EggXpert

O.K. I'm still learning here. I want to build a quite and cappable pc. One that can rip & burn dvd, blue ray, cd, capture tv from the ether, and play common internet media. I plan on adding great audio, not the best but something I can live with. Also, would like a LED tv but probably will go with a LCD under 40" over 32". Pc will not be used for games and I don't have a server.

Low noise = low watts? Could I go with a 35 or 45 watt cpu? Or will I need more muscle? I don't know much about the Atom and that little-bitty board.

The CPU can be between 45 - 65 Watts. However a 4870 would he the way to go with a TV that size.

Also list your budget on the build the last tab is called System Specs place information in there on what you are looking at. Do not use the URL in there at all.

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If you plan on going for recording and burning as you said the quad core will serve you better than a dual core and the larger the cache the faster the burnning and recording. Now your VC will depend on the LCD TV you decide on getting the higher the resolution the better the picture quality and depending on what type of connectors it has HDMI is the better connection type. You do not have to be limited by the case this depends on what you want but I would recomend you go ATX style mobo and get a case that can handle it a mid-tower will work unless you want the media style case to fit in with your other equipment. Also what kind of TV feed are you using satelite, cable or just over the air antenna this will determine what tuner card you will need, as for the sound todays mobos have some very good 8 channel builtin sound card. Your PSU will depend on what all components you decide on especially your VC. Hard drives the best way to go is 1 small fast HDD/SSD for your OS and programs and 1 large HDD for storage of your recordings. Now the biggest thing we need to know is what your budget is and whether you want Intel or AMD, Intel will give you a little better quality and performance but at a higher cost AMD will do as well but at a lower cost.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&Subcategory=411&Description=&Type=&N=2102640411&srchInDesc=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&OEMMark=0&PropertyCodeValue=3890%3A27312&PropertyCodeValue=3890%3A27313&PropertyCodeValue=3890%3A27314&PropertyCodeValue=3898%3A27735&PropertyCodeValue=3898%3A27736&PropertyCodeValue=4375%3A31700&PropertyCodeValue=4375%3A31717&PropertyCodeValue=4375%3A31702&PropertyCodeValue=4375%3A31724&PropertyCodeValue=4375%3A31705&PropertyCodeValue=4375%3A31727&PropertyCodeValue=4375%3A31710&PropertyCodeValue=4375%3A31715&PropertyCodeValue=2889%3A24672&PropertyCodeValue=2889%3A24673&PropertyCodeValue=2889%3A24671

I don't see why you'd need a HD 4870 for watching 1080p content, that card seems more geared for gaming.  Since you are not gaming, I'd suggest getting one of the new 785g motherboards.  These contain ATI's HD 4200 graphics onboard, as well as being able to send 7.1 LPCM audio through the HDMI.  This is MORE than capable of doing 1080p video from movie files or bluray discs.  I use a 780g mobo for my HTPC.  The other upside is that it's gonna be much cheaper (don't need to spend $150 on a 4870), as well as consuming less power, making less noise, and being cooler.

For capturing and processing video, and watching internet video - those depend more on the CPU than the graphics card.  If it were me, I'd opt for a 65W triple or quad core.  Intel has some nice options, but as hoghauler has stated, the price will be higher.

mrjspeed:

I don't see why you'd need a HD 4870 for watching 1080p content, that card seems more geared for gaming.  Since you are not gaming, I'd suggest getting one of the new 785g motherboards.  These contain ATI's HD 4200 graphics onboard, as well as being able to send 7.1 LPCM audio through the HDMI.  This is MORE than capable of doing 1080p video from movie files or bluray discs.  I use a 780g mobo for my HTPC.  The other upside is that it's gonna be much cheaper (don't need to spend $150 on a 4870), as well as consuming less power, making less noise, and being cooler.

For capturing and processing video, and watching internet video - those depend more on the CPU than the graphics card.  If it were me, I'd opt for a 65W triple or quad core.  Intel has some nice options, but as hoghauler has stated, the price will be higher.

I'm kinda in the same boat as this guy, i want to build a HTPC that i will basically use for "backing up" blue rays and DVD's and being able to access them at a later date.   So with on of these mother boards, all i would nee next would be big HD, processor, memory, and a Blue ray burner?  and maybe add a video card down the road if i have a change of plans?

I'm going to reuse my old desktop case 

Yeah my old Pentium 4 3.0GHz with GeForce 9500GT 512MB (less than 50 dollars) can display 1080p though I don't recommend a P4 CPU at all. I think as far as PLAYBACK is concerned, any dual core CPU with an up to date graphics (including relatively low profile ones) will do the task without an issue.  And "recording" TV shows itself is even less of a concern than than playback is.

For the video processing part, meaning when you record TV shows and transcode them to burn Blu-ray DVDs, what is MOST important is to make sure that whatever conversion soft you use supports GPU transcoding caz it is a lot faster than CPU alone transcoding almost no matter what. If you have an Nvidia card, you wanna choose a card with CUDA technology AND software that supports Nvidia's CUDA transcoding (such as TMPGEnc Xpress 4.0). If you have a Radeon card, you wanna choose a card that is compatible with ATI Stream and a software that utilizes ATI Stream transcoding (such as ATI Avivo video converter).  Of course, AFTER you use those GPU transcoding technologies, the better the CPU / the better the video card, the faster the transcoding will be, but compared to the difference between CPU alone vs. CPU plus GPU transcoding, I have seen benchmarks showing that differences are not that large.

So, I think if you can spare money or you really do the transcoding on a daily basis, 65W triple / quad core and Radeon 4850 / 4870 or equivalent Nvidia, but if you wanna save money, 45 watt dual cores and pretty much any up to date card.

I think you should get a separate graphics card or choose a board that has Radeon or Nvidia onboard graphics (like the one mrjspeed posted). People here told me repeatedly that even a cheap Radeon or Nvidia does 10xxxxx times better job than the latest "Intel" onboard graphics.

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Yup, if you choose this motherbaord, there's an Nvidia graphics with the board, so, no need for a separate one unless you feel the card is not good enough for whatever reason. But it should be more than enough for watching Blu-ray movies etc.

I think your choices of HD depends on how much you would like to store before burning stuff onto disks or putting them on external HDDs.. :D but my HTPC has a 1TB HDD.

Your choice between 65W triple / quad core vs. 45 W dual cores has to do with your budget. If you think you are gonna do lotza transcoding or want to be careful, then 65W triple / quad core, but dual cores are enough for "basic" HTPC needs.

DDR2-800 and up RAM, 2GB minimum if you don't use it for anything other than watching / recording TV, 4GB is better if you are gonna surf the net while transcode TV shows etc. It depends on your OS. When I'm on Vista Home Premium x64, my RAM usage often goes above 2GB.

*Edit*  I found this info. Maybe helpful in figuring out what is minimally necessary for Blu-ray playback. But keep it mind that XP requires a lot less RAM than Vista.

http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/PC_Blu-ray_HD_DVD_Ready_page2.html