HTPC

[scharpshooter]

during the course of this spring/summer i will be upgrading my tower to be a HTPC, in time for me to go back to school in the fall.
Current set up:
Mobo: Asus P5Q
CPU: Pentium dual core (e2160 i believe)
GPU: BFG tech 7600GT OC
PSU: 550 watt corsair
Ram: single dimm (1gb) balistix. the other one just died. (2x2gb patriot extreme is in my cart at newegg for $28. 800mhz, 4-4-4-12)
Cooler: Stock intel. (Arctic Cooler freezer 7 pro is also in my cart)

This build/upgrade will take place during this spring/summer in order to be ready for returning to school in the fall. This will be used mostly for music/movies and web browsing, with a little bit of photoshop on the side. Not really any gaming at all (though i may play Age of Empires for kicks once in a while).

Currently i have 2 22" LCD's (1680x1050), and would like to hook up my roommates HDTV in the fall.

Is it worth getting a 64bit OS since i will have more than the 3.5gb (or is it 3.25? i forget) that 32 bit supports? I may be getting more ram too... Im always a sucker for a good deal.
While on the topic of the OS, Vista ultimate 64x makes sense since i hear theres not alot of support for xp 64bit. any thoughts on this?

will my GPU be powerful enough for this? once the HDTV is hooked up I only plan using 1 of the moniters (the other will most likely be hooked up to my laptop).

Is my CPU going to be choking anything here? Some of those quad cores are starting to get pretty cheap.

Since this is being built over the next 6ish months, is there any thing that will be getting much cheaper that i should wait for?

Obviously price is a bit of a concern, college aint cheap after all, so if i can get by with this GPU/CPU, thats what ill do.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Your CPU and GPU should work fine for a HTPC. I'd do your planned RAM and CPU cooler upgrades and pick up 64-bit Vista Home Premium. Vista Ultimate isn't usually worth the extra price. Here's a link to the comparison of the different versions of Vista. Home Premium works for the needs of 99% of home users.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488 $99.99

I use 64-bit Vista in my HTPC and have been very happy with it. I don't know if you're also looking for a TV tuner card so you can record TV, but I highly recommend Hauppauge TV tuner cards.

 

[scharpshooter]

If i was paying for it, I would definitely stick with home premium, but since i can get them all for free through my school, i figure i may as well get the best.
Will ultimate be much more demanding on my hardware than home premium? My GPU only has 256mb.

Ive heard and read good things about Hauppauge cards, so i bought one, only to have it short circuit 2 mobo's before i realized it was the card =/ If there as good as everyone says, i may give them another shot.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Yea, if you get them for free, you might as well get Ultimate. I actually have Ultimate also since I got it for free. I don't really use any of the Ultimate extras, but it was free!

I have two Hauppauge cards in my HTPC (HVR-1600 & HVR-2250). I've been very impressed with both cards.