Please help me spec a gaming/htpc rig

[DeeJay-Mo]

Hi guys,

I'm just about to receive a little bonus and I'm planning on spending the £1500 on a gaming/htpc setup for my bedroom.
Straight away £500 is getting spent on a 27" LCD, which leaves £1000 for the pc.
Considering that it's intended for the bedroom, I would ldeally like it to be as quiet as possible.
It also must have 2GB RAM and PVR capability. I have a standalone player for DVDs and DIVX movies, but I will be using the PC for streaming video from the web.
I already have a DVD±RW drive and a 300GB SATA drive, but apart from that I need a stylish case, motherboard, CPU, RAM, TV card and a graphics card capable of playing games like The Godfather.
It doesn't need to be a powerhouse, just fast enough for playing games and recording video.
I would also like to hear your reccomendations on what OS to go for. I hear that XP Media center is good, but also I've heard good things about MythTV.
Thanks.

Oh yeah, one more thing, must have SPDIF coax or optical output, as it will be connected to an Eltax AVR-280 amp, that does not have analogue 5.1 input.

 

[DeeJay-Mo]

looks decent. I am a bit worried about some of the compoinents being a bit noisy though.

430W, do I really need such a beast of a PSU? Just thinkin of my leccy bill.

Any more suggestions for mobo & gfx?

 

[DeeJay-Mo]

is this gaming machine first, HTPC second? Or the other way round?

probably gaming first, htpc second, as I already have quite a lot of home theatre kit.
Onboard sound should be fine as long as it has spdif out.
Yes indeed, I may be leaving the machine on at night, so good power managment is essential.
Is there anything special I have to do to make sure that the PSU draws less power whilst idle, or will the system sort that out autimatically?
The HIS Excalibur Radeon x1800 claims to be silent. Is that really the case? Will that card be any good for playing The Godfather?