TV & Graphics Card

[mrd5477]

Hey,
I'm looking to upgrade my very old Tiny machine and I'm quite interested in some of the Dell deals. The main purpose of getting a new machine is to use my PC as a PVR to record TV (can't get Sky+ in my flat), if i can play a few games then great but I'm not a serious gamer.

I have already found some extra RAM from Crucial to take me from 1Gb to 2Gb but I am looking for some advice about the TV Card and Graphics card.

Dell offer a 256MB ATI® Radeon® X1300 Pro graphics card for an extra £70
and a coupe of different TV Cards: Integrated Analogue TV tuner PCI card and Dell™ (MCE/Premium/Ultimate) remote control (£41) or Integrated Hybrid (Analogue/Digital) TV tuner PCIe x1 card and Dell™ remote control (£105).

I reckon I could get something cheaper away from Dell but am not sure what to go for within the same (or lower) price range.
For the TV card I have found a KWorld PE 310 which I can get for about £60-70. I like the look of this one as I can have either digital or analogue inputs. Any opinions on this?

As for Graphics cards there are so many I have no idea where to start. I think 256Mb will be enough but what can you recommend for £50-£70?

The rough spec (subject to some haggling with CS) will be:

Intel® Viiv™ Core™ 2 Duo E6300 Processor (1.86GHz, 1066MHz, 2MB)
VIsta Home Premium
1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz [2x512] Memory
160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3000
Integrated Audio with Dolby Digital 7.1 capability


Many Thanks,
Martin

[glc]

The integrated GMA3000 is a very capable graphics unit. Adding more system ram will compensate for its usage of shared system ram.

[mrd5477]

Thanks GLC,

i think i'll go with that option and see how it goes...amybe upgrade if i find it not enough.

Off to haggle with Dell now!

Martin