Choice of new GPU (1 Viewer)

[hulkhaugen]

Windows Version: Windows 7 Professional x64
CPU Type: Intel C2D E8400 2x3GHz
HDD: Samsung 1TB
Memory: Corsair TWIN2X PC8500 4GB
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD3650 512MB
Sound Card: Onboard Realtek HD Audio Codec
1. TV Card: TerraTec Cinergy S2 PCI HD
HTPC Case: 3R System Mstation HT-1000
Cooling: Scythe Ninja Mini
Power Supply: Crosair VX450W
Remote: Logitech Harmony 885 as iMon PAD
TV: Toshiba REGZA 52Z3030D

Here's my setup, but i just put in a purchase order for what appears to be the last Digital Everywhere FloppyDTV S2 tuner left in stock in Norway So, for the occasion of a hardware upgrade, my birthday, x-mas, new years eve and that i'm coming home from work next week, so i wanna give myself a treat; a new GPU

But here comes my lack of knowledge, which GPU? I've been looking at ATI 5770 and 5750, but am also curious about what Nvidia has to offer. I want it to be passive cooled, or at least very quiet. It's in my interest to get a card with good drivers and good support for MP and DXVA, but also for casual gaming. And if any of them have known problems, for example in refresh rate issues or similar, that's not wanted. Any constructive feedback is epriciated =)

 

[kiwijunglist]

maybe you should get nvidia because they seem to have less issues with hdtv and the new ms h264 codecs compared with ati.
however im fairly happy with my hd4670

 

[hoborg]

hulkhaugen:

It depends what do you prefer:

Quiet and low power consumption - ATI4550 passive (lets hope ATI will release some 5xxx LP passive to replace 4550 soon)
HD audio passthrough - ATI5xxx
"full" h.264 support - profile 5.1 and 6+ ref frames (but lack of VC-1 HW decoder) - some new nVidia model (?250?) + Vista/Win7

 

[hulkhaugen]

Well, 4550 won't be much of a upgrade from the 3650, would it? I can live with a fan, if it's not to noisy. I do have, as mentioned, a Schyte Ninja Mini CPU Cooler, and it's not noticeable at all, so i guess it's possible to get a gpu with a slow fan at about the same level...

 

[tourettes]

@hulkhaugen:

It depends what do you prefer:

Quiet and low power consumption - ATI4550 passive (lets hope ATI will release some 5xxx LP passive to replace 4550 soon)
HD audio passthrough - ATI5xxx
"full" h.264 support - profile 5.1 and 6+ ref frames (but lack of VC-1 HW decoder) - some new nVidia model (?250?) + Vista/Win7

About bitstreaming

hose are the only ones that are able to send the undecoded Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio. GT2xx series can pass the decoded 8 channel LPCM audio stream to the amplifier. For pure hifi guys it might make some difference where the audio is decoded (but when those codecs are lossless, there cannot be any differences in the decoding quality, unless the codec is buggy).

Other difference is that there is currently no free codecs for decoding those two formats. Also with bitstreaming, you aren't able to use reclock or any other filter (if you need such for removing the possible stuttering)

About VC-1:

That one is supported (in addition to DIVX & XVID in future drivers) on GT2xx series video processing unit.

 

[hoborg]

That one is supported (in addition to DIVX & XVID in future drivers) on GT2xx series video processing unit.

...BTW, how this suppose to work? If i am not wrong, DXVA only support h.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 acceleration.

I known nVidia will release new linux driver with xvid/divx HW decoder, but DirectShow? This should be done using CUDA (or OpenCL) in DirectShow, but that mean an new video filter (decoder) to support it.

...or is there something i am missing?

 

[hulkhaugen]

About the audio, for the moment i just use a analog minijack -> phono and i have only 2 lagre speakers. Maybe keep up the possibilities to upgrade to 5.1, but nothing more than that. My receiver is also an old cheap Kenwood KRF-V5090D, and i obviously only play stereo atm.

But i didn't see any suggestions tourettes?

 

[hoborg]

... but also for casual gaming.

I miss that

ATI HD 57xx is really good and cheap. That is my tip. nVidia curently have some problems to release new powerfull gaming card...

 

[tourettes]

Bascily if you are after bitstreaming the new audio formats, buy a ATi 5xxx or Nvidia and a separate (expencive!) audio card. If you are after H.264 video decoding buy a nvidia GT2xx.

On video decoding side Nvidia has few pros compared to ATI:

• Wider range of H.264 profiles supported on the HW decoding
• Future support for MPEG4 (divx/xvid etc) hardware decoding (those aren't as hard to decode on CPU as H.264, so I wouldn't focus on this at all)
• Better compatibility with newly introduced H.264 broadcast video streams in Europe (ATI Radeon HD 5800, 5700 and 5600 Series Thread: Supporting HD Audio Bitstreaming! - Page 41 - AVS Forum) - not sure if it has been already solved with latest ATI drivers (or is it even a HW issue as VPU might have some bugs)

But as a summary, there is no perfect GPU (yet) available when it comes to HTPC usage. Both Nvidia and ATI have their own short comings.

 

[tourettes]

That one is supported (in addition to DIVX & XVID in future drivers) on GT2xx series video processing unit.

...BTW, how this suppose to work? If i am not wrong, DXVA only support h.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 acceleration.

I known nVidia will release new linux driver with xvid/divx HW decoder, but DirectShow? This should be done using CUDA (or OpenCL) in DirectShow, but that mean an new video filter (decoder) to support it.

...or is there something i am missing?

Not sure on the technical details. But in any case a new video decoder filter is required (CUDA or DXVA1/2/HD based).