HTPC + general and gaming use?

For a long time I have had seperate rigs for general family use and htpc. Both computers have been in general family areas of the house. I have decided to upgrade and I am wondering if I could use one machine for both uses and how much inconvenience that will cause.
I have a z68 gigabyte board with hdmi out, I also have a 5770 gpu and will be using windows 7. I was hoping that the computer could be used for general htpc duties with remote, wmc/netflix, and dvd/bluray on my tv , and also be used for gaming, homework, etc. on the monitor at the same time without one user bothering the other user.

Is this possible? Any tips, hints, pro's, con's?

Sounds like it would work perfectly fine to me. A HD 5770 should run most games fine at 1080p at medium settings with AA and such off. Throw in a i3 2100 and you should be sweet. Pretty low power draw system. A solid 400W PSU would work well here too.

Got any ideas on a case you want to use?

I already have a 2500k, so I probably use that. I am thinking that I will custom build my case, as I want it to fit perfectly into my entertainment center, be watercooled, and fit flush with no wires or cables showing. I have been working on a bench staion as a warm up project, to help me figure out methods and issues. There is a thread on that in the alt modding area.

I can say that a i3 2100 paired with a passively cooled Gigabyte Radeon 6770 gives you very close to 95% of the performance of a Q9550 and (2) Radeon 4870s in Xfire.

My friend has both and compared them and his scores in Heaven 2.1 were <6% different

The i3 2100/6770 also was dead silent compared to the noise of TWO 4870s running at full blast.

add in a TV Tuner card, slap in some fat HDDs and you're set.

I got my hardware all set up in a temporary case. Seems to work good except for sound. For movies etc sound is over hdmi which is good. When I want to play a game or general use on my pc, how do I select speakers? Is there an easy way for it to do that automatically or do I have to manually select in control panel?

Also, I have some ideas on a case. Any tips or sugestions to improve it would be appreciated!
click here for thread.