Windows 7: Wanting to build a HTPC around a GeForce 8800. Need advice

I've been wanting to build up a media center PC for a while now and a buddy just gave me a GeForce 8800 GTS video card. It's got two DVI ports and is PCIe 16x (I think).




So I'm looking for advice:

• Is this card adequite?
• Can someone recommend a mobo and processor (cheap but reliable)
• And maybe a case

My tv is a 42" 720p Plasma which is why I think the card will be okay.
I don't have cable tv so no need for a tv tuner or other means of bringing the tv signal to the PC
All I really use is my Xbox360 to stream Netflix and watch DVDs on.
I'm mostly interested in the free online television services like Hulu.

The video card is definitely adequate, depending on the resolution that monitor requires. Mine is only 23" (1080p)and uses 1980x1024 (that is the highest resolution offered on my system, but I don't know if greater resolution would be available with a larger monitor or not). The only time that it might not be adquate is if you also play some of the more advanced games on it. As far as motherboard and processor goes, that would be difficult to make a recommendation, because there are so many of them that would work fine, that it boils down to your budget and preferences.

As for the case, I would recommend a CoolerMater HAF 922 for several reasons, but the main one is good cooling.

EDIT: Rereading your post, it seems that the operative words are *cheap and reliable*, and that seems to point toward an Asus motherboard (some Asus boards are not cheap, but they are as reliable as I know of) with an AMD processor. Exactly which goes back to what I said about budget and preferences.

If the machine is only for video playback, then yes the card is adequate if you were planing on using it for any kind of gaming. It will probably frame out pretty bad.

Generally 1080p is the set resolution I have a 42" tv and 1080p resolution is still the standard on it.

For what it is worth, here is a shot of the resolutions on my desktop, which is the same as I have on the HTPC:

Go check out micro center. They have some sweet deals on motherboard and CPU combos. Go at least a i5 processor but a i7 would future proof yourself. If you can wait, wait until sandy bridge motherboards are fixed and grab one. If you go with sandy bridge, get a board with UEFI and a K series processor. Very easy to over clock, it's built into the bios- change one setting, the rest adjust.

On the other hand, if the computer will always remain a HTPC, you don't really need state of the art hardware, and you can get more performance than you need with AMD. Personally, even if I wanted a high performance PC, I do not believe that what little improvement that Intel offers is worth the significant extra cost. Throwing in the chip defect of some of the I7s, that is doubly true.

Just get 785G based mobo, dual or triple core AMD proc, 2 or 4GB of ram and you are good to go. no need to even use that Video card or any video card.
Onboard works great.

Newegg.com - ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX435WFGMBOX

Here are the specs for my HTPC that I use for playback of 720P rips, 1080P BluRays, and Netflix that I built 2 years ago,
Silverstone Sugo SG02B, ASUS P5N7A-VM, E6750 2.66Ghz, 8GB, 1 TB, Lite-On BD Drive, Panny TH-42PZ80U, Win 7 Ultimate 64bit : HTPC

Here is a inexpensive AMD quad core from eBay. Should do the trick.
AMD OS8354WAL4BGD 2.2GHz QUAD CORE OPTERON 8354 CAAZB - eBay (item 380311488476 end time Feb-25-11 04:35:39 PST)

Find him a motherboard that doesn't cost $300 that supports that processor.

Well, if that's to much for him, scan through this to find something cheaper if AMD is what he wants....
Micro Center AMD Processor Bundle Savings