What GPU for non-gaming HTPC?

[riskyfrisky]

What would be a reasonably cheap yet decent GPU for a HTPC? I won't be doing any gaming at all on it but I will be watching HD videos and HD streams, so it needs to have some grunt at least.

Thanks!

 

[subbytna]

Anything with HDMI outputs....

Depends on your budget too.... http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-267-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1984

or lower end 6450 fo about £40

 

[riskyfrisky]

Anything with HDMI outputs....

Depends on your budget too.... http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-267-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1984

or lower end 6450 fo about £40

Thanks for the quick reply. I was looking at the 6*** range of cards, though I actually like the Asus 6670, but I know that's a little overkill.

Budget isn't an issue really I can go up to about £70, but I don't want to overspend on something that isn't going to be used to it's full potential.

 

[Sh4rkie]

A passive 6450 would be fine, anything more wouldn't be used if you're not gaming. I use a 6450 in my htpc and its faultless, perfect image quality and bitstreamed audio .

 

[riskyfrisky]

A passive 6450 would be fine, anything more wouldn't be used if you're not gaming. I use a 6450 in my htpc and its faultless, perfect image quality and bitstreamed audio .

Brilliant! I'm looking to get an OrigenAE case, which is expensive, so if I can save some money on the GPU then i'm all for it. Would a passive 6450 be able to handle Blu-ray?

 

[MeatLoaf]

Why not look at an AMD A6, A8 or A10, the onboard GPU is plenty for what you want it to do

 

[riskyfrisky]

Why not look at an AMD A6, A8 or A10, the onboard GPU is plenty for what you want it to do

That's the route i'd go down if I didn't already have motherboard and CPU - I should've said sorry. All I need is the GPU, and because the Origen case can take ATX motherboards, I can use old parts from my gaming PC when I upgrade. Splendid!

 

[Orcvader]

The 6400/6500 series is a good shout. Either will be fine and can do 3D Blu Ray thanks to UVD3.

 

[Sh4rkie]

Brilliant! I'm looking to get an OrigenAE case, which is expensive, so if I can save some money on the GPU then i'm all for it. Would a passive 6450 be able to handle Blu-ray?

No problems with Bluray playback

So what do we do with a very low power, low performance, budget priced card? We throw it in our HTPCs of course! It’s here where we need to do some more aggressive testing as time allows, but the Radeon HD 6450 has all the makings of an excellent HTPC card. It has all the video decoding features we could ask for at the lowest TDP we’ve ever seen those features made available at. For a pure video decode and 10ft GUI card, I’m not sure there’s anything that can top the 6450. The only area where it comes short is overall gaming performance if you intend to game on your HTPC, in which case the 6800 series, or perhaps a Turks-based card would be a better choice…

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4263/amds-radeon-hd-6450-uvd3-meets-htpc/14

 

[riskyfrisky]

I've decided upon the 6570 card, it is too tempting to ignore.

Thanks for the help!