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Message: <blockquote data-quote="etheesdad" data-source="post: 357810" data-attributes="member: 84335">I havent seen any - my understanding was that 2x pci and 1x pci-e was the current standard for matx (welcome correction if anyone knows of one)My suggestion for CPU would be Athlon 4850 - they have a high heat tolerance [78] (you can run them with minimal fan noise) and are energy efficient. They seem to be a very popular choice for HTPC's at the moment. Also cheaper than comparable Intel options. If you intend to do video encoding though; the faster your cpu, the faster you will get the encoding done. That means if you want quick output from encoding jobs then it may be necessary to spend money on a 'fast' cpu. (more cores, higher clock speed). For HTPC use though, a 4850 is ample and inexpensive.I think if you are running full-HD then the minimum cpu speed to look at would be a reasonable dual core. an AMD 5000 or faster. This is what will affect the smoothness of the machine's playback - but as far as I know its the GPU that determines the other quality aspects (including cpu load). My recommendation for a GPU - 4550 Radeon. They have been getting excellent reviews for HTPC use, have passive cooling (silent), on board decoding (low cpu use), 7.1 built in, hdmi out etc, and they dont cost the earth. There are a number of good on-board options if you want to save money, and if you're not playing full HD (1920x1280) they will work fine. For full-hd, Id suggest a decent dedicated card though. (you can read numerous posts on MP forums about issues with integrated graphics, particularly 690g and 780g)more here<a href="https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/hardware-selection-help-62/guide-hardware-selection-4014/index3.html#post343888" target="_blank">https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/hardware-selection-help-62/guide-hardware-selection-4014/index3.html#post343888</a>I'll watch this thread with interest.</blockquote>

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