If I had the system specs to run Vista, or could with a relatively minor upgrade, I'd go with Vista. In your case, you would have to spend some decent $$ upgrading to run Vista with the media center options you want, comfortably. You could use MCE comfortably with another 512mb of RAM on your current system. You would also need a TV tuner card, if you don't already have one, to connect to the TV. How old is your current system? If the hard drive is failing, and the system is several years old, it might be money better spent going with a new system.

 

The systems is about 6 years old, the only reason I am replacing the hard drive is because I'm almost positive that its still under warranty from it being replaced not two years ago. Would I need any kind of graphics card to run MCE on my tv? Also is there anyway to run a full 1920 x 1080 at 60 fps, since thats the tv's native display (1080P)? Thanks for your help it is much appreciated.
ASMalachowski

 

Looks like the TV has only an analog input for a PC. So just about any card would do for that, although you wouldn't want something too cheap with poor resolution. You would also want a TV tuner card, unless you would decide to get an All-in-Wonder card that already had one built in. I would ask for opinions on graphics cards for what you want to do in the hardware section under graphics cards.

 

i assume ur just trying to connect the computer to the TV and running MCE. for vista you would have to upgrade another 512mb ram and a better video card.

you should propably get a better video card either way as running MCE on a big tv is pretty harsh on the onboard video.

please download everest home edition from my signature and post the specs of the motherboard or the full system.

a PCI video card is a way to get you vista compatible and a good card for big screen TV showing either way, they run in the ballpark from 60$USD up to 100$USD depending how much you want to spend on the card, the RAM can be had for around 40$USD

 

Fr4665,
Heres a screen shot of the motherboard from Everest that you wanted,

Also, I want to mention that the tv does support a digital connection (it has two HDMI ports). The chart previously referred to is for the VGA connection. Sorry for the confusion I should have included this information before, again thanks for the help.
ASMalachowski