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X1800 and AVIVO

newera

newera

newera

Associate
Joined
24 Apr 2006
Posts
47
So after consulting several members from this forum and others, I bought an ATI X1800XT for my HTPC. I also bought an Arctic Accelero X2.

They have been shipped :)

However, in another forum someone told me that I would not be able to play HD clips using AVIVO :eek:

Is this true? Because this same person told me that with PureVideo there are no problems. Has anyone heard about these issues?

Thanks for all your help
newera
 
AVIVO plays HD fine as far as I am aware, but I haven't used it myself. Your best bet is to wait until it arrives and find out, if it doesn't work then you have seven days to return it for a different item under the distance selling act.
 
would not be able to play HD clips using AVIVO
Click to expand...

Not true.

AVIVO and Purevideo are very simular nowadays, Purevideo has some better features, but unless your a bit anal, you wouldnt know or care about such things.
 
Hi,
Thanks for the immediate reply.

Yes that was also what I was aware of but I was then confused by the remark that it will play SD files without problems and not HDs.

newera
 
Hi,
Yes I bought an X1800XT for my HTPC. I know it sounds strange but I considered these factors
1 - The very good price of the X1800XT in relation with a Geforce 7600GT and their performance
2 - The fact that I might play games on this PC
3 - This PC will be my main PC apart from a notebook I have
4 - This HTPC will be connected to a 1366x768 LCD 40 inch screen and therefore I wanted a graphics card which will not have problems with this resolution
5 - The good image quality that ATI has
6- The fact that I could include a new cooler (I bought the Accelero X2) to cool it
7 - I have a full ATX motherbaord because I will be using a ThermalTake tenor case.

BTW thanks for reassuring me that I would be able play HD files without problems.

Thanks
newera
 
You can play HD content even with a relatively lowly gfx card and a reasonable cpu. Where the gfx card comes in is with hardware acceleration some of the work is done on th GPU thus freeing up the CPU.

Both nvidia and ati support hardware acceleration of HD including H.264. Drivers etc are in their early forms, but how much HD content is there really out there atm? By the time you are going to need it most the bugs should have been ironed out.

A X1800xt is going to do you just fine :) My media centres are running with just 6150 on board an a 9550 ati card. Incidentally i don't see any real advantage of one over the other.

Mac
 
Hi,

Many people told me that for an HTPC I do not need a lot of power and I knew that. However since everytime I get a new PC I get it with the least specifications this time I decided to get one which is of medium power.

Even though I am not a big gamer. I only use Visual Studio :) to do coding. :o

Anyway I think that considering all options and taking into account that I have been 2 months going round forums I think my decision was quite good. ;)

Thanks
newera
 
1) you dont need to spend that much
2) you bought a top flight card because you might play games on it :confused:
3) Still no need to spend that much on a htpc
4) i dont know ANY card that would have problems. hell a £20 gf4 440mx woudl do that fine
5) any of the newest cards are just as good.
6) There are coolers available for almost any card out there. btw you will invalidate your warrenty doing that.
7) i hope it fits, because an x1800 wouldnt fit in my silverston ssc lc03 because its too long.

8) probably the most important, you were given some crap advice.


I'm sorry if that sounds brutally honest - i'm only telling you the truth. You never need to spend that much.
 
Last edited:
Hi,

The card has not yet arrived so I have not yet voided my warranty :p .

Anyway how would I be able to run something at a resolution of 1366x768 with a crap graphics card and plugged it to an LCD 40 inch???

Everyone has the right of his opinion and I am sure that you people out there know more than I know. Maybe when I will assemble my PC I would say that you were right. :(

Thanks
newera
 
BTW,

One of the advices I got from this forum is from someone who already owns the same thing I am trying to build and this was his advice

I have the 256mb X1800XT which is on offer at OCUK and I have a 32" HD ready LCD TV with a native resolution of 1366x768.
My card can output 1360x768. Using a good DVI cable gives me HD gaming on my 32" LCD

It is fantastic playing games like Need For Speed Most Wanted

My advice, hit it mate!
Click to expand...
 
The card has not yet arrived so I have not yet voided my warranty :p

no but changing the cooler will void it.

Anyway how would I be able to run something at a resolution of 1366x768 with a crap graphics card and plugged it to an LCD 40 inch???

Its as easy as selecting the resolution from the display panel, and if it isnt available then you can use a program such as powerstrip to program the resolution into the drivers. Its very easy:)

Everyone has the right of his opinion and I am sure that you people out there know more than I know. Maybe when I will assemble my PC I would say that you were right. :(
Click to expand...

I hope not, but what you bough is right up there with the best. Its a damn fine gaming card but that's what its realy built for - gaming. All the video features are available on much cheaper cards sadly.
 
I might also get a beefy card for my HTPC once i move it properly into the front room with a new LCD, would be sweet playing Oblivion and the like whilst sitting on a sofa. Certainly beats any X360 gaming wise, what with things like wireless steering wheels etc.
 
Its as easy as selecting the resolution from the display panel, and if it isnt available then you can use a program such as powerstrip to program the resolution into the drivers. Its very easy:)
Click to expand...

Yes I know that but I would not be able to play with that resolution.

I also heard that using PowerStrip could damage your screen. But this is something I never tried so I cannot confirm it.

Thanks
 
Lanz said:
I might also get a beefy card for my HTPC once i move it properly into the front room with a new LCD, would be sweet playing Oblivion and the like whilst sitting on a sofa. Certainly beats any X360 gaming wise, what with things like wireless steering wheels etc.
Click to expand...

Yes basically that was my reasoning. I think it would be great playing any a game on such a big screen.
 
All cards do 1366x768 nowadays fine without any external programs. What you have to be more wary of is if your new LCD does 1:1 at 1366x768 on the DVI, as even some new ones are crappy and dont support it properly.
 
newera said:
Yes basically that was my reasoning. I think it would be great playing any a game on such a big screen.
Click to expand...

What I meant was that with a low budget graphics you would never be able to play a game with a resolution of 1366x768.

Re powerstrip this is something I heard from HTPC forums where the resolution, refresh rate etc. might not be compatible with the screen

Thanks
 
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