E7400 enough for HTPC with onboard HDMI?

[PistolPete]

Hi Guys,

I'm putting together a quick and cheap HTPC using some spare parts I have.
I've got a Gigabyte GA73PVMS2H (i think that's correct) board with HDMI output, 2x1Gb OCZ Gold or Platinum 800Mhz RAM, 750Gb Seagate drive.
I was looking to drop them into a HTPC case to go under the TV to do a few simple things...

A) Playback hi def .mkv's - 720p only due to only have 720p TV.
B) Watch DVD and Bluray's from SATA Bluray drive
C) A bit of online catchup TV
D) Once I've dropped a DVB-T card in, using it as a PVR (not the main source of watching TV though as I have a freeview tuner in the TV already.

I was planning on getting a E7400 CPU to drop in. Would this be enough horsepower as I'm not planning on getting a PCI-e graphics card. I want to keep it as cool and quiet as possible - so I'd rather not have a card sucking power and heating the place up, making noise in the process!!

If it makes any difference, I'll be probably going with Vista Ultimate x64 if I can find it at an OK price.

 

[Stonedofmoo]

Easily enough, a E5200 would be more than enough so a E7400 is overkill

 

[matt_fsr]

I'm putting an AMD X2 4850e in a HTPC very shortly, so I'll let you know how that gets along with HD stuff - going on the argument that clock for clock, the Intel's are faster anyway!

 

[PistolPete]

Been looking and a lot of people are recommending AMD due to heat.
Sadly I've not got much budget to play with and a few spare parts so needs must.
Just realised the E5200 is nearly half the E7400 price now!!

 

[Seft]

I'm putting an AMD X2 4850e in a HTPC very shortly, so I'll let you know how that gets along with HD stuff - going on the argument that clock for clock, the Intel's are faster anyway!

I've got one and it does the job just fine.