OK...I know I'm beating this horse to death, but bear with me.

Here's my plan thus far:

case: Silverstone CW01
cpu: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
motherboard: Intel 975X
ram: 2GB Kingston 667Mhz DDR2
vidya: Nvidia Geforce 7600GT with HDMI
audio: Creative X-Fi Extreme Music
ps: Seasonic S12-500
storage: Two of these Western Digital 500Gb
cd/dvd: NEC
cooling: Zalman's for the cpu and vidya card

I think I'll live without the ability to record HD with the HTPC and keep using your cable company's DVR until a HTPC solution is worked out.

The video card has an HDMI output so I'll hook that directly to the TV.

Audio...how do I integrate the HTPC into my HT system? I don't see that most (if any) sound cards have a coaxial or optical digital output? How do I connect the HTPC to my receiver/processor?

That question leads to my next question...

I've been considering selling my Rotel amp and processor and buying an all-in-one receiver. I miss listening to the radio at home and as technologies have been advancing over the years, my older processor is falling behind.

If I'm going to be using the HTPC to playback DVD's, DVR tv, listen to mp3's and play games...I don't really need a feature rich receiver do I? The only video that would be being fed through the receiver would be HD through the cable box, and possibly some video game consoles (PS2, etc) So uprezed video switching isn't a real need.

I'm so confused.