I'm looking to buy an ATI HD3450 card for my HTPC. I've had no luck locating a card that has a passive heatsink and has an HDMI connector on the back. A lot of the cards talk about being HDMI compatible but just have Dual-DVI outputs or DVI/VGA/S-Video. It's very frustrating.
I'd just pick up a Sapphire 256Mb HD3450 and use a standard DVI-HDMI dongle but I've heard that this doesn't work with the ATI cards? I *think* it may just be the HDMI Audio that doesn't work (DVI standard does not provide for Audio so ATI must have hijacked some of the pins to transmit Audio through DVI) but I'm not sure. If it is just the audio that is lost then that's fine, I run my audio out to my Receiver, not the TV...no need for audio over the HDMI cable.
I've also heard that there are some issues with handshaking and the 3450. The TV needs to be switched on before the PC or somesuch. There's more detail on AV Forums Does ATI HDMI dongle fix handshaking? - AVS Forum. Having to reboot the PC or switch it on/off will be a deal-breaker for me. WAF is right down the pan.
So, I'm left with a very confusing hardware purchase. Does anyone have answers to the following:
- Is there an HD3450 available with integrated HDMI output and a passive heatsink?
- Can I use a standard DVI-HDMI dongle if I don't need to send Audio down the HDMI cable?
- Where can I buy an ATI DVI-HDMI dongle in the UK?
- Is anyone experiencing handshaking issues with the HD3450?
Cheers.
I'd just pick up a Sapphire 256Mb HD3450 and use a standard DVI-HDMI dongle but I've heard that this doesn't work with the ATI cards? I *think* it may just be the HDMI Audio that doesn't work (DVI standard does not provide for Audio so ATI must have hijacked some of the pins to transmit Audio through DVI) but I'm not sure. If it is just the audio that is lost then that's fine, I run my audio out to my Receiver, not the TV...no need for audio over the HDMI cable.
I've also heard that there are some issues with handshaking and the 3450. The TV needs to be switched on before the PC or somesuch. There's more detail on AV Forums Does ATI HDMI dongle fix handshaking? - AVS Forum. Having to reboot the PC or switch it on/off will be a deal-breaker for me. WAF is right down the pan.
So, I'm left with a very confusing hardware purchase. Does anyone have answers to the following:
- Is there an HD3450 available with integrated HDMI output and a passive heatsink?
- Can I use a standard DVI-HDMI dongle if I don't need to send Audio down the HDMI cable?
- Where can I buy an ATI DVI-HDMI dongle in the UK?
- Is anyone experiencing handshaking issues with the HD3450?
Cheers.