Since getting a new Samsung TV with DLNA (Enabling streaming from my HP Microserver) my Media PC is becoming more and more redundant...

So I'm looking to perhaps use my Media PC for some PC gaming via my TV..

Question is, is the spec up to gaming to todays standards if I drop in a GeForce GTX 460 or similar?

Specs are below purchased in April 2008!:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+ 'Brisbane 65nm' (Socket AM2)
Asus M3A78-EMH HDMI AMD 780G Micro-ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit
Antec Fusion Black

No idea on the PSU though, but I'll have to open up the case and see what i dropped in there, to see if it's got the balls to handle the graphics..

Looking at specs I can take an AM2+ CPU which could bring me up a "AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 940 Black Edition Quad Core 3.00GHz Socket AM2+ Deneb Core" But then that would be about another £100 which I'd sooner not spend..

Just try it with the x2 for the moment, i was happily playing wow, guild wars, warhammer, cod, fallout etc on mine a while ago, should be ok.

That system is still going to be pretty beefy with a good graphics card dropped in, the only thing it could do with is more RAM I reckon.

Up it to 4GB ram and stick a 460 in and you should be set

RAM's ok sorry should have said 2x 2GB above, right might give it ago, I assume from the other PC thread that the GTX 460 is the choice at the moment within that sort of budget

I'm not sure at the moment. When I got mine in Dec is was by far the best bang for buck but I read somewhere recently that an ATI card has taken its place.

Bit-Tech May guide still has the 460 in the budget rig and a MSI R6850 Cyclone Power 1GB in the Mid.

The 560ti also gets good reviews, its a bit pricier but is often on special offers. Also consider 6850/6870 it really depends on the price you can get the card for, obviously going for 560ti/6870 if you can get them for cheap.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=313
6870 v 460
Not a lot in it performance wise , maybe 6870 is slightly better.
Price wise a descent 460 is about £120 & 6870 is about £145 , both overclock well.
Up to you , both will play most games @ 1600 x 1200 with highish settings.
Personally i would go for 6870.

I'll have a proper look in a bit, as my mobocracy says it also supports some form of SLI using the onboard and pcix card, I'll investigate

My son is using an athlon II x2 @ 3.0 Ghz with a ATI 5870 Black Edition, 4GB RAM (on 64-bit W7) and has no problems with his games.  Can one use more than 3Gb RAM on a 32-bit system ?

Cool good to see, and no you can't really use more than 3GB unless in 64bit

He had slight problems with Brink before we upped the RAM from 2 to 4 Gb.

Might potentially have a problem, I'm not sure the Radeon will fit!

The Antec is a mATX case and might be a bit cosy in terms of length, so will have to get the tape measure out!

I have the same case and an Asus 6850 will fit http://www.ebuyer.com/product/244442 the 6850 is a very cool running card so good for keeping the noise level down.

I do a bit of gaming on my HTPC when I have the house to myself, mostly games that can use a 360 controller for windows or don't need to much accuracy using a mouse on the arm of the chair, but I have been known if I'm going to make an evening of it to move the settee so I can use a gaming mat for my mouse and keyboard on my lap, it see far more gaming action than my Xbox  to be fair.

123.99 6870 and 2mm longer than the above, so should still fit?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/244474