ATI or Nvidia for HTPC? (1 Viewer)

[somy]

Hi,

I'm upgrading my PC from Q9300+HD5770 to something newer/faster. The PC is also used as an HTPC with a 20m HDMI cable to my living room where my AVR and projector are located.
I plan to upgrade it to Xeon E3 1230v2, and I have difficulties to decide whether I should get an ATI 7850 (Oh yes I play games) or an equivelent Nvidia card. In the past I always prefer ATI card, and it worked fine. I can easily switch the primary display forth and back between my monitor and projector, 24P/50P/60P works perfectly fine, and bitstreaming HD sound is amazing. I recently read the advantages of LAV CUVID Decoder based on nvidia card which seems to produce the best PQ nowadays, but I'm new to Nvidia card, does it support all the features I need?
Thank you in advance!

 

[xetic]

why you don't use a CPU with Intel HD4000 graphic inside? It works fine...

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.
Intel HD4000 is really good as long as it comes to HTPC. But if you want to play games, this is nothing you can use...

The question can't be answered that easy. Both have advantages and both have disadvantages... ATI is better when it comes to Sound, Power consumption and there are more cards to choose from. And most of the times they are cheaper. Nvidia is better in 3D, in Picture Quality (Video, BluRay,.. Playback, not necessarily on Games) and in driver stability. Biggest disadvantages on ATI are the really buggy drivers and on NVidia the limited number of Sound- formats supported...

Personally I prefer NVidia due to the lot better drivers, but this must not be the same for you.

 

[tourettes]

NVidia the limited number of Sound- formats supported...

On Nvidia vs. ATI the only difference is that 88.2Khz and 176.4Khz formats aren't supported. This has affect only if SACD sourced content is played as it uses 44.1Khz multiplied with 2x or 4x.

 

[somy]

why you don't use a CPU with Intel HD4000 graphic inside? It works fine...

Hi, thanks for the reply. As I wrote, I also use the PC to play games, and HD4000 is probably not powerful enough for me. I've also heard Intel card have issues with 24P playback, don't know if it is still true though..
But is it possible to use HD4000 to connect to my AVR and bitstream HD audio while at the same time have another standalone graphic card connect to my computer screen only for playing games?[DOUBLEPOST=1363955257][/DOUBLEPOST]

On Nvidia vs. ATI the only difference is that 88.2Khz and 176.4Khz formats aren't supported. This has affect only if SACD sourced content is played as it uses 44.1Khz multiplied with 2x or 4x.

Good to know! I only bitstream DTS, AC3, TrueHD and DTS MasterHD for movides, and 44.1khz LPCM and 192khz from mediaportal (due to the lack of WASAPI support currently) for music, so I assume it's not a deal breaker for me [DOUBLEPOST=1363955379][/DOUBLEPOST]

Hi.
Intel HD4000 is really good as long as it comes to HTPC. But if you want to play games, this is nothing you can use...

The question can't be answered that easy. Both have advantages and both have disadvantages... ATI is better when it comes to Sound, Power consumption and there are more cards to choose from. And most of the times they are cheaper. Nvidia is better in 3D, in Picture Quality (Video, BluRay,.. Playback, not necessarily on Games) and in driver stability. Biggest disadvantages on ATI are the really buggy drivers and on NVidia the limited number of Sound- formats supported...

Personally I prefer NVidia due to the lot better drivers, but this must not be the same for you.

Hi, thanks for the reply! I'm also quite tired with ATI drivers (especially CCC). They can change a lot of things in one minor release, which can screw up everything. On my old machine I didn't dare to upgrade the driver for more than 1 year now......

 

[Lehmden]

But is it possible to use HD4000 to connect to my AVR and bitstream HD audio while at the same time have another standalone graphic card connect to my computer screen only for playing games?

Windows supports two graphics cards. Tested this myself. But I don't know if you can use internal and external at same time (tested it with two external cards). I think so, but I'm not 100% sure. If it works, this would probably the best solution as it's easier to support different refresh rates on different monitors with separate GFX cards. E.g. if you want to playback a movie with 23,976 fps on your TV and your Monitor did not support 23,976 this won't work on TV either..

 

[radical]

I've also heard Intel card have issues with 24P playback, don't know if it is still true though..

Intel Ivy's still got little issues with 24p, but its only a quick resync every 4 minute you won't probably notice. Its no showstopper from my point of view.

I'm also quite tired with ATI drivers (especially CCC). They can change a lot of things in one minor release, which can screw up everything.

Can't confirm that. As long as you don't install every new beta driver there shouldn't been any problems. CCC 13.1 running since release without any problems.

But I don't know if you can use internal and external at same time (tested it with two external cards). I think so, but I'm not 100% sure.

It's working without any problem. I've tested it with Intel HD4000 and AMD HD 7870. But, I haven't seen any benefit in this setup, so i deactivated Intel's iGPU.

 

[somy]

It's working without any problem. I've tested it with Intel HD4000 and AMD HD 7870. But, I haven't seen any benefit in this setup, so i deactivated Intel's iGPU.

Well I can see one benefit in my case, that is to have HD4000 connect to AVR and projector as HTPC and standalone card connect to monitor for gaming. The advantage of this setup with one PC doing two things saves maintainace and licence costs.

 

[jameson_uk]

Intel Ivy's still got little issues with 24p, but its only a quick resync every 4 minute you won't probably notice. Its no showstopper from my point of view.

No more or less than NVidia or ATI (http://www.avsforum.com/t/1333324/lets-set-this-straight-no-one-can-do-24p-consistently-well) the UAC thing is not there any more and it is the same with or without

 

[radical]

3-display-setup?

With eyefinity it should also work only with the standalone graphic card.
As far as i know with intel HD 4000 it depends on the mainboard, if it is supported.

But, if allready integrated and standalone GPU are planed, you have some possible options to find a working setup for you.