Recommend me a video card for HDTV with GA-MA78GM-S2H

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Recommend me a video card for HDTV with GA-MA78GM-S2H

kiwijunglist

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#25125 12-Aug-2008 19:42

Hi

I've given up on the onboard ATI HD3200, so I'm gonna add either a 8500GT or 8600GT.
The computer is only used as a mediacenter and doesn't play any games
(Except Step Mania - Dance Dance Revolution, which is pretty low spec game)
I have an PCI-Ex1 HVR2200 card in side the computer, so it the video card has fit nicely next to it.
I have no other cards, and i use onboard spdif out for sound.
I'd like things to be quiet, so i might consider a fanless option.

It needs HDMI out to my 1920x1080 Samsung LCD TV

What would people recommend, i don't want to get the best just what will do the job nicely without hassle.

Gigabyte Turboforce 8500GT 256mb PCI-E on trademe for $30 no reserve
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Components/Video-cards/PCIExpress/auction-170477063.htm

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martyyn

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#156699 13-Aug-2008 20:56

Hi fella,

Just wondering why youve given up on the on-board graphics. Weve already establilshed (via the MP forums) that we have the same setup and Im having no problems at all with it even with the freeviewHD stuff

Cheers
Martyn

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#156715 13-Aug-2008 21:24

martyyn: Hi fella,

Just wondering why youve given up on the on-board graphics. Weve already establilshed (via the MP forums) that we have the same setup and Im having no problems at all with it even with the freeviewHD stuff

Cheers
Martyn

The reality is that under Vista most people cannot get H.264 hardware acceleration working with any ATI cards without facing issues. The odd person does seem to get it going but the majority are all facing issues.

Even the Irish are asking now wondering why they're having issues with their picture quality using ATI hardware with the new trial H.264 broadcasts in Ireland.

martyyn

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#156722 13-Aug-2008 21:34

Fair enough.

Im on XP and have never bothered with Vista so that explains it :)

kiwijunglist

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#156752 13-Aug-2008 23:23

I'm currently on XP
I can't get hardware acceleration on C4/TVNZ6/TVNZ7

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eXDee

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#156754 13-Aug-2008 23:24

8500GT is sufficient. Asus silent one runs good.

kiwijunglist

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#156755 13-Aug-2008 23:25

martyyn: Fair enough.

Im on XP and have never bothered with Vista so that explains it :)

Are you sure you have it going on all channels.
Can you run mediaportal in windowed mode
(Goto mediaportal config -> general settings -> turn off full screen mode)
Then load up live TV on TV3 and C4
Load up task mgr (CTRL+ALT+DEL)
What cpu useage do you get for each channel?

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martyyn

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#156782 14-Aug-2008 08:51

Sorry, I should have also mentioned that Im not bothering with hardware accelaration simply because Ive always used coreavc and had no reason to change. I get all channels with no more than 30% CPU.

Ill work on a sig like yours with my spec. I think I mentioned on the MP forums that I have a quad core Phenom and 4 gb ram and it barely breaks sweat with anything I need to do.

I have my Gigabyte GV-N66256DP on TM at the moment that I used in my old machine....is that any use to you ? $1 reserve ;)

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#157195 15-Aug-2008 13:20

eXDee: 8500GT is sufficient. Asus silent one runs good.

the Asus 8500GT 512mb DDR PCI-E Card comes with a HDTV Cable,
is this a DVI -> HDMI adaptor cable?

I was looking at reviews at it seems that there is quite a big jump in gaming performance from the 8500GT vs' 8600GT. So I'm thinking I would be better of going for an 8600GT (Price different is only about $20-30). I don't actually plan on playing games, but it would be nice to be able to do so if i decided to try some out. (I realise that 8600GT is still quite low end for games).

Can anyone recommend a passive 8600GT which is HDCP compliant. Preferebly one with Dual DVI as i don't need a legacy VGA port.

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#157239 15-Aug-2008 15:59

ASUS 8600GT Silent 512MB DDR3

HDCP Compliant
Dual DVI
PCI-Ex16

C1 Shopping Mall - $116.65 incl GST + Postage http://c1com.co.nz/shop/step1.php?number=11461

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2&l2=6&l3=514&l4=0&model=1700&modelmenu=2

Hopefully this will work with my Silverstone LC16-M Case
The Powersupply fan sucks air from inside the case.
Do you think i will need to cover up all the other fan slots so that air is drawn through the PCI vent?

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amanzi

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#157324 15-Aug-2008 22:44

I have the same motherboard but didn't realise that it didn't have TV-out when I bought it. So I had to buy a graphics card to go with it. I did some brief research and then bought an Asus 8500GT with no fan, and it works beautifully. I picked it up on TradeMe for $80, new.

limegreen

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#157494 17-Aug-2008 11:10

kiwijunglist:
Hopefully this will work with my Silverstone LC16-M Case
The Powersupply fan sucks air from inside the case.
Do you think i will need to cover up all the other fan slots so that air is drawn through the PCI vent?

Can you let me know how you get on? I've spent the last day looking at cases. All seem to have their drawbacks, but I do like the look of this one, and I'm curious to know if you can get that video card into it.

HTPC: Silverstone LC16-MR Silver, Corsair VX450W PSU, AMD X2 5200+, 2Gb RAM, Gigabyte MA-770 DS3 Mobo, ASUS 9400GT Silent, 1TB Western Digital HDD, 1TB Samsung EcoGreen, 1.5TB WD external; LG DVD Writer, Hauppage HVR2200, Hauppage T-500, 2xArtical Cooling PSD fans
Work: ASUS UL30A w/ 27" external 1080p LCD display
Workhorse: AMD 3600, 1Gb RAM
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#157688 18-Aug-2008 12:19

$116... that's a good price, I think I paid $135 on mine, like 4-5 weeks ago...

mobo Intel DH55PJ, RAM: 4GB RAM, Nova-T 500 HD + Avermedia Trinity tuner card, Geforce 520 video, 120GB SSD Sandisk + 640 WD + 1000SG, Win7 Home Prem 64-bit, Media Portal 1.15.0; BTC 9019URF Cordless Keyboard, Panasonic 55" (HDMI cable), HTPC Case Silverstone Grandia GD05B.

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#157698 18-Aug-2008 12:56

i installed CoreAVC, and although the quality is not as good as pdvd8 on software mode, it is good enough. so i may just save the money and not get the gfx card.

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