GFX card for HTPC - also good enough for latest games, but not OTT?

OCdude

OCdude

OCdude

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I've been thinking of building an HTPC for a while, but i'm now wondering how easy it would be to up my specs a bit, so that I can play the latest PC games (Battlefield 3?! lol) on it, without it having a seizure.

Initially I thought it was a bit of a big ask... but then I realised that obviously i'll be running at a maximum res of 1080p so in theory, that should make it a bit easier on my poor little HTPC right? :o

Anyway, to get to the point, what GFX card right now hits that sweet spot, without being OTT to the point where I wouldn't notice the extra speed, due to the resolution limit?

The quieter the better! ;)

Cheers!
 
Haven't built anything yet - but i'm leaning towards a non-slimline case and PSU.. well.. whatever I need really, so if i need more power for a chunkier GFX card, so be it :P
 
Depends really I think on what CPU you go for and how much you want to spend. Not much point in getting a GTX 560Ti if it's going to be bottlenecked by your processor.

You'd definitely have to look at a full height case, otherwise your options will be extremely limited and the best you can probably hope for is a GTS 450!

GTX 460 seems like a decent mid range card, not too long and fairly quiet too, as the above poster said, get one with a decent non-reference cooler.
 
Well, with the CPU, again, i'd rather get something decent, but not "too" decent so that it's not going to be utilised ;)

I was initially thinking an i3 540 originally (when i wasn't thinking about games), but i guess if i want games as well, i should be thinking more along the lines of an i5? (i7 OTT?)
 
Depends on budget to be honest. What kind of case are you thinking of getting?

Although not cheap, a mini tower like the Lian Li PC-V354B will take mATX motherboards and reasonably sized graphics cards.

Could get a shortened 5850 (like the Sapphire Xtreme = 8.5") or a GTX 460 in there.

Assuming your not going to overclock your poor HTPC, I would go for an i3 2100 or i5 2400 if you need more power.

For a more budget end system get a mATX motherboard and pop in an Athlon II X3.

(My brothers machine, which I made for him recently has Athlon XII X3 @3.5GHz (stock cooler) and the Sapphire Xtreme 5850 maxes out BFBC2 @1920*1080.

I wouldn't go for first generation of i3/i5 unless you can get some nices deals second hand.
 
shadow_boxer said:
Depends on budget to be honest. What kind of case are you thinking of getting?

Although not cheap, a mini tower like the Lian Li PC-V354B will take mATX motherboards and reasonably sized graphics cards.

Could get a shortened 5850 (like the Sapphire Xtreme = 8.5") or a GTX 460 in there.

Assuming your not going to overclock your poor HTPC, I would go for an i3 2100 or i5 2400 if you need more power.

For a more budget end system get a mATX motherboard and pop in an Athlon II X3.

(My brothers machine, which I made for him recently has Athlon XII X3 @3.5GHz (stock cooler) and the Sapphire Xtreme 5850 maxes out BFBC2 @1920*1080.

I wouldn't go for first generation of i3/i5 unless you can get some nices deals second hand.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty much set on the i5 2500K, as for the case, im limited by the shelf space on my rack, but i should be able to fit a "non-low profile" mATX case in.

As for GFX... the Sapphire Xtreme seems good.. although are there any 6000 series that i could realistically use (quiet ones!).

Cheers!
 
I don't think the 6800 cards are great value for money at the moment to be honest, unless you get a good deal.

Remember that the 5850 is faster than the 6850.

If you can stretch to a 2GB 6950 then could get that, again, price will be £200 and their not going to be as quiet or cool. All a trade off really and how much heat and noise you can live with.

Should be seeing non-reference design 6950s appearing soon, so will have better coolers but remember as their not reference designs they won't unlock to a 6970.
 
shadow_boxer said:
I don't think the 6800 cards are great value for money at the moment to be honest, unless you get a good deal.

Remember that the 5850 is faster than the 6850.

If you can stretch to a 2GB 6950 then could get that, again, price will be £200 and their not going to be as quiet or cool. All a trade off really and how much heat and noise you can live with.

Should be seeing non-reference design 6950s appearing soon, so will have better coolers but remember as their not reference designs they won't unlock to a 6970.
Click to expand...

Hmm just looked at some reviews - the 5850 actually looks pretty sweet. I think that should do me :D
 
I would recommend the MSI 6850 cyclone OC - over-clocked, great cooler, quiet, fast, cool and fairly compact, Overclockers' don't sell it at the moment though
 
Damn you! :D

Looks pretty good. Although, any idea on the performance increases compared to the Sapphire Xtreme?
 
5850 v 6850 Benchmarks

If both cards are at stock then the 5850 is marginally better across the board. Given that the MSI board comes factory overclocked, I'd hazard a guess its probably just nudges past the 5850. If you overclock the 5850 a little bit, however, then it'll probably be quicker.

All depends on how much that 6850 costs. I personally wouldn't may very much more at all, (if any) for that one. The cooler on the Sapphire 5850 is very good. I was amazed at just how quiet it is when running BFBC2 and almost silent at idle and office use.
 
shadow_boxer said:
5850 v 6850 Benchmarks

If both cards are at stock then the 5850 is marginally better across the board. Given that the MSI board comes factory overclocked, I'd hazard a guess its probably just nudges past the 5850. If you overclock the 5850 a little bit, however, then it'll probably be quicker.

All depends on how much that 6850 costs. I personally wouldn't may very much more at all, (if any) for that one. The cooler on the Sapphire 5850 is very good. I was amazed at just how quiet it is when running BFBC2 and almost silent at idle and office use.
Click to expand...

Cool. Right, defo going with that one then, no more dithering ;)

Cheers!
 
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