Actually most of the GeForce 6 series already have hardware acceleration support for HD content such as H.264, WMV9, MPEG-2, like the 6600 (
http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html). I think the 6600 is the most reasonably priced video card for guaranteed HD viewing and 3D gaming satisfaction.
Ricky, I can almost see the light... malapit na ma-finalize yung shopping list mo. How's this?
A. Motherboard (Socket 939): Option 1. Gigabyte GA-K8N51PVMT-9 with HD video and HD audio support
Option 2. Asus A8N-VM CSM with HD video and HD audio support
Option 3. DFI RS482 Infinity (5.5K)
B. Processor (Socket 939): Option 1. AMD Athlon64 3000+ (7K)
Option 2. AMD Athlon64 3200+ (9.5K)
Option 3. AMD Athlon64 3500+ Venice (12.1K)
C. Memory Option 1. 1 GB Geil Dual Channel DDR 400 184-pin (4.6K)
Option 2. 1 GB Kingston DDR 400 184-pin (5K)
Option 3. 1 GB PQI DDR 400 184-pin (4.5K)
D. Hard Disk Option 1. 80 GB Seagate SATA 7200 RPM (3.3K)
Option 2. 200 GB Seagate SATA 7200 RPM (5.3K)
Option 3. 250GB Seagate SATA 7200 RPM (6K, care of JPadua)
E. Optical Drive Option 1. Liteon SOHW-1635S (3.4K)
Option 2. LG Collins 16x GSA-4167B (2.6K)
Option 3. Benq 1640 (recommended by JPadua)
F. Casing Option 1. Antec P180 ATX Tower Case (recommended by JPadua)
Option 2. HTPC Case (you may want one with a VFD)
G. CPU Cooler Option 1. Scythe Ninja coupled with a 120mm fan (recommended by JPadua)
Option 2. Zalman 9600 (?)
H. Power Supply Option 1. HEC 550w WinPower HEC-550TW-ATF (4.2K)
I. Miscellaneous/Optional Components - Sapphire Theatrix TV Tuner (4.3K, care of JPadua)
- BTC RF Wireless Keyboard (2K+)
- Adesso RF Wireless Keyboard with Touchpad (4.5K+)
- IR Multimedia Remote (?)
- HD video card
- HD sound card