Would like to upgrade from on-board graphics to give me a bit more beef when running Media Center 2005 and also a potential future upgrade to Vista Media Center.  

So have been recommended the following

ATI x1600 - £55.93
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=27792154855&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&product_uid=113205

Point Of View 7600GT 256mb
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/106578

or a lower spec 7300GT

Now, I am really confused as there are several different model cards, with GT, Pro etc etc.  Will not be playing games on the machine, purely just to give Media Center a bit more oomph; and to accomodate future upgrade.

Comments as always appreciated.

If at any point youre thinking about using PowerDVD to HD-DVD or BlueRay movie playback then you should check out the minimum requirements:

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/products/require_112_ENU.html

I (stupidly) thought that a FX5200 would be plenty for HD/BR but apparently not. Although my FX5200 does everything else fine and dandy @ 1280*720p.

Well according to the link both the first two cards I mentioned are compatible.  x1600 or 7600GT?  Or would you say that there is not much in it?

8500 GT may be the way to go for media centre.

Id go for whichever is quietest out the 2.

Itd probably be a good idea to find a card that supports HDCP if you intend on playing hi-def through it at any point. I also go with the whichever is quietest choice.

What about the budget range of the 8 series?

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/04/17/nvidia_geforce_8600_gts/1