HD Display Card- help

[prashant_dv]

Hi Folks,

I am planning to get a HD video display card for my computer which i intend to use as my HTPC. I did a bit of googling and found 1 (amongst many) card quite impressive which is : MSI Computer Corp. - Product EDIT : MSI NX7600GT Diamond Plus (GeForce 7600 GT, HDMI)

It has got 256MB DDR3 onboard memory and supports the following outputs
HDMI Connector
SPDIF Connector
Dual-Link DVI Port
VIVO + HDTV Connector

I am currently planning to get this Amazon.com: DVI-I to 3 RCA Component Cable - 6ft: Electronics DVI --> Component cable to watch using my CRT monitor, and am contemplating on getting an LCD very soon which is when i will use the HDMI connection. Alternatively the DVI will also be used when i want to the computer directly and not for watching movies.

Suggestions are most welcome...! (infact am awaiting suggg....)

Regards,
Prashant

 

[anm]

What is the cost?
Can this card also send out audio over HDMI to receiver?

regards

 

[particleman]

Prashant, the card you've mentioned is pretty old - it belongs to the 7 series while the current 9 series is already a year old and to be succeeded by gt200 based cards. Among other things it also means that the card is only DirectX 9 compliant not DirectX 10. Finally, 256 MB of onboard RAM is way too low. I'm pretty out of touch with current Nvidia releases so I can't make a recommendation but I'd suggest looking at the 9 series and at least 512MB of video RAM to begin with.

 

[prashant_dv]

Hi ANM,

yes it does send audio via HDMI according to what i read from specs.

@particleman: Thanks & definitely, i havent singled out on this card. I am looking for more options, which is why i have asked for suggestions from our fellow forum members if someone has recently acquired any such product. would check the 9 series as you've mentioned in ur post.

regards,
Prashant

 

[Dushie]

I won't put my money on this card.
In my opinion go for Ati Radeon HD 4670 its an excellent card for HTPC

 

[prashant_dv]

Hi Dushie,

i do agree with you. the card that i found was pretty old and i just called up one dealer in SP Road, like 10 mins ago, and he told me about the NVidia 9600GT which he quoted 6K+ . He told me to go to his shop personally and review many other products similar to this one.

Do you have an approx cost of the ATI Radeon card that you mentioned ?

Regards,
Prashant

 

[Dushie]

Hi Prashant

4670 is costing around 5.5k

 

[Rem]

agree that the card shud have 512 MB mem if not more.It should be a card which goes into the PCi Express slot(which most modern Video cards are) rather that normal AGP. ASUS, XFX, MSI are all brands you could consider and also make sure it supports DX 10 though if you are using XP Dx 10 support is not needed, Vista and future version of windows(windows 7 ) would have Dx10.

 

[prashant_dv]

Ati Radeon HD 4670

@Dushie : Thanks for the pricing info. I would also like to know if we can use the HDMI & component adapters to convert the display to connect to normal CRT Television & LCD.. do let me know if you have info on this.

@REM : thanks for info. Yes, am lookin at PCI cards only & i am considering to install windows 7 very soon. At the moment i am using Win XP Pro X64 edition.

 

[gobble]

Prashant

I have been researching HD video platform on and off for months now esp linux support.

For your requirement if it is non-gaming you should go for a new mobo/cpu that support 1080p aceleration. The reason is that Intel 3ghz cpus struggle with chipsets like G35 or 965 series for 1080p full rate because the chipsets do not support HD processing.

You should go for an AMD 780G mobo that can play full HD with below 50% utilization on a 2.1 ghz dual core processor - which is what I purchased 8 months back. This IGP platform consumes 12V power and my BE-2350 cpu consumes 45W at full load (mobo @55nm & cpu @45nm manufacturing process). If I leave it on generally whole day with no load at most times power consumption is in the range of 17W total as per various reviews on the Internet. Any other platform built with 65nm process will consume @65W at full load for cpu alone. Now imagine keeping a 80W bulb switched on all day in front of you at your desk.

The other Intel option is the new G45 chipset that will play full HD with acceleration like the 780G. the IGP on this is the X4500HD.

The 780G will allow dual graphics card processing in hybrid mode ( IGP + PCIe) in case you want to upgrade to gaming system. It is the first IGP that allows playing most 3D games out there albeit a slow fps.

The mobo/cpu will cost less than 5.5K, 1G x2 DDR 800 RAM will be 1500/- approx at most. I was lucky to get the BE-2350 as it is not a fast moving item and not stocked everywhere, but now I can dream of an always on PC although the guilt factor makes me switch it off.

If you search pick the BE-4050 as it has 1MB L2 cache per core compared to 512 in others. 2.1 ghz is more than adequate to play full HD. I use a Dell 2408WFP 24" monitor at 1920x1200 res.

Cheers

 

[gobble]

What is the cost?
Can this card also send out audio over HDMI to receiver?

regards

Ps: the 780G has hdmi 1.3 video support only not audio.

cheers

 

[prashant_dv]

Hi Gobble,

Thank you very much for your valuable feedback/info on this.

Right you are, am not into intensive gaming. My requirement was only for HD video.

I would not be able to change my config though at this moment. So i would need to consider a card which can take advantage of my current config.

I am using a Intel Core2 Quad Q 6600 2.4 Ghz system with 4 GB of 667 Mhz DDR2 RAM ( mostly will upgrade to 8 GB soon ), Intel DG33FB motherboard with a Dell E228WFP 22" Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor. & yea my system is always ON and connected to the internet downloading some movie or songs.... so i wont worry about that as much....

looking forward to your opinion and suggestion for a good card.

Regards,
Prashant

 

[gobble]

Thats a good setup. I would hesitate to change it if i had that one.

Try ATI Radeon™ HD 3400 Series - Overview

Cheers

 

[prashant_dv]

thanks gobble. in fact i had taken this config for virtualization purposes. so i wouldnt change it at all.

Will look into the card that you have mentioned..!!

Cheers
Prashant

 

[marsilians]

its DVI (no audio support) to component (no audio support). So I don't believe it will handle it. basically its a digital to analogue convertor for video.

Why don't you pursue DVI-DVI or HDMI options?

Hi ANM,

yes it does send audio via HDMI according to what i read from specs.

/QUOTE]

 

[prashant_dv]

marsilians: would you have some recommendation/suggestion on which product i should be looking at ? I am looking for a card which has both DVI & HDMI (if possibe). My current sound card installed is the M-Audio Audiophile 2496, which has got both analogue and SPDIF in/out as well.

please let me know what options are available.

 

[Rem]

Check this one out prashant this card is from Asus I think it has got everything you want but looks bloody expensive m not aware of the rates

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.



Btw thts an awesome config you got there, dont thk the Quad core wud anyway hamper the performance of HD video, infact a decent video card shouldnt tax the processor(unless its an old pentium) for any kind of video processing.

Also want to know wat you use for virtualisation vmware or the microsoft virtual pc.

 

[gobble]

thanks gobble. in fact i had taken this config for virtualization purposes. so i wouldnt change it at all.

Will look into the card that you have mentioned..!!

Cheers
Prashant

My chipset supports virtualization too

Enjoy shopping

Chers

 

[prashant_dv]

Hi Rem,

had a look at the product, looks awsome. Thank you for the link. I found only one link with an approximate cost of 9000/- but not sure if the product is available in india at this moment. Would check with some dealer if possible, or ; either i wait till this product becomes available or settle for some other model disp card.

I use both Microsoft Virtual PC & Virtual Server. I havent tried VMware yet.

cheers
Prashant

 

[prashant_dv]

My chipset supports virtualization too

Enjoy shopping

Chers

Hi Gobble,

I wanted to run multiple virtual instances ( 4 or more instances ) without my system crashing down and hence went for this type of config (with 4 cores rather than Hyper Threading), i really dint bother about my chipset at that time to be frank.. good to know that your chipset also supports virtualization

cheers
Prashant