Right now I would suggest keeping an eye on getting a half-height card that includes (or manufacturer offered) low-profile bracket. As current MediaCenter Hardware is getting small enough to fit into tighter cases and still provide the function of full towers, the growing trend right now is making "cable box" sized HTPC's.
Look for the Chaintech 512MB GeForce 8600 GT, Model GSV86GT. The KFA2 9600GT low-profile card is too power hungry for most MediaCenter use, but the 8600GT from Chaintech doesn't require additional power and works great. If you want to put it in a slimline case then you can order the low-profile bracket from Chaintech directly for 10$ (includes shipping).
And last, I recommend Nvidia over ATI for HTPC use because PureVideo HD is just a better looking software video processor in my opinion.
“An engineer explained to us that hundreds of ear impressions were gathered in the name of research, and while each one obviously boasted its own unique shape and size, one single characteristic remained uniform across the board: the entrance into the ear canal is not a perfect circle, it's an oval.”
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Right now I would suggest keeping an eye on getting a half-height card that includes (or manufacturer offered) low-profile bracket. As current MediaCenter Hardware is getting small enough to fit into tighter cases and still provide the function of full towers, the growing trend right now is making "cable box" sized HTPC's.
Look for the Chaintech 512MB GeForce 8600 GT, Model GSV86GT. The KFA2 9600GT low-profile card is too power hungry for most MediaCenter use, but the 8600GT from Chaintech doesn't require additional power and works great. If you want to put it in a slimline case then you can order the low-profile bracket from Chaintech directly for 10$ (includes shipping).
And last, I recommend Nvidia over ATI for HTPC use because PureVideo HD is just a better looking software video processor in my opinion.