New HTPC build looking for advice

[kailen]

Hello

I am on my second HTPC now and I have had it a few months now and I would like to know if there is anything anyone can recommend adding to it.

I am looking to get a good Dual band Wireless card that works well with Windows 7. The one I currently have is garbage and I have read alot of issues about it having weak signals with windows 7.

My system consists of

AMD Athlon II X4 640 Quad Core Processor AM3 3.0GHZ
Gigabyte 880GMA-UD2H AMD880G
Nmedia HTPC-5000B Case
4GB 2x2 G.SKILL F3-12800CL7D-4GBECO Eco
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W ATX 20/24PIN
Samsung SH-B083L 8X BLU-RAY BD-ROM
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S
3 x Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3GBPS 64MB
Linksys WMP600N Wireless-N
Visiontek Candyboard Wireless Mini Keyboard W/ Touchpad ( used for keyboard and mouse )

A couple weeks ago I wanted to play a few games and the onboard ATI 4250 was not enough so I added in a video card
XFX Radeon HD 5670 HD567XZNF3 775MHZ 1Gb

So I am basically wondering what would be a good Wireless card. If I could do better in the audio department with a stand alone sound card and what is a good wireless keyboard and mouse combo to play some games with.

I run this to a 50 inch Samsung LCD in 1080p@60hz
Audio then connects from optical out on TV to Yamaha amp. Would connecting from pc to amp to tv be better?

Any other toys or addons would be appriciated. Not really concerned with price as long as its not a $700 case or something.

 

[kailen]

Forgot to mention I am looking for a good HDTV capture card to record my TV to the HTPC as well. If anyone knows a good one suggestions would be great.

 

[rwpritchett]

I've got the Linksys WMP600N on my HTPC and the 5GHz mode does suck for reception... it maxes out at 70%. 2.4GHz is 100% though. Have you tried it on the 2.4GHz band? I'm afraid there rally aren't any other PCI options. All other dual band adapters I found were USB or mini-PCIe.

The best TV capture cards are the Hauppauge HVR-2250 and the SiliconDust HD-Homerun. The former is best if you want an internal card, the latter is best if you want an external tuner that can be shared across your home network.