HTPC Set up need some advice over this set up before i buy.

[Matrix]

I'm looking into building a HTPC for the lounge so i can play movies and music through it.

The main thing i'll be playing through it is X264 content on my Plasma tv shows and movies using HDMI lead to conect it too using kmplayer.

I plan on connecting it also up to my home cinema amp so i can get 5.1DD and DTS using either a optical cable or coaxial cable.

Equipment I'm looking at :-

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4050e 2.1GHz Socket AM2 Energy Efficient 1MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G Socket AM2+ onboard VGA 8 channel audio mATX Motherboard

Corsair VX450WUK 450W PSU

OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory Gold GX XTC CL5 DUAL CHANNEL (LIFETIME WARRANTY)

Samsung HD753LJ 750GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm *32MB Cache* - OEM

Netgear WG311T 108mbps Wireless PCI Card

Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI-Express - OEM.

Right for CPU is that good enough ? I want to keep temps down as i'll be using a stock fan to keep it cool.
Is there much difference between that and these AMD Athlon64 4800 Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor & AMD Athlon64 4850e Socket AM2 Dual-Core Processor?

I see most people seem to be using that motherboard but does it have optical or coaxial out? . I couldn't find this out when i looked so thats why i've added a SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio to the list. Would the sound be better using a seprate card anyway?
Also will the picture still be spot on as there's no graphic card in and it's just using the motherboards onboard graphics there via HDMI ?

I need a wireless card so i can access my network as most of the films will be stored elsewhere so thats why i've only gone for a 750gig drive.

Now for a case seems most of the cases i've looked at are over 40cm depth I really need somethiing a little smaller so i was looking at a SilverStone’s Grandia GD02 nice and simple looking but it's only 36cm depth.

Can anyone recomend any other smaller cases like that?


Trying to get everything set in mind before i make the jump over to HTPC so thanks for any help.

 

[thefishdude]

im not into audio but it has one of these

1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector

is that what you wanted to know ?

as for cpu it should be good enough i would have toight, as these motherboards have built in hardware hd decoders in the 780g chipset. soo that cpu doesnt actually do any decoding.
gfx wise the 780g chip set as mentioned aboves coupled with the onboard gfx can do full 1080p hd out put so you dont need an addiotnal gfx with this board. unless you wanted to do some heaving gaming on it also of course.

 

[amkan13]

go for the highest speed processor in the 45w envelope ie. the x2 4850e doent go for the standard x2 processors as their thermal envelope is bigger ~65W...therefore more power consumption

 

[ScoobyDoo]

The processor will be more than capable enough.

Im running all my 720p x264 on a old Athlon64 3200 processor with a 6800gts graphics card and they play very smooth, with about 50-60% CPU usage.

Make sure you get the right codec's loaded up.
Highly recommend just using COREAVC and KMPLAYER.

 

[Matrix]

The processor will be more than capable enough.

Im running all my 720p x264 on a old Athlon64 3200 processor with a 6800gts graphics card and they play very smooth, with about 50-60% CPU usage.

Make sure you get the right codec's loaded up.
Highly recommend just using COREAVC and KMPLAYER.

Yeah i'e installed Kmplayer and seems to play everything i throw at it on my PC. I was using VLC player but some times it would jump or not allow me to fast forward with the bar.


So do you think i would be better to use on board sound using optical S/PDIF or a seprate card will give me better sound quality like the SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme ?


Thanks for the info so far people.