Multimedia PC, what components to run hd movie files needed?

I have built myself a gaming computer about a year ago and a friend of mine was wondering if I could help him.

He is looking for a multimedia PC that can be hooked up to his television to play movies and music. I have a bunch of HD movie files (.mkv) and was wondering what requirements a new pc for him would require to run them smoothly.

I was thinking a Core 2 Duo around 2.4 GHz, 3 GB of ram, giant hard drive, maybe a tv tuner....but my biggest question is graphics card. My laptop has a **** integrated card and can handle the files but screen tearing is noticeable at times.

So if some people could post some basic setups they feel would be sufficient at running movies in file form, possibly blu-ray drive too, i would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

Just about any dual core on it's own should be able to handle high def files, 1080p may use up a lot of the CPU resources though. If you want to have the GPU help than you can get something cheap like an ATI 3450, some even have HDMI ports right on them so you don't have to use a dvi to hdmi dongle.

If you're only interested in HDPC setup....Might I suggest the AMD 780G chipset it has HDMI built in and Hybrid crossover ready for adding a game card later...couple that with a Phenom and you're off to the races.
Can get those pretty cheap...too!

Any idea how a system based on AMD 780g MB compares to an Intel system - such ASUS P5QL MB or similar and ATI 3450 512MB GPU as far as x264 decoding and HTPC usage goes? Which better - AMD system with 780g with on board GPU OR Intel with p35 chipset and ATI 3450 512MB GPU?

Thanks for the reply. My Gigabyte 780G mb and AMD BE 5000+ is a great combination, but it seems like cd2's in the same class as the BE 5000+ are just as good (if not better) as far as power consumption /heat goes. I wouldn't consider the current generation quad AMD processors - too hot and too power hungry. A friend is about to build an htpc system, and is deciding between Intel MB with ATI 3450 or something similar to my new build - 780G mb and AMD BE 5000+. That's why I asked the question.

Once other factor - AMD option is a dead end as far as processor upgrades goes. The affordable Intel MB's (around $100) will support the Intel quads just fine.

Thanks everyone for your help, I think I'm gonna go with the 780g w/built in ATI gpu.

One last question: would an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz be sufficient to work for this HTPC build? I'm looking for a good price on a CPU no video games in the future are going to be played. And if I get it, do you think the fan it comes with will be good enough if I don't plan on overclocking?

If thats more than enough what would you suggest? I don't want to risk choppiness in playing the movies because I am selling this to someone