1st htpc project please could have some help ? (1 Viewer)

[drealit]

Ya but 4GB's of ram is so cheap these days (hmmm actually I'm not sure what prices would be in UK versus the US) there's absolutely no reason not to go 4GB... not to mention all the prices I see for 2GB's are rip offs compared to the 4GB deals that come up each week.

If I were you I would switch over to the GA-MA74GM-S2... one of the highest rated motherboards in terms of energy consumption. Get that along with a discrete graphics card like the HD 4670, 4650, or 4550... they will perform much better than the integrated HD 3200 that comes built into the 780G motherboard. HD/Bluray playback will be fully covered and also SD playback will be much better (the 780G is absolutely terrible at Standard Definition content especially if it is interlaced).

I know all this because I started with a 780G and have no moved to the exact same setup I just recommended... 740G + HD4670 video card... it is far superior and I am only using a AMD X2 BE-2400 processor.

 

[DJBlu]

Sorry but I disagree with the comment above reference the HD46** series.

The 780G chipset is based on the UVD 2.0 and performs exactly the same as the HD46** series video wise. The only difference you will get is if you want to play games on your HTPC which I don't believe the OP does.

I don't think the power consumption is going to decrease adding a gfx card with a max wattage of 59w.

I think your forgetting the fact the 780G mobo has a PCI Ex port so if you do in future wish to play games u can always go down this path later.

 

[drealit]

Definitely not true when it comes to SD material... there's many many resources online documenting this: here's one recent and reputable article that covered the majority of chipsets available today High-Definition PC Experience: Graphics Cards vs. High-Definition Video Playback (page 6) - X-bit labs . It doesn't directly cover the HD 3200 but it does the HD 3300 which is used with the 790G chipsets aka an upgrade to the HD 3200 and 780G's.

I mentioned the HD 4550, HD 4670, and HD 4650... I said that I personally have the HD 4670 and am very happy with it not that he should get exactly what I did. Him getting a 740G + a HD 4550 discrete card will be a vast improvement over the 780G and won't cost him much more at all not to mention power consumption will be extremely low with the HD 4550.

I mentioned that I had the 780G and I have upgraded to a HD 4670 discrete card... the difference is night and day. If you don't believe me go google the many different sources regarding the 780G and its poor SD processing... not to mention the gold mine of information and recommendations that the AVS forums provide.

I don't know where you read/heard that the HD 3200 and HD 46xx series are exactly the same in terms of processing video content because it just isn't true.

 

[DJBlu]

the following state that :-

- 3100-3300 (all the variants in 780/790GX family) have UVD2
- 4xxx have UVD2

Unified Video Decoder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Phoronix Forums - View Single Post - MythTV Adds Support For NVIDIA VDPAU

 

[drealit]

But even though that's true... it's definitive that the HD 3200 can't hold a candle up to the HD 4xxx family and its SD content processing (which is what I've been talking about this whole time). It's fact and tests have proven it over and over again... if you're referring to HD processing then yes they have performance that is very close to the same due to UVD2 (the HD 4xxx steps ahead in terms of 24p though - and I'm unsure what this is controlled by... at least the HD 4670 does I'm not sure about the others).

But regardless, I've been talking about SD content... not HD... there's a huge difference when it comes to post processing etc. with standard definition. It requires a lot more processing power to deinterlace, noise reduce, etc. Post processing is handled by the shader capabilities of the chipset if I understand it correctly. Restating that they both have UVD2 doesn't really do anything to argue against my information regarding the SD processing of both chipsets... if you think they process SD content the same way to the same quality please provide me some results that confirm this because so far you haven't shown anything when it comes to that subject matter. UVD 2 does not handle the post processing of SD content though (mpeg2).

Bottom line HD 4670 is faster and more powerful hence better shader support... aka better post processing of SD content. Both chipsets have UVD 2 which is used for h.264/VC-1 content and they perform close to the same (as with most modern processors that are meant to handle HD/Bluray content - excluding 24p which I'm unsure what determines the performance of this).

Not to drag this on and on but I just want to make sure that the facts are straight and no one accidentally buys the wrong product expecting it to handle something with high expectations when in reality it can not provide those results. When it comes to processing SD content, the HD 3200 < the HD 4xxx series.

 

[Michael/htpc]

I use Terratec Cinergy 2400i DT - and it works fine... Only thing is, that it's a bit sensitive Re: signal strength, so you might want to consider this before purchasing...

hi what you mean that the signal strength is a bit sensitive ??

could you please explain a bit more

thanx michael