CPU and cooler recommendations

[garycooper]

I am planning to build a new media PC (DVD, WMA etc). I've already built a music PC using a EPIA C3 800 but now I want something with a bit more processing power.
My idea so far was to use an AMD XP or Celeron with a SilentMaxx CoolFlow Cooler as on Kustoms site. MB will be a M-ATX with 3 PCI slots for DVD card, Sound Card and in the future a Nebula D-TV card (This needs min. 800Mhz CPU).
I'm after advice regarding what CPU is the easiest to silently cool but still give adequate processing power.

Thanks,
Gary.

[master baits]

suggest a 2.4 xp athlon runs at true 2ghz , with a decent stock silent cooler should be fine , marry this to (if using xp) 2x512mb 266ddr cheap but good.

i wouldnt think you need a 3 slot job for this task , dvd decoder card isnt really needed these days and the onboard chipset vga is well up to the task.

Same goes for the onboard sound , find a board that has 6ch and it should be more than adequete.If not then check out some usb goodness , schweet!!!

If you must however have something with a little gaming in mind also get a matx with agp port and one pci for future endeavours you.

Match this kit up with a addon remote , some wireless network , a wireless mouse and keyboard and your sorted.

The money you save would be best put towards the silencing options rather than adding to the onboard with 3 pci slots.

[garycooper]

Thanks for your reply,
I was thinking myself that a 2.4XP would be a little overkill CPU power wise. My initial thoughts were a MSI 651M motherboard with a Celeron 1.7. I already have a DVD and sound card. I want to use the DVD card because I will be connecting it to a TV for DVD playback and I know the picture quality from the card is V.good when using the correct cable.

Thanks,
Gary

[master baits]

it should and would be just as good as the matx board that has tv out , the celeron 1.7 and ultimately the 2400xp is cheaper as is a board that supports it.Unless you already have the celly and or board I would go the route mentioned.

I have a dvd decoder card here not a cheap one i may add , and i dont use it opting instead for plain svhs out on vga on gf3ti with power dvd.

Honestly if you can notice the difference on a tv your sitting far too close and have too much time on your hands , you can notice artifacts on monitors when using some software but thats cos most monitors dpi is like well over 1/2(or twice as many) to the tv and dvd producers dont go the whole hog.

My system is as sig says , but with the added joy of tosh rpj 43inch tv , sherwood 100 watss of ddss amp decoder , a 50w sub for the good stuff ,pioneer sat speakers. so I know my stuff and cheaply.

Setup 2 celeron 1.2 set divx playback through routed cables to 28inch tv and vcr in next room , to and fro.

setup 3 cel 566 typing machine , still good for the old odd 3dfx fps.

setup 4 amd xp 1600 with 512 (2x256 interleave)gaming rig with gf3ti200 chaintec golden job , doesnt even stutter whatever games at full whack.

The money you save going the faster and still cheaper route of amd can be spent on upgrading the motherboard or addin gmore ram etc to take advantege of interleaving if the board supports it.

[garycooper]

Thanks for your reply.
My main reason for using a slower CPU is the hope of cooling it quietly. I don't need 6 ch. sound from the PC as the DVD card has digital out that will be decoded by my Av. amp. Also In my experience's with graphics cards (only tried a few it got a bit expensive) I've not come across any yet that come close to the picture quality of the DVD card I've got (RealMagic Hollywood Plus bought for £15 from Kustom forum).

[master baits]

the problem with that is that divx cant be ported through the sigma chip , sure you read abpout hacked dlls that enable it but i have yet to see it.

the card is very os specific too , despite what sigma may tell you stick with millenium any scanline problems then revert to os 98se.I find them pretty poor in 2k xp setups same as the software that comes with them.

[garycooper]

I won't be using divx. I've tried the DVD card under Win XP using it's own software (the latest from the manufacturers web site) on a Asus A7V266 with AMD 1500XP and a Via EPIA C3 800 with no problems.

Thanks
Gary.