CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

camaropilot · Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Posts: 20 Location: Indy

Looking to change my HTPC analog vga outs which go to lcd and pj to digital. Anyone have a recommendation on a video card that has DVI and HDMI? I'm partial to nvidia stuff, but would go ATI if I absolutely had to Smile

Thanks!

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

Clif just got this one,

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5970/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5970-overview.aspx

he is crazy tho. Wink

Athanasios

camaropilot · Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Posts: 20 Location: Indy

Hmmm, $700... I think I will shoot for something a liiitttlllleeee more budget friendly. Although I do love high end stuff!

Thanks for the quick reply.

Anyone else have ideas?

nuttall_chris · Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 2:38 am Post subject:

I have a fanless ATI Gigabyte 4550 with DVI, HDMI and VGA output, it works perfectly with full hardware acceleration for all HD formats. And it's a little less than the one Cliff purchased Smile

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125250

Chris.

damien55 · Joined: 20 Oct 2008 Posts: 101 Location: UK

+1 for the HD4550, it is cheap and good enough for a HTPC. I have the Sapphire version that comes with a normal and a low profile bracket.

Pros for HTPC:
-quite cheap ; £40 in the UK
-no fan, no noise
-hardware decoding if enabled
-low profile bracket for small HTPC cases
-works with powerstrip

Cons:
-could always be cheaper no ???

I use MPCHC and the card can decode HD codecs in hardware if you set it up correctly, You then end up using 2% of your processor (a Pentium Dual Core E6300 in my case) to play a 1080p video.

Damien

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

Chris has a fanless card. You can go to a 4650 for the same price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161303&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL120809&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL120809-_-VideoCards-_-LC9B-_-14161303

Nvidia has some pretty good deals on their lower end cards as well. In this day and age, the entry level cards can be more than adequate for HTPC duty. Now if you want to have some fun then go for an eyefinity card and try blending. Smile

Jester · Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Posts: 90 Location: Villa Park Ilinois

Not to thread jack ( I have the vt 4550) I thought I read that the current cards don't support the High end multi channel HD codecs. True HD and such. Is this correct?

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

Chris Nutall wrote:
> I have a fanless ATI Gigabyte 4550... <

Chris, what do you think of their "Passive Screen Cooling"? I found nothing about this technique via a Google search, so I assume it's unique to them. I thought maybe Tom's or Anandtech might have something to say, but nada. Several Newegg reviewers didn't seem to think too much of it.

For the same price, Newegg also has a low-profile 4550 with more RAM (the MSI R4550-MD1GH Radeon HD 4550 1GB 64-bit GDDR3 PCI Express). I don't have that particular model, but one thing I kind of like about the lower profile video cards in cool-running HTPC cases, is that the vidcard is usually the first slot in the backplane, and full-height cards impede airflow more than low-profile ones do. This one has a rather massive heatsink, which takes up more space in the horizontal plane, thus needing the next backplane slot. This may be either a good or bad thing. (Good for keeping the card cool, bad if you needed that slot!)

The Sapphire that Damien mentioned has a (much) smaller heatsink, and thus doesn't eat an extra slot.

In general, this class of HTPC cards are getting ~90% positive approval ratings at Newegg. Since they are fanless, you generally need good airflow through the case for them to work well (i.e., there's nothing else to cool them down, and they still have X watts to dissipate).

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

About Cliff's new graphics card, emdawgz1 commented:
> GEEZALOU!!!! That thing is $700.00 <

Yeah, um, well... geezalou indeed. Thus, once again proving that Cliffy has more dollars than sense. Wink

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

Re; these high-end Radeon 5000-series cards, what I find shocking is that you can actually get one that's passively cooled!, the POWERCOLOR SCS3 AX5750 1GBD5-S3DH Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5. And only $155. It does require 2 slots, PLUS needs overhead space as well (no low-profile cases need apply). But still, that's a heck of a lot of horsepower in a fanless card, at a midrange price.

Or a supposedly quiet Sapphire model with a fan, only $140 at SAPPHIRE 100284L Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5. This one needs no extra overhead clearance. At these power levels (up to 90W), I'd probably go for a quiet fan, vs. fanless. You'll likely get more performance out of the card that way.

I'm not certain (I normally don't look too closely at cards in this range), but I'm pretty sure only 3 of the 4 digital output ports can be used at one time. 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, and 1 DisplayPort. And 1 of the 3 has to be DisplayPort, which constrains things quite a bit, from what I've read. [I just checked the specs at ATI, and all that is correct.]

One thing I'm happy to see on some ATI spec pages now are heat dissipation stats (16-86 watts for the 5750). That's good info to have. I really wish they listed this important information for ALL their products, but sadly not.

P.S. I did just find this, which could be helpful: "The ATI Radeon™ HD 4550 (and 4350) graphics card consumes less than 25 watts under full load."

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121310

I just got this one. I will let you know how it turns out once I install it. It will be replacing an ATI 2400xt.

Can't be total crap...it is only $20!

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:14 am Post subject:

Nice card! Only $20 bucks?! I paid about 10x that 2 years ago for my 3850 :~

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

And its low profile ready with bracket included and fanless.

An HTPC BluRay playing killer!

bbfarmht · Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 2:06 am Post subject:

I was just reading in the latest Maximumpc only the 5000 series will output dts-hd and dolby-hd.

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

nuttall_chris · Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 2:27 am Post subject:

My 4550 will do 7 channel LPCM just fine.....I don't care if the THD/DTSMA light on my receiver lights up, the sound is the same.

Chris.

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

JustGreg · Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 3098 Location: Kenosha, WI

All the talk about fans....even if it has a fan it only has to be quieter than the PS and CPU fan yes? Laughing

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

With all this desire for a quiet HTPC why not a) move the unit to a closet or some other room, b) put it into a piece of furniture to muffle the could, or c) liquid cool it like you were 18 years old again? I can't be the first person to consider putting a consumer electronics inside a 1-2 cubic foot refrigerator.