Graphics card for HTPC?

[Roll]

Hello,

I'm thinking of putting together a HTPC early in the new year and have got most of the parts except a graphics card. The motherboard is AGP.

I'd be grateful for suggestions on which card I should be looking at. I was considering something like a 7600GT but then thought this might be overkill. Don't mind if its nvidia or ATi.

Thanks for replies

 

[Lanz]

A passive 8500GT would do nicely sir.

 

[ArchAnGeL]

passively cooled hd2600xt or one of the asus silent ones.

reasons

1. the current ati's hd2400, hd2600 and the hd3xxx provide hardware acceleration for more HD formats than the nvidia's
2. the 2600 series gives better image quality than the 2400 series - more noise reduction/post processing

have a read of this
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/26/avivo_hd_vs_purevideo/index.html

EDIT! argh didn't see you needed agp - why btw?

 

[LizardKing]

you can get agp ati hd2xxx, id try get one of those

Edit - looking at the prices you could probably pick up a pci-e version and motherboard for the same price.........

 

[thecremeegg]

EDIT! argh didn't see you needed agp - why btw?

Has an AGP motherboard perhaps?

 

[ArchAnGeL]

Has an AGP motherboard perhaps?

obviously. the point being that if you've got a agp motherboard you're probably running an older chip and therefor need as much hardware acceleration as possible.

for reference, I just got a be-2350 chip and a gigabyte ga-ma69gm-s2h which has integrated x1250 gfx and hdmi out. I am finding it fine for 1080p files using coreAVC. The two cost £100.

I will be adding a 2600xt for blu-ray/hd-dd playback but depending on what the OP wants, this may be better than getting a agp card which doesn't support h.264 hardware acceleration. Depends on budget.