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Which passive cooled graphics card to play a bit of HD?

gumbald

gumbald

gumbald

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Got an old spare machine which I'm moving to next to my TV (as good a place as any for now) and discovered amongst other problems (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18200072), it's quite noisy. The cheapest way to quieten it a little would be to replace the whiny 6600GT that's in there - figure I can do that cheaply enough. Just need it to play a bit of MKV HD. It's got a AMD 3200 single core, so would these cards take the strain off that?

Just seen these three - which is best or have I missed a better one?

1) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-233-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=
2) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-098-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=
3) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-243-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=
 
There's passive 5770 and 9800 floating around. You'd need good cooling in the case for them I think, less so with the 5770.
 
Sorry misread your post.

All of them will do for HD playing, but from my experience it's a bit of a driver / codec nightmare to get stuff accelerated. A friend of mine has the passive 5770 for his media centre and reckoned it offloaded a lot of the work, I personally use a console for this stuff so cant advise you really.

I've heard 5570 being used in media centre apps, those are pretty quiet as they are not built for gaming.

Maybe something like this?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-117-HT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1699
 
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Try and stretch your budget a few quid for a HD5450. it has bitstream audio, handles dxva2 hd easily, and is passive. Pretty much one of the most recommended cards for htpc, and I'm definitely happy with mine :)
 
If you have a full size case, you could do worse than get an arctic cooling accelero and put it on nearly any GPU including the one you've got.

andy
 
Asus ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB is fine for your needs

Unless you need to bitsream HD master audio

I used a Asus ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB for over a year in a HTPC without issue in my cinema room check sig :)
 
Am I right in thinking it has a HDMI port? Looks like it on the picture but doesn't say in the description.

What processor were you running with it - I'm guessing more substantial than the 3200 AMD I've got? Does it do hardware decoding of MKV on the 4350?
 
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gumbald said:
Am I right in thinking it has a HDMI port? Looks like it on the picture but doesn't say in the description.

What processor were you running with it - I'm guessing more substantial than the 3200 AMD I've got? Does it do hardware decoding of MKV on the 4350?
Click to expand...

yes is has an HDMI port

Yes its fine for your needs unless you want to Bitsream HD master audio.
 
I have a passive 1gb 4350 that I use as a spare GPU and have used it in my HTPC a couple of times. I was really impressed with how it handled 1080p video but it couldn't do the 3d transitions in media browser smoothly so I wouldn't recommend it for permanent use as that suggests that it wouldn't handle any post processing of the video.

For £35 the 5450 is a better buy as it can do a bit of post processing and will do DXVA of more codecs than the 4350 will. 4350 is outdated as a HTPC card now really.
 
easyrider said:
@ wolvers

XBMC is where its at not media browser :p
Click to expand...

Have you switched then? I've seen some great looking screen shots but never got around to trying it, mainly because I'd heard it was a pain to set up.

Does ffdshow work OK with XBMC. I couldn't be without ffdshow now, it's just so brilliant.
 
straxusii said:
Getting all HD GPU accelerated is a nightmare, just get a basic dual core intel CPU and CoreAVC
Click to expand...

That won't fit in my S939 motherboard. I'm trying not to buy a new machine, ultimately something like a Revo would be cool to attach to the back of the TV but reluctant to spend £200. It won't be used excessively, it's just for downloading and watching the very occasional MKV.
 
gumbald said:
That won't fit in my S939 motherboard. I'm trying not to buy a new machine, ultimately something like a Revo would be cool to attach to the back of the TV but reluctant to spend £200. It won't be used excessively, it's just for downloading and watching the very occasional MKV.
Click to expand...

Hence why i specced that card
 
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