What CPU/Motherboard for x264 MKV playback

[ScoobyDoo]

My old media centre is showing its age and the Athlon 64 3200 processor cant cope with decoding HD media.

Im after a motherboard, processor, cooler (quiet as possible) and ram(1gb or 2gb) to decode/play 720p x264 MKV files.

I was thinking of getting:-

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AMD 780G Micro-ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
along with a AMD AM2 4050e processor.

Would this be powerful enough to play 720p x264 MKV files?

 

[AbsenceJam]

Surprised your A64 3200+ can't do that, I've an Opteron 146 @ 1.8Ghz that will play any 720p encode using any decoder.
But if you're upgrading then that setup would be a decent choice. If you use a decoder that supports DXVA (CyberLink, WinDVD, MPC HC internal etc) then for a lot of your files there'll be hardly any CPU use at all. And for the rest that need to be decoded by the CPU that one is fast enough. Do you care about HDMI and audio over HDMI? If you do I would consider the nVidia 8200 chipset or the forthcoming Intel G45 or AMD 790GX.