Well, I have decided to do a full overhaul of the theater and HTPC, and being a long time HTPC'er, I know I can make an accurate list of my personal system requirements. Reading lots of threads on video cards, and I dont want this to turn in to another "Best video card for HTPC" thread, but I am looking to set up a BD/HD DVD machine and have a couple questions.
First, if there will be no gaming, capturing, recording, etc. just playback of DVD, BD, HD DVD, and HD media stored on the media server, just how powerful does a video card need to be to do this? I am looking at passively cooled cards and have come across an XFX 8500 GT, 512 MB card here: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...227&CatId=1558
Is this going to be suitable for all playback of HD, both BD/HD and H264 encoded files? The first HTC I set up required a $500 video card to playback HD content, is an $89 card all it takes these days? I want to run full 1080p output to a projector. I will likely set up a core duo machine as I have a 650i mobo and a couple gig of ram sitting around, so I could put it all together for about $400 including buying a combo drive and a case/psu, it just sounds cheap. Maybe too good to be true is a better description. Looking for experienced builders to let me know if I am overlooking any pitfalls. Thanks in advance.
First, if there will be no gaming, capturing, recording, etc. just playback of DVD, BD, HD DVD, and HD media stored on the media server, just how powerful does a video card need to be to do this? I am looking at passively cooled cards and have come across an XFX 8500 GT, 512 MB card here: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...227&CatId=1558
Is this going to be suitable for all playback of HD, both BD/HD and H264 encoded files? The first HTC I set up required a $500 video card to playback HD content, is an $89 card all it takes these days? I want to run full 1080p output to a projector. I will likely set up a core duo machine as I have a 650i mobo and a couple gig of ram sitting around, so I could put it all together for about $400 including buying a combo drive and a case/psu, it just sounds cheap. Maybe too good to be true is a better description. Looking for experienced builders to let me know if I am overlooking any pitfalls. Thanks in advance.
