Ongoing Lower-end HTPC project (1 Viewer)

[jdiffend]

DX8.1 cards can be used with updated drivers in dx9 renderless mode.
BUT then some off the work is done by CPU not GPU as it is case with DX9 cards.

So actually it is up to your cards drivers how vm9 handles.

CoolHammer

Ah... at least someone has an answer. Must be the version of ATi drivers.
So it would be safe to say that CPU requirements with a DX9 card will be lower than with a DX8 card. How much probably depends on what video playback features the DX8 card supports. Since Direct Show has a lot of video stuff and it was out with DX8 I'd think the better DX8 cards should easily handle it.

 

[Callifo]

Looking at the ATI site it seems to say the 9250 is dx8.1 hardware and dx9 compliant. What does that mean?

Wish I had gone for a 5200 VIVO now as its dx9 and better tv out support.

 

[jdiffend]

Looking at the ATI site it seems to say the 9250 is dx8.1 hardware and dx9 compliant. What does that mean?

Wish I had gone for a 5200 VIVO now as its dx9 and better tv out support.

The 9200 hardware was designed to support DirectX8.1 and the software drivers add the additional DirectX 9 functionality. This should not be an issue unless you run a DirectX 9 game with all the features enabled.
Turning on reflections, shadows, bump mapping and highest quality texture maps will turn a game into a slideshow... which is what I witnessed playing a DX9 game demo. The game was updating the picture about 1 frame per second... maybe a litte faster. My Radeon 9600se played full speed with everything on... I think the 9100 was about as fast when those settings I mentioned were off.

The 5200 does support DX9 but they stripped a lot out. Check out the comparison chart for the GeforceFX cards on Nvidea's website. For about $10 more there's the Radeon 9550se (I think it was an se) and has the full Radeon video engine). I'm guessing that will make a difference on CPU usage.

Honestly, for video playback the 9200 should be fine as long as you aren't playing DX9 games. You won't notice a difference uless you check the CPU usage.

One concern is will the 9200 have the bandwidth to support playing HDTV. That we are trying to figure out now.

 

[Callifo]

Ok thanks for that, the pc with the 9250 is soley for MP nothing else. It will never see a game, I just wanted to make sure I wasnt going to miss anything in terms of mediaportal.

 

[jdiffend]

Ok thanks for that, the pc with the 9250 is soley for MP nothing else. It will never see a game, I just wanted to make sure I wasnt going to miss anything in terms of mediaportal.

As soon as I can get an HDTV file to test with I'll check it out on the 9100IGP which should be slower than any version of the 9200. If it works on that it's just a question of what the minimum CPU it will require and whether or not there will be problems with a tv tuner... which I doubt unless the CPU can't keep up.