spec me a htpc please, already have q6600 and ddr2

[snow patrol]

hi all, i've decided i'd like a little htpc to go under my tv. i'd like to link it to my pc monitor as well, which is a few meters away.

Ideally i'd like it to have hdmi for both video and audio. Would i connect from the htpc to my AMP and then from the amp to the tv??

so any way, i need a case, mobo, gfx and psu. Mobo must be able to take ddr2 and a q6600 though seeing as i have those available. i'll also need a suitable cpu cooler.

Input greatly appreciated as i've never really ventured into this field and am somewhat at a loss.

PS it could be cool if the card could do a bit of gaming as well.

 

[naefeart]

Have a look at something like the Shuttle XPC SP35P2, its cheap and meets all your requirements including the hardware you already have.

The only extra bit you'll need is a gfx card and you can pretty much pick any one you want, although nVidia cards like the GTX260 and upwards will be a pain to fit due to their length (not that you would be looking at cards as powerful as these).

I built something similar and I'm pretty happy with it, although I spent far too much for media pc:

Shuttle SX48P2E 450W
Intel Q6700 Stock @ 2.66Ghz
Corsair XMS2 DDR2 8500+ 2x2GB
1x 1TB Samsung F1 32MB
XFX Radeon xXx 4870 1GB
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader

Edit: the Radeon supplies both video and audio via the HDMI straight into my TV, so I don't see any issues putting it through an amp first.

n

 

[snow patrol]

what issues might i have if i have the pc at my desk and want to also play games from it? i.e sound based issues? can i have speakers coming from the pc as well, positioned at my desk for pc games?

 

[errata]

If you get the right graphics card (ATI have hdmi audio device onboard) at the worst you might have to switch audio devices (HDMI for TV and soundcard output for the pc speakers.

Q6600 is overkill for media pc unless you do a lot of recoding videos, sell it and get something cooler running and cheap