2 ?'s: DVi to HDMI, and moving from 754 to AM2?

[Dillusion]

Quick question first: is going from onboard DVI to HDMI on my LCD (via HDMI to DVI cable) the same as doing HDMI to HDMI? I mean aside from carrying the audio, is the video signal the same?

Second:

Right now i have a Sempron 754 with 512MB of ram in my HTPC. I'm thinking of upgrading to a venice core A64 and adding another stick of 512 for 1GB. Is that even worth the upgrade? Or should I just go AM2 dual core....

Is a 754 rig enough to play future HD content with 1GB of ram? or is upgrading to like a 3600+ DC with 1GB of ram a better upgrade right now.

Either way, I'll be using a jetway board with the onboard 6100 GPU. I like the jetway boards cause they have a YrPBrRbPRbsbr or whatever and SVIDEO bracket, and also have DVI on-board.

Will I need a video card anyway to play HD content?

 

[w1retap]

HDMI --> DVI is essentially the same since its a pure digital connection. There are no conversions, no loss of quality.

A 754 is just enough to do 720p content. With CoreAVC, Haali, and media player classic, it should be ok. I cannot guarantee it though. Some higher bitrate 720p content might make it struggle a bit here and there.

If you are doing anything above 720p like 1080i or 1080p, I'd definitely recommend going with a dual core. It will benefit greatly for extra processing power.

If you get a graphics card, it doesn't sound like you do a lot of gaming, so go with the 8500GT with HDCP. There's a passively cooled Gigabyte one for around $98 or so. It will do awesome hardware decoding so you barely even need to use the CPU for most high def video formats.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125062

For your situation, I'd definitely go with the 3600+ am2, a gig or two of ram, and the 8500gt. =)