[tcman47]

Pretty good system but at $900 it should be.

To me the 650w power supply and 95w quad-core processor seem a tad overkill but whatever floats your boat.

I don't run any tv tuner cards or anything like that but i looked up your card on newegg and it got pretty low ratings, just saying...

Whatever you decide on have fun building it.

TC

[quake101]

quake101 --> I did actually consider AMD black edition at one moment, but I can't say that I'm a huge fan of the 95W that it is supposed to use. Also, as far as I have understood it, the larger L3 Cache is pretty useless from an XBMC viewpoint.

So you've had/have the 7750 yourself? How does it handle Full HD videos?

I've upgraded my 4850e to the 7750 and it's a huge step up. It handles 1080p content very well (only a few dropped at startup). I have my HTPC in a fairly small case and I don't have an issue with heat. I personaly don't know if the L3 Cache helps with xbmc but I figure it doesn't hurt anything. The newer core is well worth the upgrade.

Note: I have a VMware server running on this box as well. (w2k3 guest os)

[asphinx]

So after all the opinions so far I as still not sure if the 4850e can handle 1080p, but in a small effort to maybe counter-act it, if it couldn't I have moved to the 5050e. It's still has a 45W just as the 4850e, but with a 2600MHz clock speed instead. Of course still is still open to change but I am kinda liking were this is going so far. Considering the price and all.

NEXUS NX-4090 400W REV 2.0
AMD ATHLON 64 X2 5050E AM2 (45W) BOX
CORSAIR DDR2 2X2GB 1066MHZ DIMM CL7 XMS2
GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H
SAMSUNG 8X DVDRW SLIM BLACK WO NERO
Silverstone Grandia GD02

For a total of: 448,85 €
or
565.37 $
397.05 £

No HDD in the list though, as I am still struggling between SSD or not.

[ashlar]

No HDD in the list though, as I am still struggling between SSD or not.

I strongly suggest 2.5" hard drives for HTPC. I have one, encased in a Scythe 3.5" adapter that completely silences it (from the seating distance, I frankly don't care about putting my ear against the case ).
2.5" HDs are quiet, reliable at high temperatures (in a silent case you won't have many fans) and use very little power. You can get one in 500GB size, something you don't get by going SSD.

[asphinx]

--> ashlar, thank you! That is actually a very good idea. I just checked out a
Seagate MOMENTUS 5400.5 160GB 2.5" SATA2 8MB. I don't really need a 500GB as most of the media will be streamed anyway. But being quiet is a definitive pro!

Bringing up my total to 497.75€ as of right now.