I have the passively cooled MSI 8500GT with HDMI
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1231&maincat_no=130&cat2_no=136
It performs very well with the onboard decoding of h.264 keeping my CPU in the 5-8% range while watching the DVBT broadcasts.
The card temperature normally doesn't deviate from 70 degrees while surfing/photoshop etc..
While decoding the DVBT stream the card temperature rises to the low-mid 80's.
While decoding DVBT and trying to surf/do other tasks the card temperature exceeds 92 degrees and the video crashes which is evident in the fact that both my monitor and my LCD TV go blank while the computer keeps running.
After a reboot the card is functional again and will continue until it overheats again in about 20mins...
We all know how much 'grunt' is required for the h.264 decoding and my impression is that by passing it on to the GPU it creates a need for significantly higher heat dissipation!
Any one else have experience with the passively cooled cards?
Maybe a fan cooled card is necessary for continued operation of the hardware decoding...