Need to narrow down video card selection (1 Viewer)

[thinksnow]

I have, on hand right now:
GeForce
MX4000 (low-profile, passive cool, VGA, S-Vid, Comp-Vid)
MX440 (full-size, active-cool, VGA, S-Vid, DVI)
FX5200 (full-size, active-cool, VGAx2, S-Vid)
TI4200 (full-size, active-cool, VGA, S-Vid, DVI)

Radeon
7000 (low-profile, passive cool, VGA, S-Vid, Comp-Vid)
9200 (full-size, active-cool, VGA, S-Vid, DVI)

All are AGP except for the MX4000, which is PCI.

I've got two systems in the build process right now.
#1 is my HD-HTPC with:

• P4 2.8E on a MSI 865PE Neo2-PFISR
  (2x) 2x256MB GeIL PC3200 (2 sets in dual channel)
  Hauppauge PVR-250
  DViCO Fusion5-Lite
  WD 40GB system disk
  Adaptec SCSI Card 29160 connected via LVD cable to
  Promise UltraTrak100 TX8 with 5x200GB in RAID-5
  Thermaltake Silent PurePower 420W PSU

#2 is my Sneaky-HTPC built into a hollowed-out Subwoofer, holding:

• P4 2.8E on a Abit SG-72
  1x512MB GeIL PC3200
  Hauppauge PVR-250
  Chaintech 7.1 Sound card (for optical & S/PDIF)
  WD 20GB system disk
  Maxtor 250GB for local recordings
  FSP Silent Solution Kit for power and cooling

Both are...should be...able to trade information over my network as I wired the whole house with CAT5 when it was being built, so movies, pictures and music are on the RAID.

I don't have a HD television or projector (yet, but coming soon) and I'm fine with just using the S-Video though I suspect I'll need to use the DVI once I go HD, right?

So, will any of the cards suffice and I could go with the two passively cooled ones for minimum noise, or will I need some greater horsepower down the road?

 

[Callifo]

5200 will work well and the 9200 will do ok (9200 is not a dx9 card).

 

[thinksnow]

Ah, that's the trick, look for the DX9!

Well that could have saved me a ton of typing! Thank you.




So...anyone want to buy a video card or two? :wink:

 

[Marcusb]

5200's work quite well for MP. If you want to ditch the active cooling, just take off the fan. In most cases this should not cause any issues (just keep an eye on temps for a bit afterwards, just to make sure). MP doesn't stress the vid card too much.

If you want to go one better, the 6200 has special instructions built in especially for hardware acceleration for HD viewing so it is a better choice for the future. Since you have a 5200 already, use that and see how you go.

I don't know too much about Radeons so can't comment there, sorry.