Low profile card for HTPC

[Lither]

I'm looking for a low profile card for my HTPC for 1080p/4k movies hardware decoding (I will only be playing 1080p movies for now and 4k in the future when I get a 4k TV) and the case is the Silverstone Milo ML03 which has a GPU width restriction of 74mm. I have looked at the GT 1030 and GTX 1050 but not sure if the GT 1030 can do 4k or do I need to spend the extra for the 1050.

 

[hominid]

What CPU do you have? Most recent Intel CPU's can handle 4k/60 in hardware these days.

 

[Lither]

What CPU do you have? Most recent Intel CPU's can handle 4k/60 in hardware these days.

Sorry forgot to mention, the CPU is AMD Phenom II X2 545.

 

[hominid]

I just looked up the specs for the 1030 GT and these were listed:

• VDPAU Feature Set = Feature Set H (8th generation PureVideo HD), meaning HEVC Main 10 (10-bit) and 10-bit VP9 hardware-accelerated decoding up to 7680 × 4320 @ 60fps
  
• Hardware decoders = MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 part 2, MJPEG, VC-1, H.264 (8-bit) HEVC (8-bit & 10-bit), VP9 (8-bit & 10-bit)

So it looks like it'll handle it fine, I don't know first hand however. Hopefully someone with first-hand knowledge will come along and say one way or the other.

 

[Lither]

I just looked up the specs for the 1030 GT and these were listed:

• VDPAU Feature Set = Feature Set H (8th generation PureVideo HD), meaning HEVC Main 10 (10-bit) and 10-bit VP9 hardware-accelerated decoding up to 7680 × 4320 @ 60fps
  
• Hardware decoders = MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 part 2, MJPEG, VC-1, H.264 (8-bit) HEVC (8-bit & 10-bit), VP9 (8-bit & 10-bit)

So it looks like it'll handle it fine, I don't know first hand however. Hopefully someone with first-hand knowledge will come along and say one way or the other.

I have looked online and the GT 1030 can do 4k but not sure whether to get one with a fan or passively cooled as the only fans in the case is the CPU cooler (Scythe Big Shuriken 2) and the PSU.

 

[Lither]

Can the GT 1030 fans be controlled using MSI Afterburner so that I can set a fan curve of when the fan starts to spin?