[OTHER] Videocard upgrade for HDTV (1 Viewer)

[Sacul]

Hi all,

I've been struggling for a while to get Dutch HDTV working fluently. I've found out the IGP is to weak (HD3200).
I installed a ATI HD5770 from my game PC and it works great.

My question to you is what kind of videocard should I purchase? The HD5770 is doing the job well, but I think this might be to powerful. And I prefer a videocard with passive cooling. ATI or nVidia doesn't matter.

I have this card in mind: HD4650




My system specs:

Mainbord
GA-MA78GM-S2H (HD3200)

CPU
AMD Athlon X2 4200+

Memory
Corsair 2 GB, PC6400

PSU
Antec Earthwatts 380 Watt

TV-card
Digital Everywhere DVB-C FloppyDTV

h.264 Codec
Cyberlink Video Decoder (PDVD9) installed with SAF *unlocked*

Thanks!

 

[Spragleknas]

I think AMD's CEDAR-series will be a good choice, if you can wait a bit (and read reviews first!)
Fudzilla

For nVidia, the 220 is probably a good choice .
The 220 is more expensive than ATI's 4350 (and even 4550 IIRC), so I guess ATi gives most "bang for the buck".

There are bad things to say about both nVidia and ATi, I guess, so...

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

I'm using a gt 220, and must admit it is superb at HD decoding, plus with the directcompute and the possibility of encoding using the gpu, put it above the ATI series for me, currently there are no passive models in shops that I have found, but they are in production according to some of the manufacturers and should be available soon.

ps cannot here the fan running on the palit sonic gt220 I have anyway, hdd's drown any possible noise and they are pretty quiet, unless you stick your ear right next to them

 

[Sacul]

Thanks for the fast replies.

Actually I can't wait for new cards. So the best choice for now will be a GT 220? I can always mount a passive cooling system later. But maybe the noise is fair enough. I am not going to put my ear next to it

Will Cyberlink Video Decoder (PDVD9) work fine with GT 220? And I can buy a 512MB or 1024MB edition. Is 1024MB a good choice, it's only a few euro's more...

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Well did a lot of comparisons between different makes of 220, using google and chose the above because it was quoted as the quietest, also turned out to be the cheapest at UK £47 delivered, but that was not the reason, just hit lucky

ps. regarding codecs, I use the Vista Codec Pack, with FFDShow enabled dxva for H.264 files, this has the PDVD9 mpeg2 codec supplied as well (does not need unlocking), afaik the SAF codec setup by hoborg does not have this version of FFDShow yet.

 

[winterescape]

Not to confuse things too much but it looks like the reason your IGP is not up to the task is the speed of the HT your processor uses. Your processor has a Hyper Transport speed of 2000MHz you need a processor with a HT speed of 3600MHz... see this thread...

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...oard-8200-8300-poor-playback-fix-found-50946/

I upgraded my processor, to a 7750, it may be cheaper/ easier to upgrade your video card as you have already planned...
And make sure you checked the basics, like the amount of shared memory allocated in the BIOS

 

[Sacul]

Hey,

Thanks for the advice I already set the shared memory in the BIOS
A new videocard is the best option I think.

to all

 

[hoborg]

... afaik the SAF codec setup by hoborg does not have this version of FFDShow yet.

Yes, i have, but DXVA decoder is disabled right now untill all bugs will be fixed on FFDShow side

BTW, looks like ATI 5450 can be good choose for HTPC

 

[Sacul]

Hi,

I just installed the new videocard. It's running gooood!
HDTV image is perfect, smooth and CPU usage is minimal . Thanks for the good advice guys!

 

[Owlsroost]

So which card did you buy - the GT220 or HD4650 ?

Tony