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<blockquote data-quote="dcwp" data-source="post: 381602" data-attributes="member: 25562">Thanks for the thoughts PD.&nbsp; This is in fact a PCI system, no PCI-e or AGP available.&nbsp; Eventually I do plan to save some cash and rebuild altogether to create a more powerful, quieter, and more attractive HTPC, but it will probably be at least a year before I can do that.&nbsp; So I was thinking that if I could achieve HDTV and HD streaming for under $100USD (preferably well under that) by just upgrading vid card, I would go ahead and make that change for now.It looks like there are a number of NVidia-based cards that can handle HD, starting with the GeForce 6XXX series.&nbsp; So I was considering something like this:<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130451" target="_blank">Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P1-N724-LR GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards</a>or at the higher end this:<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187058" target="_blank">Newegg.com - SPARKLE SP94GT1024D2LHP GeForce 9400 GT 1GB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards</a>What I'm most curious about now is whether that will make the necessary difference.&nbsp; I'm more or less clueless about graphic cards and HD video in general.&nbsp; So will a card that has PureVideo HD capacity be able to render streaming 720p in my single-core machine?&nbsp; Or would you still say I'm better off waiting until I can upgrade the whole system?Thanks again for the help!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="dcwp, post: 381602, member: 25562"] Thanks for the thoughts PD. This is in fact a PCI system, no PCI-e or AGP available. Eventually I do plan to save some cash and rebuild altogether to create a more powerful, quieter, and more attractive HTPC, but it will probably be at least a year before I can do that. So I was thinking that if I could achieve HDTV and HD streaming for under $100USD (preferably well under that) by just upgrading vid card, I would go ahead and make that change for now. It looks like there are a number of NVidia-based cards that can handle HD, starting with the GeForce 6XXX series. So I was considering something like this: [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130451]Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P1-N724-LR GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards[/url] or at the higher end this: [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187058]Newegg.com - SPARKLE SP94GT1024D2LHP GeForce 9400 GT 1GB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards[/url] What I'm most curious about now is whether that will make the necessary difference. I'm more or less clueless about graphic cards and HD video in general. So will a card that has PureVideo HD capacity be able to render streaming 720p in my single-core machine? Or would you still say I'm better off waiting until I can upgrade the whole system? Thanks again for the help! [/QUOTE]

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