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Graphics card for HTPC

russ9898

russ9898

russ9898

Associate
Joined
27 Dec 2004
Posts
1,696
Location
Staffordshire
Hi,

Currently my HTPC uses the onboard graphics however i feel its a little strained on 1080p content. Can anyone recommend a good graphics card that is quite and will handle 1080p content with ease?

The cheaper the better :)

Thanks,

Russ
 
Budget is around £50. The Saphire 5770 looks promising. Be useful having hdmi as well haing said that my dvi to hdmi lead has always been faultless.
 
^ Oops i meant 5570 :) Are there any cards out their specifically designed for HTPC's? Cards that are tweaked for watching movies rather than playing games?
 
russ9898 said:
^ Oops i meant 5570 :) Are there any cards out their specifically designed for HTPC's? Cards that are tweaked for watching movies rather than playing games?
Click to expand...

Many cards come with the 'low profile' bracket for some HTPC's, but not all need it. The 5570 won't let you down when it comes to movie content, and as it will use ATi's Avivo HD, it will do its best to make all your movies look as good as they can. As a bonus the 5570 could play a few games, down side it you'll have to bump down the settings to get playable framerates.

I think overall the 5570 was made for anyone wanting to use their PC mainly for movies and general usage (internet browsing etc), if you wanted to go for something with a bit more power, but still mainstream (no 6-pin power requirment) then theres the 5670, but depending on your case, it may not fit.
 
You need to clarify the kind of 1080p you mean.

For h264 based stuff, go with a low end Nvidia card supporting Cuda so you can use CoreAVC

For flash I don't know if GPU acceleration is possible, maybe it is in the 10.1 beta with ATI cards

The safe answer that will play anything is a decent CPU
 
Generally it will be 1080p MKV bluray rips and 1080p bluray discs. I currently have an AM2 5200 cpu in the system which majority of the time is fine ive just noticed on a long film (3 hours is) cpu temps creep up quite high so would like to take some strain of the cpu by fitting a decent graphics card that will take some of the load :)
 
russ9898 said:
Generally it will be 1080p MKV bluray rips and 1080p bluray discs. I currently have an AM2 5200 cpu in the system which majority of the time is fine ive just noticed on a long film (3 hours is) cpu temps creep up quite high so would like to take some strain of the cpu by fitting a decent graphics card that will take some of the load :)
Click to expand...

In that case Nvidia card, eg GT220, plus CoreAVC
 
The htpc is strictly a htpc. I have my main pc and xbox 360 for gaming. Ill pop up ocuk next week and get myself a 220 in that case.

Thanks a lot for everyones help and advice :)

Russ
 
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