GPU recommendation for Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H and Antec Fusion NSK 2400 (1 Viewer)

[jet70]

Hi there,

I have an Athlon x2 5600+ CPU, and Antec Fusion case NSK2400 380W and am interested in considering upgrading to a dedicated GPU. A lot of people on this forum seem to have the bigger brother to this case with the inbuilt LED display - the case dimensions however are the same.

The PC is working really very well, but I am finding occasionally that I get the odd frame skip on HiDef mkvs and that a dedicated GPU might eradicate this problem given that this is rather infrequent.

Having gotten familiar with ATI, I would prefer to stick with it.

My concern is not so much the card, but whether it will fit. The passive cards look to have quite a large heatsink.

I will not be playing any games and was considering an ATI 4550/4650/4670.

My motherboard's 2 PCI slots are filled with a NOVA T 500 TV card and a wireless PCI card. Oh, and I'm running Vista Ultimate if that is a factor.

I also have a mini Scythe heatsink (which is not so mini!).

I use HDMI to connect to my television.

Anyone have similar hardware who can recommend a passive card which they know will fit?

Thank you very much.

 

[happy]

i have both the 4350 and the 4550, amazing cards both do 1080p no problem,

Eclipse Computers - Product Details

Gigabyte ATi HD 4550 512MB Graphics Card DDR3 PCI-E DVI- microdirect.co.uk

both single slots both cards idle at 43 degrees and ive never seen the temp go over 55 at any point on either cards

 

[jet70]

They both look good. In your opinion, is it worth paying the extra for the Gigabyte?

Would there be some slight improvement in performance even when using a CPU centric codec like COREAVC?

Thank you for your recommendations.

 

[happy]

well only difference between cards is 4350 has 100mhz slower memory which you wont really notice playing video's although i have played need for speed undercover on very high gfx settings and didnt notice anything

 

[disaster123]

i thought i've read something that the 4350 does not support everything or that the quality is not as good as with the 4550 - but i don't remember where i read this... so don't count on this.

 

[happy]

i thought i've read something that the 4350 does not support everything or that the quality is not as good as with the 4550 - but i don't remember where i read this... so don't count on this.

any chance you could locate that article make an interesting read

 

[disaster123]

I've not found the original source but here you can find some information:
High-Definition PC Experience: Graphics Cards vs. High-Definition Video Playback (page 6) - X-bit labs

and

AnandTech: ATI Radeon HD 4350 and 4550: Great HTPC Solutions

 

[happy]

here some gpu-z shots of both my cards

decide for your selfs

 

[jet70]

thanks for this Happy. I see you are using Catalyst 9.4.

For some weird reason, 9.3 and 9.4 give me washed out playback in the Mediaportal player i.e. grey blacks for both mkv's and avi files with my integrated HD3200.

I take it you don't experience this? Do you use the inbuilt player in Mediaportal?

Thanks.

 

[happy]

im using inbuilt player player, with SAF, i dont have any problems with color

Try SAF