building a tight budget htpc setup

im building a new low budget htpc and i need your opinion. Right now the build cost is 500 without a mouse, keyboard, remote. i don%u2019t want the build going over 600 and i would like to keep the price as low a possible.

right now i picked out these parts

amd athlon 64 x2 5000 black edition 2.6ghz 84$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103194

gigabyte ga-ma78gm am2+/am2 780g hdmi micro atx board with onboard hd 3200 gpu 99.99$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128090

creative sound blaster audigy se 7.1 soundcard 29.99$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6829102002

wintec ampx 2x-1gb ddr2800 ram, cas 4 41.99$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820161063

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000KSRTL 500GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive 99.99$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136040

Ultra MicroFly Aluminum Micro ATX case with 400 watt ps 69.99$
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] u=ULT33116

i still need to find a good cpu fan for the microatx case and a good wireless remote, keyboard, mouse but nothing to pricey so i can keep the build under 600

some people say the onboard video would be good for a htpc and im wondering if i should even buy a videocard. if i get the videocard will it be able to crossfire with the onboard gpu??

i plan to use this pc with a 40inch 1080p tv

i think i wont get the video card and if i feel like i need it later i will buy it. i will put in a tuner card in later when i get more money. i hate on board sound so if i dont get the video card ill put some more money towards a sound card. that mouse and keyboard looks like a good deal thanks for the suggestion.

ill probably add a bluray drive in the future
ill be using windows vista home premium 32 bit

do you have any ideas for cpu cooling that will fit in that case there is 3 inch clearance for a cpu cooler

I was under the impression that the 780G will only hybrid crossfire with the 3450 and 3470 cards, NOT with higher end ones like the 2600. Check out the 780G review to make sure, but I'm pretty sure u can't (unless u meant doing xfire with 2 discrete cards).

That being said, why exactly are you looking to xfire it? This is a HTPC is it not? Or are you planning on gaming on it as well?

Also, as jeb pointed out, you don't seem to have a tuner in ur build. Would it be correct to assume that you already have one lying around and are planning to use that? Otherwise, it is a must have for a HTPC, unless ur just planning to watch IPTV, predownloaded videos, or DVDs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6815116015

This might be a little expensive but I've heard good things and its about the same price as your video and sound card. If you get something else, make sure it has a digital tuner for over the air HDTV signals. Also, this one comes with a remote and should work with vista media center.

From personnel experience, you might want to include a Microsoft remote control in your list. Since this is an HTPC I suppose that you'll be hooking it up to cable eventually. If you're cable is using a ''box'' before going into you're TV than it's pretty much a must. When I bought mine it was around 40$ CDN. You could probably save some money on the CPU as previously mentioned if the only thing you'll be doing is record/watch/movies and music. You don't need a powerful processor for that. I am using an intel 2180 but I could have gone with something even weaker and it would have done the job.