htpc graphics ?

[Quango-uk]

Hi i have cobbled together a htpc out of parts I had
Can anyone recomend me a good AGP Fanless graphics card for playing hd content via pc , cheep as possible ie below £100

The specs i have are
Amd64 3000+ socket 939
1 gig 3200 ram
audigy 2 sound card
win xp

 

[Lanz]

6200 for under £50, or a 6600 for under £100, there are fanless versions about.

Or you get an NV 6150 motherboard, as that's also pretty good for media.

Stay away from 2nd hand 6800's, as the NV40 core is bugged when it comes to decoding WMV HD stuff.

 

[BubbySoup]

I have a silentpipe 6600 in my HTPC - I think its a Gigabyte one.

Has played everything I have thrown at it up to 1080i so far without a hitch.

 

[Wakinglimb]

Asus do a nice silent 6600 that can be had for around £65. Also there is a silent x800xl and GTO (the latter is from Sapphire).

 

[Quango-uk]

thx guys

btw anyone heard of an x1300 fanless agp , ive seen one on ebay but its german only delivery

and are these any better than the 6600's ?

 

[Lanz]

No, they are crap. Well, they would be ok for HTPC only, no gaming, but they dont have the pixel power to decode HD stuff too well. They are comparable to the 6200 ot 7300SE

 

[Wakinglimb]

The performance will be about the same as a vanilla 6600, if not worse.