AMD or Intel for HDTV capabilities

[mmattai]

1) X-Dreamer Black 350W ATX Case Window/Front USB 2.0
<b>2) Asus A7V8X Socket A KT400 AGP 8X ATX MB LAN, USB2</b>
<b>3) AMD AthlonXP 2600+ 2.083GHz 333 FSB Retail Box CPU</b>
4) Kingston 512MB DDR 400 PC3200 CL=2.5 DIMM Memory
5) Maxtor 200GB DiamondMax Plus 9 ATA133 8MB Bare HDD
6) Teac 1.4MB 3.5" Black Floppy Drive
7) Toshiba Bare 16X/48X/2X DVD-Rom w/Black HDC Bezel
8) ATI AIW 9700 PRO 128MB DDR 8x AGP Video Card 6/23
9) Creative Labs Audigy 2 Platinum Sound Card
9.5) Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Black Bezel
10) Logitech Cordless Black Keyboard & Optical Mouse
11) Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition CD Version OEM

I'm not a hardcore PC gamer, so I mostly want a video card for HDTV DVD movie watching, Xboxing and TV. More like a home entertainment hub that I can also do programming on. I imagine I'll do some PC gaming, but it's not priority. So which chip is better for a primarily non-gaming system? Price is always a consideration. I've given myself a $2500(CAD) budget without a monitor (already got one and will output to a projector for HDTV).

 

[Ryan_Plus_One]

The Athlon XP is world-renowned for it's ability to perform with HDTV.

<font color=red>Proudly supporting the AMD/Nvidia minority</font color=red>

 

[xeenrecoil]

heya mmattai;

I believe the question you should be asking is ATI or Nvidia, its your video card that is going to make the difference when it comes to displaying it on your TV, brand is a big consideration some graphics card companies do better then others when it comes to displaying on a second monitor, i suggest Asus, the v9280S performs very well in this area.

XeeN

 

[mmattai]

So what would you think of the A7N8X motherboard with the AIW9700? Or should I stick with the A7V8X? I hear the V has problems in memory and/or 8XAGP. But then I don't know about the nVidia mobo with ATI vid, should I just go nVidia for both mobo and vid?

 

[mmattai]

I'm already discussing the vid card in it's respective forum, but I was looking for CPU considerations too since I think they play a part in those regards. I thought AMD was more for gaming and Intel was better for general multimedia. I don't care about being true to a single brand, I'm more interested in quality and getting what I want. Plus compatibility, hence the nVidia for mobo and vid question.

 

[Ryan_Plus_One]

Ok, you got me. I lied.

<font color=red>Proudly supporting the AMD/Nvidia minority</font color=red>

 

[slvr_phoenix]

I don't think that the CPU is really all that important. I mean if you're going to be encoding a live video stream into MPEG4 and serving it up in realtime then yeah, the CPU will matter. However if you're just doing things like watching a DVD, playing a game console with the video run through your PC, or even just watching the input from a video camera, then the CPU brand is highly unimportant. I mean heck, I could watch DVDs on a 500MHz Pentium 3.

The real considerations are the graphics card (because <i>that</i> is what will be handling converting the analog and/or digital video input into digital output to the tv/projector/whatever) and the audio card (because <i>that</i> will be handling converting the analog and/or digital audio input into analog and/or digital output to the sound system and/or speakers).

As for mobos, I'd say avoid VIA just because I don't like VIA. Heh heh. nVidia nForce2 should be more than fine. As for video cards, I'd say stick with ATi. To my knowledge they handle 2D graphics (which is what you're working with here) better than nVidia. Heck, you really don't even need the 3D acceleration of a modern graphics card for anything except for the rare game or two that you said you wouldn't be playing on the PC very often. As for audio, the nForce2 mobos have some really sweet onboard sound. Otherwise an Audigy2 is peachy too.

"<i>Yeah, if you treat them like equals, it'll only encourage them to think they <b>ARE</b> your equals.</i>" - Thief from <A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=030603" target="_new">8-Bit Theater</A>