Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


garbonzai

317 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 51


#152119 16-Sep-2014 17:05
Send private message

Hello all, sorry if this has been asked 500 times before, but am a bit confused as to which is best.

Have a older PC used as a HTPC and it does ok, but struggles with decoding 1080i H.264 or what ever it is and is starting to struggle with all the flash crap content on some webb pages.

The CPU is a C2D E6300 in a SFF box with a 240w power supply, so I would like to put in a GPU card to take the load off the CPU.

Have looked at,

Radeon HD5450
Radeon HD6450
Geforce 210
Gforece 610

Would need to be low profile, low power consumption, HDMI with sound, decode H.264/MPEG4 effortlessly taking load off CPU and cheap as not worth spending much on a older PC, not asking for much am I. (oh and drivers for WIn7/8)

The HD5450 seems ok, but read somewhere it doesn't decode H.264 properly??, but there web site says it does??

Any advice??

Thanks

PS, had a GS8400 years ago and that decoded the H.264 well, also not interested in gaming capability at all.




 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Create new topic
rlevis
355 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 33


  #1130103 16-Sep-2014 17:31
Send private message

I spent several hours investigating graphics cards a few months ago to upgrade an old computer with a built-in Radeon HD3200 that was also struggling.  The HD6450 was the least expensive card I could find that supports vector-adaptive deintelacing for 1080i TV.  You could go cheaper with the 5450 and use BOB deinterlacing. Many don't notice any difference.



floydie
474 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 49


  #1130173 16-Sep-2014 19:18
Send private message

dont but one of those GT cards evryone does (210??,510??) i bought one and it doesnt work on the older motherboard. i ended up with a  good old 9600GT.

shrub
790 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 272

ID Verified

  #1130233 16-Sep-2014 20:48
Send private message

have you had a look at the gefore GT730? not bad price and plenty of power for media pc also prob best to find a core2quad on trademe for extra power



garbonzai

317 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 51


  #1130267 16-Sep-2014 21:30
Send private message

Thanks all,

Most likely be a HD5450 1Gb /512mb, (yea I know it's not that powerful, but it will be a lot better than the integrated GPU) should do the trick, just a bit held back by the PSU of 240w and PCI-E slot of 25w max, system is prob only worth $50 and CPU can only be upgraded to a E6700 (safely).

So, I'll just keep looking on Trademe for something cheap, one thing I have noticed is new VID cards tend to be cheaper from computer shops than Trademe.

Cheers




 

 

 

 

 

 

 


turb
880 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 135


  #1130382 17-Sep-2014 06:33
Send private message

You'll find the best prices for computers, components etc on www.pricespy.co.nz.

I have the Asus HD 6450 fanless in my HTPC and it does a great job.




Interests: HTPC, Web App authoring. 


floydie
474 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 49


  #1130445 17-Sep-2014 09:05
Send private message

like i said...you may have issues with the new cards on an older motherboard....just because its "new" doesnt mean itll play nice with your old mobo

 
 
 

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.
rlevis
355 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 33


  #1130722 17-Sep-2014 14:42
Send private message

I have the Asus HD 6450 fanless in my HTPC and it does a great job.


I also ensured I got a fanless one to keep noise down. Some brands use fans.

tehgerbil
1110 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 884

ID Verified
Subscriber

  #1130760 17-Sep-2014 15:19
Send private message

Hey OP, make sure you use CoreAVC - it will ensure the h.264 is specifically offloaded to the GPU, and the 5450 is compatible :)

- See review before for confirmation.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1023-page7.html

rlevis
355 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 33


  #1130994 17-Sep-2014 20:24
Send private message

I think LAV filters are better and also support DXVA2

garbonzai

317 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 51


  #1133163 21-Sep-2014 16:19
Send private message

Like I said in previous post, I like the HD5450 1gb, but not 100% it will work in motherboard and it may completely disable on-board sound, but I have found a ATI Radeon X1300 Pro 256MB and Nvidia Quadro NVS290 256MB for about 1/4 the price of HD5450 and will definately work in my system and be enough to play H.264 smoothly and have drivers for win7/8.

They both have DVI out, I was wondering how do I get the sound to work if I connect via HDMI adaptor, eg: if I select HDMI on TV for PC picture, the sound is going into back of TV via AV1, so I presume I cant get sound to work with picture via HDMI, or will I have connect sound separately to a stereo??.

Currently connected to TV via VGA and sound out .




 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Dairyxox
1595 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 455


  #1133202 21-Sep-2014 18:35
Send private message

It should work fine in a core2 era mainboard.
I'd go with the AMD/ATI HD 6450 or 6470, as mentioned above, it has some credible improvements over the 5450 for HTPC's playback of accelerated content.
HDMI audio should also be fine, as the graphics card includes an audio driver for passthrough.

Create new topic








Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.