AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Home Theater Computers › Replacement video card
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Replacement video card

post #1 of 10
4/27/09 at 12:16pm
Thread Starter 
Cyberlink Blu_ray Disk advisor is tell me that my Video Card is not capable of
Hardware Dual-Video Decoding Capability for
H.264
MPEG-2
VC-1

I have a NVIDA EVGA GeForce 7600 GT installed.

The system consists of:

SILVERSTONE CASE
SeaSonic S12-430
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz
GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3
CORSAIR XMS2 1GB
EVGA GeForce 7600GT
LG Black Blu-ray/Burner SATA Model GGC-H20L
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 SP3

I just set-up a WHS system and I want to stream Blu-Ray content from the WHS. I plan to add another gig of memory to the HTPC and upgrade the video card.

I'm looking for suggestion on a replacement video graphic card. Your suggestions and comments are welcomed and appreciated.

CarolinaGuy
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 10
4/27/09 at 12:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarolinaGuy View Post

Cyberlink Blu_ray Disk advisor is tell me that my Video Card is not capable of
Hardware Dual-Video Decoding Capability for
H.264
MPEG-2
VC-1

I have a NVIDA EVGA GeForce 7600 GT installed.

The system consists of:

SILVERSTONE CASE
SeaSonic S12-430
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz
GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3
CORSAIR XMS2 1GB
EVGA GeForce 7600GT
LG Black Blu-ray/Burner SATA Model GGC-H20L
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 SP3

I just set-up a WHS system and I want to stream Blu-Ray content from the WHS. I plan to add another gig of memory to the HTPC and upgrade the video card.

I'm looking for suggestion on a replacement video graphic card. Your suggestions and comments are welcomed and appreciated.

CarolinaGuy

Given that NVidia has been rebadging older chips with new names and coupled with the lack of 8-channel LPCM support over HDMI I strongly suggest an ATI card. If you do no gaming at all and want to keep the cost down a 4550 will do nicely. Light gaming and you should check out a 4630 or 4670. Moderate to high levels of gaming and you can go with the Gigabyte Fanless 4830 which tops the fanless line at about $150 after rebate (I am considering this card for my living room Gaming rig. My HTPC currently uses the IGP in the Nvidia 9400 chipset).

If you really want Nvidia then a 9600GT might be your best bet and I have have a fanless ECS that I am very happy with for my desktop.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 10
4/27/09 at 12:47pm
I agree in general, though if you are willing to wait, the next major rev of nvidia's GPU line will include full HD HDMI audio support, but they have no discrete cards shipping today that do that, just IGP's.

I think if you scan the other threads, people generally have been very pelased with the ATI cards for HD decode, if you you stay with a 4650 or higher GPU.

The price quoted for the 4830 solution is very high though. Newegg had a 4850 with a very quiet non-reference heatsink on for about $99 last week, and you can find quiet 4670's for under a hundred regularly.

Here's a good deal on a quiet 4850 for $110: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127401

Here's a 4670 for $50AR with a quiet HS on it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814140095
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 10
4/27/09 at 3:19pm
http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/161607

Is another decent HT card deal.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 10
4/27/09 at 6:05pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks everyone for your comments. i have been learning toward an ATI card. Think I will try the 4670.

CarolinaGuy
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 10
4/27/09 at 7:48pm
Yes, don't get anything LESS than the 4670. There are numerous reports that de-interlacing doesn't work well. I concur with that report!

A fanless version like this is nice:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102816
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 10
4/28/09 at 5:04am
I was thinking about buying a 4670, then just noticed the 4770 is being launched about now. Is this going to be worth waiting for? It seems like it's going to be pitched in a similar price range to the 4670.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 10
4/28/09 at 5:50am
I've been very pleased with my 4670 card, but the new 4770 looks interesting too. Newegg already shows 4 of the 4770 cards. The all appear to be clones of each other using the same HSF, but it looks like it might be a quiet one. They look to be under a hundred after rebate. They are all dual DVI cards so far, with VGA, HDMI and Component dongles (except the HIS). The 4770 does use a power connection, so it may not be quite as thrifty with the watts as the 4670.

I may pick up the 4770 for my next card unless the next-gen nvidia stuff leapfrogs ATI for HTPC use. With the HDMI audio situation addressed, they should get much broader acceptance since nvidia seems to have an edge in 24p playback
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 10
4/28/09 at 6:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeSM View Post

I agree in general, though if you are willing to wait, the next major rev of nvidia's GPU line will include full HD HDMI audio support, but they have no discrete cards shipping today that do that, just IGP's.

I think if you scan the other threads, people generally have been very pelased with the ATI cards for HD decode, if you you stay with a 4650 or higher GPU.

The price quoted for the 4830 solution is very high though. Newegg had a 4850 with a very quiet non-reference heatsink on for about $99 last week, and you can find quiet 4670's for under a hundred regularly.

Here's a good deal on a quiet 4850 for $110: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127401

Here's a 4670 for $50AR with a quiet HS on it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814140095


That was supposed to be a 4850... and it has 1 GB...
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 10
4/28/09 at 10:12am
The 4770 should be a great card. However, at $99, it's price the same as a discounted 4850, and the 4850 is still the better card. No difference for HTPC work, but the 4850 has better 3D performance, though the 4770 is about 80W TDP vs 110 for the 4850. So pick your poison...
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Home Theater Computers

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Home Theater Computers › Replacement video card