I am in the middle of my first HTPC build myself, but I'll share with you what I can.
so i want to build an HTPC. is there a dvd rom or software that i can get that upconverts?
From what I have been told, so long as your video card supports certain technologies (and any recent ones do), and your software has the option, it will upconvert automatically without you needing to do anything.
im also curious on what kind of video card to get and i choose to get a monitor vs getting a tv, does the monitor and the video card have to support hdpc or whatever its called?
If your video card and monitor are not HDCP compliant, your media will automatically be downconverted to standard definition playback. So, yes, you want to make sure they are HDCP. Finding a video card that is will be easy, and most monitors are as well. Just make sure you check for the option. You won't be paying a premium for it, so just make sure it's listed in the specs while you decide.
Personally, I have a 50" plasma that I just bought, and this is what prompted me to put together a HTPC in the first place. It doesn't have as high resolution as a monitor, but for media this doesn't matter. For games it will, but only slightly since you'd be viewing it from further away than you would a monitor.
also, hdmi vs dvi. i wont be needing the sound capability of hdmi.
HDMI and DVI are pretty much the same thing. The digital signal is the same format. The thing you have to worry about is that most TVs nowadays have dropped the DVI connection. They usually have VGA and HDMI. I would go with a card that supports HDMI, because most have a SPDIF pass through so that you can get digital quality audio. If you really don't want it, I recomend buying a DVI-HDMI converter for the video card, because otherwise you'll be converting digital to analog and back to digital again with the VGA cable, and might have some lost quality.
i will be playing some games on this machine as well. cs 1.6, wow, and ffxi. so the video card doesnt need to be super nice. thanks for the help. have a good one!
I'm probably going to be buying a 4770. TVs are relatively low resolution. 1920x1080 is their max. So you don't need a powerhouse to run at good settings at low rez. Especially with your games (my list is very similar with WoW being my primary). It has a very good price point, and excellent performance for the price. I could see going to as high as a 4850, but the added cost doesn't seem worth the marginal performance increase to me.
Hope that helped you some.
