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GPU for 3D HTPC and light games [amd prefered] [Panasonic GT30 TV]

413x

413x

413x

Caporegime
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So i think i may have made an error buying a GT 430, from what i gathered it was the best card for 3d, but more importantly amd do not have my TV listed as compatiblebut im not so sure.

what AMD offerings are better [must be capable of 3D output to a panasonic GT30 plasma 3d tv]

Has anyone got a HTPC linked to a panny plasma for 3d? if so what card are you using?
 
Hi there,

AFAIK the GT 430 is a decent card for playing 3D (and standard 2D) HD movies - so long as you have your video playing software setup to correctly offload most of the decoding work to the GPU then it should work great for these tasks.

However, if you try and play any modern games (especially in 3D) then this card is not going to work well - since even £100 gaming graphics cards which perform 500% faster than the GT 430 (such as the GTX 460 1GB or HD 6850) will only just about maintain decent framerates in 3D at 720p.

If you are connecting to HDMI 1.4 3D TV then your TV should work fine with AMD graphics cards in 3D. However, if you are playing games then I would personally stick with Nvidia - since their Nvidia 3DTV play technology uses the same extensive game profile database and graphics driver updates as used by their 3D vision technology.
 
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tbh i wasnt expecting to play games in 3d,

what i guess im after is to play 3d films and also be able to play controller friendly games [racing games etc] at 1080p at medium settings.

will be playing 3d blu rays via 1.4a > av receiver > tv [all 3d capable]

i was looking at silent cards and the best i could see was 6850, but im fairly sure my HTPC case cant take anything that hot or large!

id also be interest in what GFX card would pair a i3 2120 where the bottleneck is not the CPU

case is a GD06 silverstone

2RQX5.jpg
 
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Also, the 5450 doesn't support the new AMD UVD3 hardware decoder of 3D video - so using this card with 3D content will rely much more on the CPU than other modern graphics cards.

For example the HD 6450 offers the UVD3 - and is known to decode 3D Blu-rays pretty well.

However, like the HD 5450 (and the gt 430 to a slightly lesser extent) the hd 6450 is not suited to anything but the most basic gaming - since it is a low-end/HTPC card.

al4x said:
tbh i wasnt expecting to play games in 3d,

what i guess im after is to play 3d films and also be able to play *controller friendly games [racing games etc] at 1080p at medium settings.

will be playing 3d blu rays via 1.4a > av receiver > tv [all 3d capable]

i was looking at silent cards and the best i could see was 6850, but im fairly sure my HTPC case cant take anything that hot or large!

id also be interest in what GFX card would pair a i3 2120 where the bottleneck is not the CPU

case is a GD06 silverstone
Click to expand...

Looking at this review of that case, they were running it with the HD 5830 - a much hotter card than the HD 6850. Though you probably are best trying a non-passively cooled model in a HTPC case like this - unless the airflow is very good. The HD 6850 is a pretty quiet card (see here) especially when idling (which it will be when running HD and 3D video).

You could try a card like the HD 6770, but the 6850 is considerably more powerful for only ~£20 more - though I guess the 6770 does use less power (108W vs 127W).
 
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cmndr_andi said:
Also, the 5450 doesn't support the new AMD UVD3 hardware decoder of 3D video - so using this card with 3D content will rely much more on the CPU than other modern graphics cards.

For example the HD 6450 offers the UVD3 - and is known to decode 3D Blu-rays pretty well.

However, like the HD 5450 (and the gt 430 to a slightly lesser extent) the hd 6450 is not suited to anything but the most basic gaming - since it is a low-end/HTPC card.
Click to expand...

thanks for the uvd3 info, looks like im looking at the
Cayman -Radeоn HD 6900 Series
Barts - Radeоn HD 6800 Series
Turks -Radeоn HD 6600 Series
-Radeоn HD 6500 Series
Caicos -Radeоn HD 6400 Series
 
i guess the other option is to scratch off games all together and just run a hdmi 1.4a cable all the way from my main pc to the tv!
 
al4x said:
thanks for the uvd3 info, looks like im looking at the
Cayman -Radeоn HD 6900 Series
Barts - Radeоn HD 6800 Series
Turks -Radeоn HD 6600 Series
-Radeоn HD 6500 Series
Caicos -Radeоn HD 6400 Series
Click to expand...

To be clear - UVD3 is just the AMD technology - Nvidia have their own implementation of similar technology in "fifth generation Purevideo HD" - a technology which the GT 430 has, so it should play 3D HD videos perfectly smoothly see here.

If you aren't getting smooth playback on your GT 430 system then the problem is most likely either with the video player or video drivers. Have you updated the Nvidia drivers to the most recent ones? Also, may I ask what exact video playing software you are using to run 3D Blu rays?

If you are planning on a new card for better gaming performance then I wouldn't pass over the Nvidia cards. For example GTX 460 1GB is a solid card that costs around £100, performs on the level of the HD 6850 and will happily decode 3D blu rays.
 
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yep i got that nvidia has the same tech effectively under a different name, i just wasnt aware that the 67xx was not in the list above.

I havent yet tried the system with 3d blu rays im more concerned whether to attempt gaming at all atm. that 460 card looks impressive, especially if it will hit the 6850 level! any of these cards worth trying for in a silent version? i know the 6850 has one, but have not seen a 460 GTX silent

where will my i3 2120 start to hold back the GPU? roughly speaking?
 
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al4x said:
yep i got that nvidia has the same tech effectively under a different name, i just wasnt aware that the 67xx was not in the list above.
Click to expand...

Sorry, that was my mistake and I retract the recommendation for the HD 6770. These HD 6700 cards are pretty nice for gaming and playing 2D HD movies, but they are basically just re-branded HD 5700 cards - so don't include the new UVD3 technology.

al4x said:
I havent yet tried the system with 3d blu rays im more concerned whether to attempt gaming at all atm. that 460 card looks impressive, especially if it will hit the 6850 level!
Click to expand...

Ah, fair enough. If you look here playing games is possible on a GT 430, but the performance is pretty poor and if you try to crank the resolution up to 1080p it will be a slideshow.

Yea, the GTX 460 1GB is a nice card. Though bear in mind that it uses more power than the 6850 and requires two 6pin power connection (hd 6850 requires just one).

al4x said:
where will my i3 2120 start to hold back the GPU? roughly speaking?
Click to expand...

TBH the i3 2120 is a very powerful CPU - so with either a HD 6850 or GTX 460 1GB playing games at 1080p I don't see many situations where the CPU will hold you back.
 
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6670 "Ultimate Edition"1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card is good for htcp plus of it silent design nosie is kept to a minimal.
 
so the i3 is no problem, kind of glad i went overboard on that!

i have an excessively large corsair 650 PSU which has 2 PCI E cables i think so no problem there

one thing i would be wary of is that if i go for the silent GPU [wanted for non games use] that 1, the fans in my case might not be good enough, and 2, the cooler might be too high. will have to get in the case to have a look tomorrow.

i am considering a silent 6670 or even the huge 6850 [if i can fit the silent version!]

i am quite happy to crank the cases fans up during games to keep the GPU cool, but the silent card will help keep noise down when performing easy tasks like blu ray/dvd
 
All sounds good.

The 6670 is a decent card, but as you can imagine - the 6850 is considerably faster.

My suggestion would be to get a HD 6850 like this one and set up a custom fan profile in MSI afterburner so that under low load/heat (ie when decoding 2D/3D video) the GPU cooler fan is barely on - so minimal noise output and it spins up when under load (playing games). This way you will get almost the best of both worlds (also, this card isn't too long - so shouldn't pose too many problems with space use in your case).
 
How noisy are these idle? Some say 50dB?

I was looking at this monster
powercolor_hd6850_scs3.jpg
 
al4x said:
How noisy are these idle? Some say 50dB?

You have got to bear in mind that all of these tests are done with a full PC system running (so additional noise from CPU cooler, PSU fan, hard drives and case fan) - so a 50dB figure would also include these noise sources too. However these test do show that compared to other cards the HD 6850 is one of the quietest graphics cards around.
Click to expand...

For example the review for this MSI version of the HD 6850 with a custom cooler does extremely well in the noise tests.

Here is the same card on sale on OCUK for £108.


al4x said:
I was looking at this monster
powercolor_hd6850_scs3.jpg
Click to expand...

It does look like a really nice card though I think you will have issues fitting it in the case - there doesn't seem to be much clearance over the PCI brackets.
 
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Wow that is a lot cheaper than the passive one, i am also doubtful as to if the scs 3 will fot, would definitly be close.

I think the scs3 is about 30 pound more, quite a lot. Its 12.5 cm high apparantly, will be measuring tonite!
 
Got a 8800GT (single slot with fan) in my Shuttle HTPC, has served me well enough for games new and old on the odd occasion I play them.
 
8800 is far to old

Was looking at the 6850 that ocuk have on pre orderdomt know how quiet it is. ?
 
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