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HTPC Video Card Recommendation

post #1 of 9
7/14/12 at 5:52am
Thread Starter 
I think my EVGA GT430 video card isn't powerful enough in my Htpc to run my 64" plasma tv. Lately I've been having a problem while watching live tv or movies, the picture and sound will go completely off and the tv will isplay no signal, as if the Htpc is off. I have to reboot the computer to get video/audio working again.

I opened up the computer case and the heat sink on the video card was very hot to the touch. The little fan was turning at a moderate speed. I thought maybe the case airflow wasn't great, so I left the top cover off to see if that would help. After watching a movie the heat sink still felt very hot. And I can feel air flowing thru the case, so I think airflow is decent.

I downloaded GPU- Z and it's reporting the gpu temps at 65*C. That seems very high!

I've RMA'd this video card 2x in the past because the cooking fan on the video had stopped turnung, causing overheating issues.

So I'm wonder if I need a better graphics card? Or better cooling? Maybe a new case?

My Htpc setup:
64" Samsung Plasma P64D8000
Silverstone LC20B case
Core i5-3550 3.3gHz
Gigabyte z77x-ud3h
8GB DDR3-1600 G. SKILL Ripjaws X
EVGA GT430 DDR3 1GB
2x HVR- 2250 OTA tuner cards
Samsung 830 128GB SSD
1x WD Black Caviar 1TB
2x WD Black Caviar 640GB
1x WD Blue Caviar 640GB
Win 7 Home 64bit
Lite-On Bluray writer
2x Arctic Cooler 90mm fans - intake
2x Arctic Cooler 80mm fans - exhaust


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post #2 of 9
7/14/12 at 6:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by scott750 View Post

I think my EVGA GT430 video card isn't powerful enough in my Htpc to run my 64" plasma tv. Lately I've been having a problem while watching live tv or movies, the picture and sound will go completely off and the tv will isplay no signal, as if the Htpc is off. I have to reboot the computer to get video/audio working again.
I opened up the computer case and the heat sink on the video card was very hot to the touch. The little fan was turning at a moderate speed. I thought maybe the case airflow wasn't great, so I left the top cover off to see if that would help. After watching a movie the heat sink still felt very hot. And I can feel air flowing thru the case, so I think airflow is decent.
I downloaded GPU- Z and it's reporting the gpu temps at 65*C. That seems very high!
I've RMA'd this video card 2x in the past because the cooking fan on the video had stopped turnung, causing overheating issues.
So I'm wonder if I need a better graphics card? Or better cooling? Maybe a new case?
My Htpc setup:
64" Samsung Plasma P64D8000
Silverstone LC20B case
Core i5-3550 3.3gHz
Gigabyte z77x-ud3h
8GB DDR3-1600 G. SKILL Ripjaws X
EVGA GT430 DDR3 1GB
2x HVR- 2250 OTA tuner cards
Samsung 830 128GB SSD
1x WD Black Caviar 1TB
2x WD Black Caviar 640GB
1x WD Blue Caviar 640GB
Win 7 Home 64bit
Lite-On Bluray writer
2x Arctic Cooler 90mm fans - intake
2x Arctic Cooler 80mm fans - exhaust
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2
Why not use onboard Intel HD2500 video, supported by CPU/motherboard?
Edited by DeanM - 7/14/12 at 6:28am
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post #3 of 9
7/14/12 at 7:47am
I have an fanless Asus GT430 and it runs to my TV just fine, sounds like a bad video card. Top temp so far has been 56 degrees. Pretty much any integrated or even basic video card should be able to play 1080p no problem. I just had to add a video card because my HD3000 wouldn't play the mpeg4 channels on Cox and I like my DIYHD.
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post #4 of 9
7/14/12 at 9:23am
Thread Starter 
Will the Ivy Bridge 2500 IGP be able to handle mpeg2, bluray, and etc?

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post #5 of 9
7/14/12 at 9:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by scott750 View Post

Will the Ivy Bridge 2500 IGP be able to handle mpeg2, bluray, and etc?
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Yes.

The only thing I think there is trouble with is h264 cable channels (cablecard/Cox). Some people have trouble with 29/59 content (cablecard/HBO... others) -- I don't with my HD2000.

Looks like you are all OTA, so I was surpised you bothered with the discrete nvidia 430.
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post #6 of 9
7/14/12 at 11:03am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DeanM View Post


Yes.

The only thing I think there is trouble with is h264 cable channels (cablecard/Cox). Some people have trouble with 29/59 content (cablecard/HBO... others) -- I don't with my HD2000.

Looks like you are all OTA, so I was surpised you bothered with the discrete nvidia 430.

I originally bought the GT430 to update my old Htpc setup. It was a C2D E6420 and LGA775. I wanted to wait for ivy bridge before redoing the whole thing.

So I don't need to worry about H.264 content?

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post #7 of 9
7/14/12 at 11:18am
Thread Starter 
I'm thinking of swapping to the i5-3570k to get the hd4000 igp and selling the i5-3550. Would that handle everything I'm doing? I don't game on this computer.

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post #8 of 9
7/14/12 at 11:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by scott750 View Post

I originally bought the GT430 to update my old Htpc setup. It was a C2D E6420 and LGA775. I wanted to wait for ivy bridge before redoing the whole thing.
So I don't need to worry about H.264 content?
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Normal h.264 content works fine on my system (by normal I mean from BD rips and such). The h.264 issues are happening with cablecard content for those using HDHRp and Ceton tuners. Try it, you'll probably like it... and you'll get rid of another heat-source in your HTPC.
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post #9 of 9
7/14/12 at 11:49am
Run Furmark : http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/ with the stress test option, and see how hot the card goes. If it goes above 85 degrees, it`s not good. Usually GPUs have a max temp of about 85-90 degrees (Celsius)
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