[Abula]

Just wondering if you guys can recommend me a GPU, im upgrading my HTPC from a GTX750Ti that a friend bought from me, so i dont have a GPU anymore, i dont game on the HTPC, just pure 1080p playback, i use MAVR and LAV Filters, but wondering if i should get a GTX960 or a Radeon R7 260X. My budget is around $250, but would prefer lower if i can get away with. I would prefer the Nvidia if they would deliver the same, as its semi passive state is something i do value, but if AMD would work better i would adapt, maybe an aftermarket cooler.

Thanks for any suggestions,

 

[ES_Revenge]

According to the two threads on here recently discussing the GTX 960, it's pretty clear the 960 though as powerful gaming-wise as a R9 280/285, it's only as good at madVR NNEDI3 as an R7 260X.


Your best bet for madVR then is probably an R9 285, which should be around the same price as a 960. Unfortunately it doesn't run as cool as a 960 and can take up to 2x the power of one as well.

 

[C17chief]

Another thing to factor in with a more performance oriented card, especially since madVR can push it, is REALLY pay attention to the cooling and the cost of replacing it something better. Video cards are not the quietest things in the world when they have a good load on them and the cooling fans are ramped up. Like anything else, some models are better then others, but there are very few that will stay legitimately very quiet while running a good load.

 

[pylor]

I have an R9 270x (270s are likely just as good) that runs extremely quiet (it might as well be silent, I can't hear it at all) and runs madVR as well as I could ask. I'm not sure how it compares to a 285, but from what I remember (this is over a year ago so it could be wrong) memory bandwidth was a big thing for madvr. The 285 may have less bandwidth than the 280 series, but supposedly it's much more efficient with its bandwidth, atleast in gaming. Are there any benchmarks anywhere for madvr with nnedi? It feels like it's been forever since I setup my madvr.

 

[JDLIVE]

If you're just playing back 1080p content to a 1080p display then you don't need nearly as much horsepower. I'm running MadVR on a $15 ATI 6450 just fine. Now if you're trying to upscale to 4K or doing something else that needs higher settings within MadVR, then yes you need more juice.

 

[emcdade]

The AMD cards are hot power hogs compared to the latest nvidia offerings. I was on the red team forever but finally changed after the 900 series came out. I have one of the Asus Strix cards where the fans don't even turn on until you hit 60C core temp.

 

[Dropkick Murphy]

I bought this R9 270 and it runs MadVR very well http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121823

I paid $100 more for it a year ago

 

[Stereodude]

The AMD cards are hot power hogs compared to the latest nvidia offerings. I was on the red team forever but finally changed after the 900 series came out. I have one of the Asus Strix cards where the fans don't even turn on until you hit 60C core temp.

That's somewhat relative. The 260x has a lower TDP than the GTX 960. The GTX 960 barely outperforms it at madVR duty. The 260x is a whole lot less expensive.

So, if you want to pay twice as much to save virtually no power for no tangible benefit I guess the GTX 960 makes sense.

 

[emcdade]

That's somewhat relative. The 260x has a lower TDP than the GTX 960. The GTX 960 barely outperforms it at madVR duty. The 260x is a whole lot less expensive.

So, if you want to pay twice as much to save virtually no power for no tangible benefit I guess the GTX 960 makes sense.

I and many others have had nothing but problems with multiple R Series cards and artifacting. I game with mine as well so I suppose that bias is creeping in. Personally I wouldn't take another R series if you gave it to me for free; nothing but issues.

 

[pylor]

I and many others have had nothing but problems with multiple R Series cards and artifacting. I game with mine as well so I suppose that bias is creeping in. Personally I wouldn't take another R series if you gave it to me for free; nothing but issues.

I have 3 GCN cards that all work fine, an original 7970, a mobile 7970 (which is a downclocked 7870), and a 270x (yet another 7870). No issues at all. People will always have issues with cards, it's just a fact of life. I had an nvidia 6800 that would flicker insanely with shadows, but I also had an 8800GTX and 650ti that worked fine. People that have issues are much more likely to be vocal than the vast majority that haven't had any issues. Anecdotal evidence is just that.

 

[ES_Revenge]

That's somewhat relative. The 260x has a lower TDP than the GTX 960. The GTX 960 barely outperforms it at madVR duty. The 260x is a whole lot less expensive.

By only 5W and by the accounts I've read the 960 will not even get near its 120W TDP in normal use--it peaks at 100W during gaming. I'd imagine the 260X will probably be running closer to its 115W TDP, but we might as well just call them equal for power consumption.

But I agree, for madVR it's a bad idea to spend twice the money a 960 which will not give any better performance over a 260X.

 

[hdmi4ever]

I have an old desktop PC which I turned into an HTPC by adding an updated video card and TV tuner.

The CPU is AMD Athlon 64x2 5000+, video card is NVidia GT 610. It has no problem showing native 1080i/1080p video from local files or Internet streaming or TV shows from the tuner. But it isn't so great at upscaling DVDs to 1080p. With DXVA2 enabled it will play the DVDs smoothly at 1080p, but the picture quality isn't very good.

I was wondering if madVR combined with a more powerful video card would provide significantly better DVD upscaling. Are there any under-$200 video cards that would have sufficient horsepower? Or will the old CPU combined with the old PCIe 1.1 motherboard be too much of a bottleneck for the upgraded video card to do the job?

I'm willing to stretch a little over the $200 budget, but $250 or higher would approach the point where it's better to just buy a whole new PC or rebuy the DVDs as Blu-Ray.

 

[JackDiesel14]

Nvidia's cheapest option is the 970 which isn't exactly cheap. Radeon's cheapest option is the 270. This is of course if you're looking to really get the most out of MadVR. The 960 and 260 can do it but you can't go all out.

 

[hdmi4ever]

Thanks. I see several variants of the Radeon R9 270 for under $200.

But madVR is damn confusing. I'll have to spend some time to understand it before spending money on something that can really use it. All this jargon about jinc, LAV, 16 neurons blah blah WTF ....

 

[sladi75]

But it isn't so great at upscaling DVDs to 1080p.

All this 1080 -offering of nowadays, and people still wanna watch crappy DVDs? Maybe "little" too much free time to consume for watching videos, perhaps??

I myself watched my last DVD on january 2010 (and I thought I was a late bloomer...), after which I sealed DVD as a format and entered HD-era without looking back.

 

[hdmi4ever]

All this 1080 -offering of nowadays, and people still wanna watch crappy DVDs? Maybe "little" too much free time to consume for watching videos, perhaps??

I don't buy DVDs any more, but I still own a few dozen of them and have friends who periodically lend me some from their DVD collections. If you'll buy us enough Blu-Ray to replace every one of our DVDs, I'll stop watching DVDs. Deal?

 

[hdmi4ever]

Looks like I can't use the Radeon 270 in the HTPC due to my insufficient power supply. So that means either spend more for a new PSU or a drop down to the 260. Or rebuy the DVDs as Blu-Ray. Hmmm.....

 

[SteelWill]

What's your power supply? PS requirements tend to be overstated. Here re some actual draw numbers:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7754/the-amd-radeon-r7-265-r7-260-review-feat-sapphire-asus/16
Even a 270X doesn't break 300W.

 

[tman247]

I still use a Radeon 7750 + MPC-HC + LAV + MadVR, and it works like a champ. Most of the time it's upscaling DVD rips and 720P movies to 1080P. My HTPC is actually connected to a Samsung UHD 4k TV, so the TV does the rest of the upscaling to 4k. Yes, I know maybe not ideal, but the end results are pretty spectacular to my eyes.

 

[utee05]

I got a couple of gigabyte 260x which are pretty much dead silent and work well for LAV+MadVR. I just recently built a another htpc with a intel celeron so looking to possibly get a gpu.