I've been using my PC as a media centre recently.
Core2duo 1.8
1gb RAM
Radeon X1800XT gfx
All has been fine and its played everything i've wanted, including HD movies without a glych. Only issue I had is that its still in my old beige tower which, next to my silver/black tv, dvd player etc looks daft. I bought a media centre case the other day:-
EV Shiny Piano Black/Silver Slim MicroATX Mini Tower Case - With 400W PSU 20+4pin, 1x SATA, 1x PCI-E - Ebuyer
I went for this one specifically because of the comment about how it will take a full ATX board. Unfortunately, what I didn't realise was due to the placing of the PSU in this case, it won't take my X1800XT due to its enormous length. I don't mind replacing this with a smaller card, especially as I intended doing this anyway and getting a card without a fan on. Unfortunately, I don't know what to go for. I have no intention of playing games on this system anymore but would require it to play full HD movies, both bluray and hddvd without a problem. I'm drawn to the Radeon HD series but dont know which one is best for my requirements. Could anyone suggest one?? Only requirements are that it plays HD stuff, is fanless or extremely quiet and is at least an inch shorter than and X1800XT !!