[NVIDIA] What card? (1 Viewer)

[jameson_uk]

I was on the verge of upgrading to a GT420 when NVidia went and changed their lineup...

So the question is whether to get a GT420 cheap (If I can find one anywhere), go for a GT630 (rebadged GT440) or go to the new Kepler based GT640 (which by the looks of it might be too noisey for my liking )

I am quite out of touch with the current state of hardware so would be interested in what people think would be the best card to go for (one that is cheap, silent, uses very little power and is massively powerful would be ideal )

Anything I need to look out for (I see the GT640 is DDR3 rather DDR5 but does this really make a difference for HTPC use??)

 

[tourettes]

GT420 wasn't / isn't a good choise (nev or me as source ). I haven't had any experience with the new GT6xxs (which are only rebagged old stuff in the low end). DDR5 is good choise as bandwidth is important in video rendering.

 

[jameson_uk]

GT420 wasn't / isn't a good choise (nev or me as source ). I haven't had any experience with the new GT6xxs (which are only rebagged old stuff in the low end). DDR5 is good choise as bandwidth is important in video rendering.

So what is a good card? The GT630 is a rebadged GT440 with DDR5.

Not even sure what texture units and ROPs are but this is 16/4 vs 32/16 for the GT640. Also has 2gb frame buffer vs 1gb on other cards.

Not sure if any of these make a difference in HTPC land?

 

[Owlsroost]

No experience with any of the 6xx series, but I've used a GT430(1GB DDR3) since they came out and it's been fine (once nVidia had sorted out the video handling in the Fermi drivers, which took months.....). LAV CUVID (high quality) with 1920 x 1080i @ 60Hz is pushing it to the limit for deinterlacing, but DXVA2 Native is OK.

So a GT630 (which looks like a 430 with higher clock speeds to me) should be a nice performance/power/price balance for HTPC.

Tony

 

[Helios61]

Look at the supported sound formats of the card! Yesterday i have tested the Asus ENGT430 DC! This video card does not support bitstreaming HiRes Audio files, e.g. 2ch/24bit/88kHz

Best regards
Helios

 

[technick]

Are you sure ? mine support everything.

 

[Helios61]

Absolutely! Asus ENGT430 DC connected by HDMI to Yamaha RX-V771 -> Playback of HiRes AudioFiles (2ch/24bit/88kHz) doesn't work in Foobar2000/WASAPI or ASIO!

Look at the screenshot of my ATI Card and please compare it with your NVidia card!

 

[technick]

You're right

 

[Scythe42]

Do yourself a favor an get an ATI. They can hold 23.976fps way better than any Nvidia. Also Audio is way better on ATI. If it's HTPC, then ATI is currently the best choice.

I recommend this one: http://www.club-3d.com/index.php/products/reader.en/product/radeon-hd-6870-eyefinity-6-edition.html . Recently put it into a HTPC for a friend. Really good performance, no issues at all. And it works very nice with multiple displays.

 

[jameson_uk]

Just bumping this as really need to get a new card now...

I am going to get an Ivy Bridge processor and most likely a mobo that will give me Intel HD 4000 graphics but I am thinking I really want a discrete card.

What should I go for? I really want a quiet (silent would be nice) card, single slot (which seems to limit things a lot) and only use as much power as I need for a dedicated HTPC so no need for any extra power for gaming.

My understanding is that the 23.976 issue is not so much of an issue any more and all cards get near enough (http://www.avsforum.com/t/1333324/lets-set-this-straight-no-one-can-do-24p-consistently-well)

I have read that ATI cards have an issue with chroma sampling and Nev (LAV) does not recommend them but I have also read lots about NVidia cards having other issues.... (The combination of CUVID and MadVR does interest me though)

Thinking about just leaving the Intel HD 4000 on or going for NVidia GTX 650 or ATI 7750