I'm planning to build a HTPC from my old components. Also I'm interrested to use the KnoppMyth as the system. However, after reading the "Hardware to avoid" section I've become somewhat afraid . So let me ask a few questions. First of all, will my old hardware work (list below)?

Athlon XP 2500
MSI KT6V with VIA KT600 chipset (this is the tricky one )
NVidia 6600GT (with component out)
Onboard Realtek ALC655 audio codec (planning toget something with SPIDF out)

I'm planning to use it mostly to watch DivX/XVid video from my video server in the network. I've got a WVGA (854 x 480) projector which I can connect using either the Component In or VGA (but in the latter case, I must have long and ugly VGA cable running on the sealing). Can I use the Component out as the only display? Or should I use the ugly VGA cable instead? And would the resolution be enough for primary and only display?

What would be a good TV card that would work in my setup (read: VIA chipset)? Would the remote control that comes with the card also be able to control the MythTV front end (yeah, I know, I rellly know nothing when it comes to HTPC )?

For geting the SPDIF Out, what would be a good sound card?

Thank you for your answers and patience in andvance,
Sasler

HI,

This is just my comments from the peanut gallery, however you can get the best answers by throwing in a hard drive, install R5C7 (my recommendation for a beginner) and see what it can sort out for you to use.

KnoppMyth is a great place to learn by test, tweak, experiment, break, reload and do it again. With in a very short period of time you will be able to answer the question for us all

Some have had troubles with the via chips, I have not but maybe I don't run my box as they do.

You don't need a tv card to use the system, just need it to watch tv.

The nvidia card is fairly new, that may need a little special nursing to get started but there is a lot of help here on the forum. Sometimes the search is a little frustrating but can be very rewarding to those with some patience.

Mike

The tricky part with VIA chipsets is lots of DMA requests. This chipset will choke on them and freeze the system. The Hauppauge PVR cards create a big DMA stream during recording.
What you could try is to have your harddisk connected to SATA (probably makes the KnoppMyth install harder) as that controller doesn't suffer from the DMA bug. Alternatively don't use an ivtv based tuner card.

No guarantees it will guard you from the VIA DMA bug, but worth a shot. But as mjl said, just give it a try and see how it goes.