Is my video card the bottleneck for my 3d playback?

Forums › Home Theatre (incl HTPC) › Is my video card the bottleneck for my 3d playback?

oV6e

11 posts

Geek

#115983 14-Apr-2013 11:25

Hi all
I have been running a HD5450 in my HTPC for a while and its been good for TV and blu ray movies at 720p
but I just got a new 3D 1080p TV and when watching 3D the framerate is really bad and the sound occasionally stutters then gets out of sync.

Other times it was like it was alternating between running too slow and too fast. alternating every second or less.

Generic LGA775 motherboard
Dual Core E5200 @ 2.5Ghz
Graphics card: HD5450 512mb
2GB DDR2
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 - Running Windows Media Centre
160GB 7200 8Mb Seagate sata hard drive (ST3160811AS)
LG Optical Blu Ray drive

sidefx

3471 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#799115 14-Apr-2013 11:28

Maybe check your CPU usage while running it. That GPU doesn't do hardware MVC decoding so might be your CPU is the bottleneck.

EDIT: Interesting, what's with these newegg links?

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Electric Kiwi | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

urban

487 posts

Ultimate Geek

#799126 14-Apr-2013 11:59

Have you turned on dxva? and upgraded to the latest drivers?

Tried XBMC? Does it yield the same choppy playback as WMC?

oV6e

11 posts

Geek

#799158 14-Apr-2013 14:14

sidefx: Maybe check your CPU usage while running it. That GPU doesn't do hardware MVC decoding so might be your CPU is the bottleneck.

EDIT: Interesting, what's with these newegg links?

CPU was averaging around 30% today, I checked it last night it definitely wasn't running at 100% or anything. see below about the GPU though, I made a mistake

regarding the links, that is kinda weird. I had heaps of links as well as I copied from my earlier thread http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumId=84&topicId=105035
the newegg one was from that. don't remember why I put a newegg link in that time... weird.

urban: Have you turned on dxva? and upgraded to the latest drivers?

Tried XBMC? Does it yield the same choppy playback as WMC?

I am using Arcsoft totalmedia theatre to play the discs, I cant find DXVA anywhere in there or in the graphics cards properties. yep, all drivers are upgraded.

and this is weird as. based on my last thread I said I got a ATI. I just looked at the computer again and realised its an Nvidia

I am a complete idiot. I actually have a NVIDIA 210 with 1GB http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=VGAEVG1313 or http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-210/specifications

It doesnt say anything about supporting DXVA or MVC

B1GGLZ

1960 posts

Uber Geek

#799182 14-Apr-2013 15:29

From the Nvidia website re Geforce 210
"Blu-ray 3D playback is enabled on CPU playback only on these GPUs" and it's not recommended for 3D.
Your cpu is rather low spec for 3D too.

sidefx

3471 posts

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#799185 14-Apr-2013 15:41

Odd, something seems to be auto-inserting newegg links. Did it to me when I mentioned HTPC too... Anyway:

Even if the 210 doesn't do MVC, it should be ok if CPU can handle it and I think your one should do (it's dual core right?) - so if CPU is not bottlenecking then I suspect something else might be going on. Though yeah, 210 isn't exactly a powerhouse.

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Electric Kiwi | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

oV6e

11 posts

Geek

#799188 14-Apr-2013 15:53

Cool, Thanks b1gglz! & sidefx

What do I need to look for in the replacement video card?
Is there some tech (dxva?) I can ensure it has so I don't need to worry about the CPU, or is that going to be a bottleneck regardless of how good the video card is

an HD7750 http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?e=1161412 says it has Blu Ray 3d 'support' although I don't know if that means its good for it :/

I guess what I am really asking is; how much do I need to spend to completely resolve this?.

sidefx

3471 posts

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#799191 14-Apr-2013 16:06

Well I think you need to find the root cause. It actually looks like the GT210 should do MVC and framepacking, so as I say above I think something else is going on. Here's a decent reference post:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1240499/faq-for-the-3d-htpc/900#post_21122837

BTW: What software are you using for playback?

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Electric Kiwi | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

oV6e

11 posts

Geek

#799205 14-Apr-2013 16:52

sidefx: Well I think you need to find the root cause. It actually looks like the GT210 should do MVC and framepacking, so as I say above I think something else is going on. Here's a decent reference post:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1240499/faq-for-the-3d-htpc/900#post_21122837

BTW: What software are you using for playback?

arcsoft totalmedia theatre 6

is there any benchmarking tools I can use to test it? I had to return all the 3d movies today

B1GGLZ

1960 posts

Uber Geek

#799206 14-Apr-2013 16:56

Have a look here for suitable cards.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-geforce-cards.html

oV6e

11 posts

Geek

#801829 18-Apr-2013 19:01

Ok this is dumb but, I put my gaming rig card in. it was fine, I put the old card back in, and its fine too!

bah!

mcraenz

1091 posts

Uber Geek

#802386 19-Apr-2013 16:47

In any case don't buy a nvidia 210 they are very crap. And they dont de-interlace 1080i properly. I've got a geforce640 and it dose a good job. 520 is probably OK. I think nvidia is best for HTPCs.

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oV6e

11 posts

Geek

#802821 20-Apr-2013 16:22

After struggling with this for ages I discovered the heatsink thermal paste had dried up, was bumpy, and was not working. The CPU was running hot, not over working, just hot (like 99 deg)

I put some toothpaste on it until I could go and buy some proper paste and immediately everything worked perfectly.

Today I put some real thermal paste on so now its resolved. crazy.