with a dvi to hdmi adapter. (most of them do, anyway, I don't know if this particular brand does.)



[Edited on February 11, 2008 at 12:24 PM. Reason : d]

2/11/2008 12:19:44 PM

If you plan on getting a Blu Ray player, wouldn't HDMI be a necessity?

2/11/2008 12:31:43 PM

i'm not planning on getting a blu-ray player...this is really just for

1.) recording television (local HD or regular cable for everything else)
2.) playing divx/xvid videos
3.) playing music (and controlling the klipsch 5.1 attached to it via remote)

would onboard video be enough? i can always upgrade later

2/11/2008 12:36:25 PM

the only thing that might give you trouble is HD playback. You might get some stuttering or dropped frames. I'd say give it a shot with the onboard vid first.

2/11/2008 1:00:07 PM

any 7 series nvidia is fine

i have this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138061

onboard nvidia 7050 w/ HDMI, powerful enough to run Vista Aero and HD content

that 8500GT is by far the better deal and would last quite a bit longer

[Edited on February 11, 2008 at 3:13 PM. Reason : .]

2/11/2008 3:09:52 PM

this one has the geforce 7100 (built-in DVI, but not HDMI - comes with adapter), $56AR:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135066

would this be good enough? i assume the DVI to HDMI adapter carries audio, as well?

2/11/2008 4:58:57 PM

durr...why did i even ask that?

2/11/2008 8:05:21 PM

^wow dude, just, wow.

2/11/2008 9:37:23 PM

Quote :

"i assume the DVI to HDMI adapter carries audio, as well?"

lol

2/11/2008 9:42:48 PM

you should go passive cooling on this thing

nothing sucks more than loud fans when you're trying to watch a movie

2/12/2008 11:32:21 AM

i finally went with the MSI P6NGM-FD...though several comments say "no dual channel ram", even though the specs say it supports ddr2...am i misunderstanding something?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130127

Quote :

"The only drawback I had was that I bought 2GB (2x1GB) of Kingston ValueRam DDR2-800 memory from the QVL for this board and it did not boot with 2GB installed. It would boot with 1GB. I was able to up the voltage to 2.0v and it booted fine with the 2GB and rock solid."

Quote :

"NO DUAL CHANNEL RAM!!! SPECS LIE."

aside from that, it's running the geforce 7100/nforce 630i chipsets, so i figure i'll be happy enough with performance (though, really, these dual channel comments are confusing me something fierce)

[Edited on February 12, 2008 at 12:06 PM. Reason : quotes]

2/12/2008 11:39:57 AM

DDR does not equal dual-channel, the two are unrelated, you can run DDR2 in dual channel or single channel, the performance difference shouldn't be noticeable.
here's a whitepaper on it - http://www.kingston.com/newtech/MKF_520DDRwhitepaper.pdf
here's a benchmark on single/vs/dual channel - http://www.tcmagazine.info/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=128

and the comment about the kingston ram is very very common if you don't buy memory that is rated for 1.8v at 800mhz

[Edited on February 12, 2008 at 1:34 PM. Reason : ,]

2/12/2008 1:29:39 PM

^ aha, i see...i haven't kept up these days, and this is something i completely missed out on

it's only going to have 2x1gb of 667 mushkin, so it's probably a moot point...nice to know that i could (in theory) upgrade to 8gb of 800 some day

thanks

2/12/2008 3:35:27 PM

neither of the two cards in OP are HDCP compliant. I would invest in getting a true HDCP compliant video card if you are focusing on an HTPC. You may not think you'd want it now, but better to have that capabilities now then a few months down the road to display HD material from the PC (such as HD DVD or Blu-ray). HDCP isn't needed for HD materials that's streaming or on the hard drive, but not to sure about that. I'm 95% sure you don't need it for that.

8600gt is HDCP as well as the new g92 8800 cores. I also think, not sure, that the new AMD/ATI video cards are HDCP compliant as well. Again, HDCP only important for the video card if you have a blu-ray or hd-dvd player drive in the computer.

2/15/2008 10:41:58 AM

1.) i don't have (and won't, for a while i suspect) HD-DVD or a BD player in there
2.) according to nividia's website, the 7100/630i chipsets support HDCP

http://www.nvidia.com/object/mcp_intel_techspecs.html

3.) HDCP is just another thing that will be worked around in short order once PC BD drives become mainstream and realistically affordable...and if it's not, then i'll pick up a nicer card as prices continue to fall

2/15/2008 10:58:15 AM

oh cool, didn't know the 7100's were hdcp compliant.

2/15/2008 11:57:40 AM

yeah...i canceled my first mobo from newegg because it was the 7050/610i, which is the only one NOT supporting HDCP

i'm psyched, really...all my components are now in, so tonight i get to put it together

2/15/2008 12:03:48 PM

From looking at things recently both in-store at Tiger Direct and online while helping a friend spec out an htpc, it seems that HDCP-compliant cards are becoming more common. She is putting a Blu-Ray drive in the box and wanted a good card with an integrated HDMI port so she ended up going with an 8600GTS. Expensive ($109 AR) but should be good for quite some time, and should be able to handle games as well if need be.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127302

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:21 PM. Reason : d]

2/15/2008 1:20:45 PM

seems silly to me now that I bought the 8600gt for hdcp and support multi monitors. However, the one I have is the cheapest 8600gt with dual dual link dvi.

2/15/2008 5:19:52 PM

alright...got it together running a dual-boot of mythbuntu and xp pro with mediaportal...not sure which one i'll like better

paid $20 for a yearly subscription to schedules direct

2/16/2008 4:54:08 PM