[ATI] HTPC build - Need AGP Card Recommendations (1 Viewer)

[Bennett Wallace]

I'm wanting to build my first HTPC out of an old MSI K8N-NEO V2 system with the following specs below. I'm looking to watch/record Blu-ray/DVD's and HD TV, no gaming.

I'm wanting to use an AGP card with HDMI. What I've been reading and finding recommendations for the HD-4000 series cards (i.e., HIS Radeon HD 4650 Fan Graphics adapter - 1 GB - DDR3 SDRAM OR His ATI HISH435F512HA Radeon HD4350 iFan 512MB DDR3 VGA/DVI/HDMI AGP V

I'll be connecting this system to a to Sceptra x32BV Full HD TV (refer to specs at end of post). I'll be purchasing a TV turner card once I figure out the graphics card. I use Insight Cable for my cable provider.

Will the current configuration support this endeavor?

Sorry for the long post but I want to get this done right. Thanks

Operating System
-Windows XP SP3
-Mediaportal 1.1.1

PC Components Installed
- WD 250GB SATA drive
- WD 80GB IED drive
- HP Blu ray/DVD ROM
- Mitsumi CD -RW
- Floppy drive
- Standard serial port keyboard/PS2 mouse
- ATi 7000 Radeon PCI AGP card 32MB
- USB PCI express card 4port hub
- Antec 350w Smartpower PCU (which will probably have to be upgraded to a 450w or higher PCU)
- Using on board sound (see specs below)

CPU
• Supports 64-bit AMD® Athlon™ 64 and Sempron processor (Socket 754)
• Supports up to 3700+ Athlon 64, or higher CPU
- Athlon 64 3000 currently installed

Chipset
• NVIDIA® nForce3 250 Chipset
- Supports Athlon™ 64 processor (Socket 754), 800MHz Hypertransport interface.
- Supports single memory channels, DDR 400/333/266 without ECC support.
- Supports external AGP 4X/8X
- Integrated Serial ATA interface and dual channel ATA 133/100 master mode EIDE controller.
- Supports 8 high speed USB2.0 ports.
- AC'97 2.3 compliance.

Main Memory
• Supports 2 slots for 184-pin DDR DRAM DIMM modules.
• Supports DDR 400/333/266.
• Supports memory size up to 2GB without ECC.
- Currently have 2GB of PNY installed

Slots
• One AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) 1.5V 4X/8X slot
• Five 32-bit v2.3 Master PCI bus slots (support 3.3v/5v PCI bus interface).

On-Board IDE/SATA
• An IDE controller on the NVIDIA nForce3 250 chipset provides IDE HDD/CD-ROM with PIO,
Bus Master and Ultra DMA133/100/66 operation modes.
- Can connect up to 4 IDE devices.
• Integrated SATA, supporting up to 2 ports.
- Up to 150MB/s transfer rate.
- One SATA controller, supporting 2 drives in master mode.

Audio
• 5.1 channel audio codec RealTek ALC655.
- Compliance with AC97 v2.3 Spec.
- Meet PC2001 audio performance requirement.

Internal I/O Connectors
- ATX 20-Pin power connector
- 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
- CPU / System x 2 / Chipset FAN connectors
- Serial port header (COM2)
- CD-in connector
- IrDA infrared module header
- 2 x Serial ATA connectors
- 2 x ATA133 IDE drive connectors
- 2 x USB 2.0 connectors support additional 4 ports
- Front panel audio connector
- Front panel connector

Back Panel I/O Ports
- 1 x Parallel
- 1 x Serial port (COM 1)
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard
- 1 x PS/2 Mouse
- 1 x 3 in 1 Audio jack (Line-in/Line-out/MIC)
- 4 x USB 2.0
- 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack

Spectra x32BV Full HD LCD TV 1080p with the following connections
2xHDMI
VGA
VGA STEREO INPUT
AV1 (CVBS)
YPbPr (COMPONENT)
AUDIO OUT
SVIDEO
SPDIF OUT

 

[wijnand]

Go for a GT220 1gb ddr3. I'm using this one on my Mp client for 1080i playback. It does it perfectly. Prices are dropping and even second hand they are available.

regards,

Wijnand

 

[Lehmden]

AW: HTPC build - Need AGP Card Recommendations

Hello.
Nvidia GT220 is not available for AGP Port....

You can try a ATI HD 4670 card with DDR3 Ram like this one: "HIS Radeon HD 4670 IceQ, 1024MB DDR3, VGA, DVI, HDMI". But they will be noisy as there seems to be no passive cooling available for this GPU.

The PSU should be way enough. Normally HTPC systems are running on low power consumption. If you want to change the PSU (to noisy or so), go get yourself a 300w 80+ psu e.g. BeQuiet or Seasonic.

The CD-RW drive is obsolete and could be removed. Same with the FDD. And the 80GB IDE HDD could be way to slow to be used also. The ATI Radeon 7000 did not work with MediaPortal as it is no DirctX9 card. This must be changed to have a first try... 2GB Ram is enough, CPU should be enough also.

But think twice... I don't believe this hardware will give you a long time joy. It's too old and leads you into too much compromises (mainly noise level and power consumption but also performance issues, AGP is a really bottleneck,...). Next Gen of MediaPortal will be running on Windows 7 and better only.

So you have to spend a lot of money for a GPU witch is not really "State of the art" only to reuse old hardware components. A e.g. ATI HD5450 is less than half the price of this AGP relict but gives you lot more performance and way less power consumption without any noise.

Maybe you can think of changing the mainboard to a e.g. "Foxconn A9DA-S, 890GX" add an AMD Atlon X2 240e and 2x2 GB DDR3 Ram. This will cost you something around 70 Bucks extra (comparing to AGP GPU mentioned above) but you have actual hardware with capabilities to perform a lot stronger and also a lot longer... Case, PSU SATA- HDD, BD, Keyboard, Mouse,... all this could be reused without issues.