Confused on HTPC hardware

J

jazzman161

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 6, 2004
Messages
220
Hey all. I've been reading a lot on HTPC hardware and I've got a question hopefully somebody can clear up. I see a lot of people not content w. their SD picture quality (DVDs) when just using onboard graphics. A lot of people recommend getting an ATI 4xxx series card to help with that.

If my HTPC (when it gets built) will be feeding both SD (DVDs) and HD (HD/BD) content, do I need to look at adding a ATI 4xxx series card into my wish list?

Right now I'd like to build my system around a 45W AMD and an 8200 chipset mobo. Should I look into adding a fanless low profile ATI 4550 or something? And if I do, how would the 7.1 LPCM audio work? HDMI out of the mobo for audio and HDMI out of the card for video?

Thanks!
 
I say you buy the mobo and try it for yourself. if you dont like the quality, upgrade the video card. as for the audio, most have other output options like toslink. also, if your card is an ATI with HDMI they can route the mobo audio through the PCI buss so that it goes out of the card as well.
 
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