General PC req./recomm. for gbpvr?

[cipher_nemo]

Forgive me if there is some thread here that examines this topic in detail, as there is no stickified thread for it, and it's not on the gbpvr main page.

Lots of PVR noob questions...

I wanted to find out if there were any recommended PC hardware specs for gbpvr? I know it's difficult to do this without a team of say 20 Q/A engineers testing your software 5 days a week for months on umpteen different hardware configs. Still, there should be some recommendations, as Intel/AMD CPUs sold after 2000, etc.

I have an unused relic PC that runs Win2k just fine, but probably not adequate for a PVR: Intel Celeron (Cache Excluded and Lama Earwax Residue On Northbridge) 400MHz CPU.

I assume I should I go ahead and build a new PC for gbpvr? What sort of modern (ie: component currently sold on newegg) processing and video specs should I avoid, if any? If I do decide to try out gbpvr, will it at least run ok without recording/playing back video on my current Celeron-400/256MB ram PC? I'd like to see if it I like it enough to commit myself to this project and gbpvr.

If I like gbpvr, I may invest in components for a new mini-ATX or ITX PVR PC (whew, lots of tech jargon in that sentence). In this case, I'll be looking at the Maxtor Quickview 500GB 5400rpm HDD to reduce noise, heat, and aid with streaming data. Should I also invest in a Hauppauge card, or is any brand ok?

Thanks!

[sub]

The minimum PC spec I recommend is 1GHz PIII class CPU, with 512 MB ram. You'd need a bit more CPU grunt if you also intend to run MVP clients with this machine as the server.