Recommendation for Video Card

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Glazza

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#59141 28-Mar-2010 10:49

Hi All

Im looking for your recommendations for a Video card for Windows Media Center 7.

I am currently using a 9400 - which I have no issues with, except it has a very noisy fan.

Therefore my requirements are:

- No Fan - Silent.
- Single Slot width
- No issues with FreeviewHD etc

Thanks
David

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#312029 28-Mar-2010 12:58

If you decide to go ATI I wouldn't buy less than a 5570 (or 4650 from the 4*** series) if you have a screen that has a higher resolution than 1920x1200 (see http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3734&p=4 and http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=669). Finding silent *and* single slot versions of these models can be tricky. About the best you can do are cards like this Sapphire card. Otherwise, with 1920x1200 or less it should be relatively easy to find a silent single slot 5450.

Can't speak for the NVidia camp...

1gkar

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#312119 28-Mar-2010 18:06

As for the Nvidia camp...

It depends on how you are using your machine. Do you SPDif your sound across a cable for AV decoding? If so, is your receiver capable of HD sound?

Or through PC speakers. Is it dedicated to HTPC useage? Do you plan to use it for gaming.

If yes to both in the first paragraph, then get an ATI card capable of bitstreaming HD sound to your receiver via the HDMI cable. If you only SPDIF or PC speakers, & don't game, then a card around 9500GT would be the baseline for your purchasing requirements.

Silverstone LC14 HTPC Case/Intel E4600 CPU/GA-EP35-DS3 MOBO/Asus EN9500GT graphics/2GB RAM/total 2TB HDD space/HVR-2200 & 2X 150MCE tuner cards/LG GGC-H20L BD Drive/MCE2005/Mediaportal/TVServer 1.1.0Final/LG 55"3D LED-TV/Denon AVR-1803 receiver/X1 projector

Glazza

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#312178 28-Mar-2010 20:32

The Machine is 100% for HTPC - I believe the the amp is can receive HD audio - it is a Pioneer LX-72...

Have all the 'old' issues with ATi card been resolved?

Currently my max resolution is 720p.

Cheers

1gkar

722 posts

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#312188 28-Mar-2010 21:00

The only issue with Nvidia is it is hard locating any passive cards in this country. Not sure about ATI. What display are you viewing from?

Not sure about the ATI past historyof problems & whether they are all resolved.

Glazza

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#312193 28-Mar-2010 21:06

Panel is a Series 4 42" Samsung... 720p max

Cheers

mm1352000

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#312202 28-Mar-2010 21:25

Okay, given the other information you have provided I would be recommending an ATI 5450.

Have all the 'old' issues with ATi card been resolved?

You need to be more specific - what are the issues you're concerned about? Personally I have encountered "a number" of complex issues with my HTPC; only *a couple* of these were related to bad ATI drivers. Far more were related to random things like TV card drivers, PowerDVD versions, OS differences etc. I have managed to resolve all my issues. Having said that my setup is pretty simple. I know there have been other issues reported that I definitely haven't experienced...

FYI: I'm running an HD4670 with Catalyst 9.4 on a multipurpose PC. OS is XP SP3 and media software is MediaPortal 1.0.2 (PowerDVD 9 and FFDShow tryouts rev2895). I'm receiving Freeview HD DVB-T, analog TV, Optus D2 DVB-S and FM radio. Display is a 24" HP LP2475w. Audio is stereo PC speakers connected to a Creative Audigy 2 ZS Platinum soundcard.

Glazza

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#312206 28-Mar-2010 21:41

Ok...

I'm running Windows 7 Media Center - the issue was I was refering to was the 'green' issues that were common with the HD channels - mainly on TV3 from memory.

The 9400 has been solid - but noisy...

Cheers

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

mm1352000

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#312234 28-Mar-2010 22:27

Heard about but never experienced the dreaded green screen issues. I think that particular issue is very old now - something like the era of Catalyst 8.7 or so (July 2008). I am using 9.4 (April 2009) but the latest are 10.2 or 10.3...

ATI has a reputation for bad drivers. I would be the first to admit that the reputation has at times been justified, however things do seem to be improving. In the past they were very good at breaking things that were fixed in previous releases or introducing new bugs. I think you will have to get other people to confirm that issue has been solved.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

PANiCnz

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#312375 29-Mar-2010 12:43

Glazza: Ok...

I'm running Windows 7 Media Center - the issue was I was refering to was the 'green' issues that were common with the HD channels - mainly on TV3 from memory.

The 9400 has been solid - but noisy...

Cheers

Would it not be easier just to buy an aftermarket cooler for the 9400? If the card suits your needs and noise is the only problem there are easier options than a new card. Some of the Thermalright cooler even take 120mm fans, a volt modded 120mm is nearly silent.

Nety

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#312427 29-Mar-2010 15:29

If possible I would look for a cooler to replace the fan as well. Currently there seems to be a vacuum of passive video cards.
I looked at getting one for my old 8500GT but nothing suited however Thermalright have several that will fit that card and work passively.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

dale77

294 posts

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#312579 29-Mar-2010 20:37

Nety: If possible I would look for a cooler to replace the fan as well. Currently there seems to be a vacuum of passive video cards.
I looked at getting one for my old 8500GT but nothing suited however Thermalright have several that will fit that card and work passively.

Even fanned cards designed for HTPC use are pretty quiet these days. The aquarium filter is louder than my 4670 fan.

Atomic PC: ... low power consumption also means that the heatsink can be relatively small, and Sapphire have chosen a simple all-aluminium design from Arctic Cooling to get the job done. It's large enough to push the form factor into dual-slot territory, but temperatures range from 38-45 degrees between idle and load with a very low 47.3-49.9dBA noise generation. In fact this is so low that it's almost unnoticeable from any decent distance away, so you won't notice it once inside a case environment.

Sapphire 5670 Review at Atomic PC

HTPC: Antec Fusion 430, Intel i3, Gigabyte 1050, Corsair 4x1Gb, Hauppauge WinTv, Logitech z-5500, Logitech Harmony 525, Yamaha Rx-v6a, Samsung KS8000 4k, Windows 10, Mediaportal 1.30, BLU-RAY: Panasonic UB820

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#312588 29-Mar-2010 21:01

mine 8600gt has NO FAN. dead silent. of gigabyte build. uses barely a few watts.

Nety

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#312775 30-Mar-2010 11:06

dale77:
Even fanned cards designed for HTPC use are pretty quiet these days. The aquarium filter is louder than my 4670 fan.

My new video card has a fan and I did do a bit of research before purchasing it to make sure it was quiet however even it becomes audible after paying a bluray movie for awhile. Not from where you sit by any means but enough that it can be heard when standing a metre away from the MC. After spending quite a bit of time and money making the MC as quiet as possible it grates me that I have added a fan to the mix.

FYI I got the Palit NE2T2200FHD51 Video Card

dale77

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#313052 30-Mar-2010 20:10

Nety:. After spending quite a bit of time and money making the MC as quiet as possible it grates me that I have added a fan to the mix.

FYI I got the Palit NE2T2200FHD51 Video Card

Looking at the image of your card, it may be that your fan is smaller than the one on the 4670, which is almost as big as the card itself. I may have heard the fan in my case once, but I'm not sure ;-)

I don't like fan-noise either, but if I can have a fan without fan-noise, I'm happy. I originally bought a passive card, which unfortunately was about 1cm too tall for my case. Tentatively I then tried out the current Sapphire, and this card is silent.

WaffleMakerMan

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#314348 3-Apr-2010 10:28

Is anybody using a HD 5450 (the cheapest card out) with mediaportal? can it deinterlace 1080i?

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