Looking for a little confirmation and ideas

[bmachia]

Hi Folks,
I have a two year old home-brew PC that I am thinking of modifying up to a Media Center. This machine's current specs are;
AMD 3300 CPU, this equates to about 2 GHz
2 GB High Density DDR memory (PC3200)
750 GB HD, most of this space is empty.
Its currently running XP Home, SP3.
The mobo has
800 MHz FSB
3 PCI (that 's straight PCI, not PCI-E), and finally
1 4X/8X AGP slot
The Video card is extremely old, and needs upgrading. I'd be embarrassed to even mention it.
The Power Supply is old as well. Back when I first built this thing 300W was enough. So, I'm more than likely looking at a PSU upgrade also.
The monitor I would use is a 21" LCD with both analog and DVI inputs.

When upgraded, Media Center functions are all this will do. Therefore, I believe this system might quality for a Media Center if I upgrade the Video card. But, I don't know which way to look (i.e. nVidia or ATI). I've read this is a personal preference and both are good. But I have also read use an ATI Video card with an AMD processor and a nVidia card with Intel. Can this be confirmed?

Any Video Card suggestions would be appreciated. Also, whats the opinion of a 500W PSU?


Bill

[smiddy]

Check to see what version of AGP your motherboard is running. If it is less than 2.0, you may have problems finding a good video card. I ran into this with mine, it was 1.5 and none of the boards currently being made, I think, will do less than 2.0. Check NewEgg's site, they usually have the best prices.

[Cholly]

I don't know whether you can still get Windows XP Media Center edition. If not, you'd have to upgrade to Vista Home Premium. As Smiddy said, check Newegg's site for graphics/TV Tuner/DVR solutions. You'll also want to look at Microsoft's Media Center partner list. To my knowledge, a single card graphics/DVR/TV tuner solution is not currently available, so you'd need a new graphics card such as a Radeon 9550 or GeForce 6200 as a minimum, and a TV Tuner/DVR card that is Media Center compatible.
When I built my Biostar small form factor pc, I used an ATI Radeon 9550 graphics card and an Avermedia MCE UltraTV 1500 TV tuner card.

[Pinion413]

A 500W PSU (especially if you're only running one video card with the other specs you listed above) should be more than adequate. My big pig listed in my signature is only running on a 450W PSU, so you should be good.

The only suggestion that I would make when looking for a power supply is to make sure that you get one with an active PFC (Power Flow Controller). These types of PSU's are generally more reliable than your average run-of-the-mill variety. Something like this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817701007) or this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341012) should suffice.

[bmachia]

Hi Folks , Will Thank You for all the responses. I really appreciate your input.

Lets see if I can answer some of the questions and advice,

1)Is the Mobo AGP 2 Compliant?
I went out to the Mobo manufactures web site and for the life of me, I could find this specification. But, when I checked out a WIKI site, I found that the socket is the 3.3 V version of AGP. Does this help? Can I/we identify version 1.5 from version 2 with socket information? If not were could I go to look for this version information?
2)Thanks also for the Confirmation on the Power Supply. 500W, PFC, with an AMD connector it is...
3)Now onto the video card; Radeon 9550 and GeForce 6200 . I was actually looking at the 6200. but decided to move on to a card that had 2 – DVI ports, like the Radeon HD 3650. My thoughts were to feed my Monitor's digital input with 1 DVI port and then buy an DVI to HDMI (female) Adapter to feed the Onyko Audio/Video (up-converter) switch.
This leads me to three more questions:
1.What can I expect for resolution from a DVI and DVI to HDMI adapter? Is 1080P possible? Or am I thinking totally wrong about this? I just need a little more information.
2.Does video card memory make a big impact? In other words, can I expect more out of a card that has 512 mb memory as compared to a card with 256 mb? What should I look for between these two specs?
3.Also I've read bad things about the ATI Radeon HIS AGP cards. Specifically, ATI is no longer supporting these cards and drivers are NOT available? Sorry, but I'm not going to buy a Video Card that the manufacture is not supporting the drivers. nVidia – Here I come, if this is true.

Hoping to hear from you
Bill