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Video card for HTPC - suggestions appreciated

Freakitchen

Freakitchen

Freakitchen

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I've finally got round to setting up a 'proper' HTPC, in the sense that I'm getting a system hooked up to a 32" HD LCD.

I just put some older parts (AGP-based Celeron system) into a media centre case, and found that the video card - an actively cooled 7600GS - is way too loud for what I'm wanting. As I already have a stock Intel Skt478 fan and a single Antec Tri-Cool exhaust running, I'm looking for a passively-cooled video card.

Any suggestions for what's good for minimal expense if possible? I HAD thought about simply disconnecting the fan from the 7600 - it has a partial heatsink encasing the fan, as well as a separate one for the RAM, but I have a feeling it'll burn (anyone with any experience of this?).

Cheers
 
Yeah, based on that, have decided I'm going to use a PCI-Express based board for this. Any particular video card I should be looking at, or is it just a case of picking something basic that's passively cooled?
 
My LCD does have HDMI in, I'm planning on using a DVI to HDMI cable. Does this have any disadvantages other than having to run a jack --> phono cable for audio?
 
Get a 8600T passive card and you sorted.

I have a 7300GT and it works great. I watch mostly x.264 or divx files and my CPu handles those flawlessly with CoreAVC. Nvidia cards only accelerate BluRay and HDDVD h.264. Not x.264 which is the open source codec.
 
Tainted said:
Get a 8600T passive card and you sorted.
Click to expand...
I dont see any AGP 8600 cards. Nope there isnt as far as i know.



To the OP.
There were passive 7600GS cards sold so as you said you could try it without the fan running if the heatsink loos fairly robust (but the fan was probably there for a reason, it may run but with higher temps).
 
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I've pretty much abandoned my AGP search and have decided to switch to a PCI-E based board. Not too keen on buying into older hardware, and the AGP cards are more expensive than PCI-E equivalents.

@ACESHIGH - the heatsink on the 7600GS isn't substantial, especially compared to pictures of the passively cooled versions. Since I can get a 3450 for under 30 notes, I'm gonna go with one for a short-term-ish fix. I've got very little HD content at the moment, so assuming those cards are fine for SD playback, I'll go for one.

@Tainted - are you saying to avoid Nvidia cards for their inability to decode the open source codec?
 
The 3450 will be fine for HD content as well as it takes most of the decoding off the CPU, great cards.
 
Made a few passive coolers in My time ;) , but it's not all about a big heatsink it's about moving a little air across the heatsink !

I have a HD 3850 256MB in My media center and It is Silent......basically because the earlier bios did not control the fan speed properly :D Something like that is better than any passive card or even, remove Your 7600 cooler strip it Down spray it Matt black, refit with AS5 and stick a resistor in the fan connector, they are good cards and very low power draw
 
It apears to be the concensus on these forums that the ATI cards are generally a better option for media centres... They do have some AGP versions, but as you mention, they cost more than the PCIe versions...
 
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@Jakus - I did consider changing the heatsink on the 7600, but to be honest, for what the 3450 costs, I'd rather leave the card as it is. A couple of family members have older AGP systems that would benefit from a video card upgrade.

@Trunks - I'm changing to a PCI-E board I already own - a socket 939 ASUS A8N-VM CSM with a 3200+ and 1GB of RAM. The board has on-board video (nforce 430?) with DVI-out but I don't *think* it plays nice with the PVR software I use (GBPVR).
 
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