HTPC which card

[austral]

I want to build a PC (E6400, Gigabyte DQ6) for mainly Home Theatre use with occasional gaming and no overclocking. I want to keep the system for 4 years.
I am tossing between Leadtek PX7900GS TDH 7900 GS and Gigabyte NX76T256D-RH 7600GT, SILENT-PIPE II.

Will the 7900GS be too noisy for home theatre? Will the fanless Gigabyte get too hot with the demands of Vista or occasional games? Any other suggestions? Your help is appreciated.

[Track]

Alright:

1. You dont need an E6400 if arent going to play games. E6300 or even a pentium will do. Unless ur thinking of buying a Blue-Ray/HD-DVD drive.

2. An E6300 can overclock to 2.66Ghz and costs 125$.
An E6700 comes at 2.66Ghz and costs 550$. So u see how overclocking can save u a LOT of money if ur not looking for a CPU above 3.0Ghz?

3. Again, u dont need a 7900GS if ur not going to game a lot. 7600 GT will do fine. Stock fans (Fans that the product comes with) can be very noisy. If u buy a 20-30$ aftermarket fan to replace the stock one, u will get lower temperatures and noise levels alike.


If by "i want to keep the system for 4 years" u mean that u want to be able to play content that will be released in 4 years, like HD-DVD and Blue-Ray u may have a harder time (but its possible). Im assuming that that is what u mean, cause u can keep a PC forever if u dont intend to change the kind of content u use it for, such as watching DVDs.
Currently im assuming that ur only going to play DVDs in this "Home Theater" build. So when BD/HDDVDs drives are cheap as DVD players, a PC to play those will cost no more than the one ur planning on buying right now.

[austral]

Thanks for the suggestions and you are right with your assumptions. I wanted a bit of future proofing and the system will be used for HDTV, DVD, Video editing, Music, some Linux work etc. With my present system scanning, burning a CD and similar tasks require a dedicated system and I am looking forward to not being so constrained with my next system.

You have sold me on overclocking. If you know of a site that provides a good background material please post the link. Otherwise I will look at the Overclocker's sites or see what Google can come up with.

Once again thanks very much and your help is appreciated.

[Track]

Thanks for the suggestions and you are right with your assumptions. I wanted a bit of future proofing and the system will be used for HDTV, DVD, Video editing, Music, some Linux work etc. With my present system scanning, burning a CD and similar tasks require a dedicated system and I am looking forward to not being so constrained with my next system.

You have sold me on overclocking. If you know of a site that provides a good background material please post the link. Otherwise I will look at the Overclocker's sites or see what Google can come up with.

Once again thanks very much and your help is appreciated.

I'm happy to bring overclocking into another person's life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overclocking

Overclocking the CPU is very easy - u enter BIOS and overclock the FSB.
If u intend on buying the E6300 (wich i highly reccomend), u will be able to overclock till 2.6Ghz with a good fan (like the Zalman CNPS9700).
Since the E6300 has a multiplier of 7x, u will need to overclock the FSB to approx. 371Mhz. The only thing that is contraining ur overclock of the FSB is ur RAM, because when u overclock the FSB, u overclock the RAM too, and if ur RAM cannot overclock to approx. 750Mhz, u will not be able to get the most out of the CPU.
You will do fine with overclock the CPU to 2.2 - 2.4Ghz, but since DDR2-667 dosent cost more than DDR2-533, its the best choice.
Remmember though, that if u get DDR2-667 u MUST overclock the FSB to match or exceed the RAM's freaquency or ur PC will not run well.

This is how u can have the best PC on earth for 1/5 of the cost.

Overclocking ur graphics card is even easier. u can do it through the nVidia/ATI toolbar or through a program like ATItool or Rivatuner in seconds. You will need a VF900 cooler though, wich costs 20-30$ and will give u 100$ worth of an overclock with a high end card.

Again, best for a much lower cost.
This is what i know out of months of studying this, enjoy!

[austral]

Sorry to be a bother but I promise that this will be the last question.

What power supply should I buy to support the above? How many watts? Can you recommend a make as well?

Previously I was planning to get a Thermaltake case with 430W power supply but that may not be enough.

Thanking you

[Track]

The more questions the better.

I would reccomend a 600w PSU for a Core 2 Duo PC. If u were an avid gamer and were looking to upgrade the graphics card at some point i would reccoment 700w+.
A name brand is very important here. If ur PSU dies, ur PC might aswell.
Thermaltake, Antic, Zalman, etc. are all good name brands.

[austral]

Thanks a million. Now I will read a bit and hope to complete the system in Jan 07.

[Track]

Thanks a million. Now I will read a bit and hope to complete the system in Jan 07.

Good Luck. Come back if u have more questions.. and Enjoy.

[austral]

I will appreciate your opinion on the Case/Power supply choice. I am selecting Thermaltake Mambo (VC2000BNS) which is a cheap case and Thermaltake W0103 Toughpower 600W.

[Track]

I will appreciate your opinion on the Case/Power supply choice. I am selecting Thermaltake Mambo (VC2000BNS) which is a cheap case and Thermaltake W0103 Toughpower 600W.

The case is a personal preference, as it does not matter to performance.
Just note that a multi-media PC would preferably be less noisy so buy the most expensive, and thus most quiet case fan(s) that u can (case fans are dirt cheap) and a case to fit them.

That PSU is excellent. It has enough strength to power 2x 8800 GTX in SLi. It has got to be the PSU with the most amps on the +12v rail in comparison to the max wattage, that ive ever seen. You see the only thing that matters is how many Amps u have on the +12v rails(s). You have 48A(!) and u need only abt 30-35A. The most ive seen is 60. Obviously u do not need such power, or the price tag that comes with it.

[austral]

Thanks for the prompt response.

[Track]

Thanks for the prompt response.

Yeh, sure. Always.