Adding GPU to render 1080p content useful or no?

A

Arct1c0n

Gawd
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Jan 1, 2015
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Hey, I just need some incite from veteran HTPC builders. I've got an old mATX gaming setup that I retired to my HTPC a few years ago, mainly an mATX Asus P5E-VM HDMI mobo with a Core 2 Duo E8500 CPU and a 4gigs of DDR2 G.Skill. It's done an ok job running Vista Media center *yeah, I know, sue me* but ever since I upgraded to a full 1080p 55'' LCD vs my older 720 DLP TV, its been struggling with playing local 1080P content without gagging at times, mostly .mkv files

I"m running from an older Western Digital SE 750gig drive and I just recently got a new 4 terabyte Western Digital Black and I wanna rebuild the system with Windows 7 at long last. But I don't have the funds to do a full overhaul, so I need to recycle the E8500 again and the mobo with the cruddy Intel Media Accelerate X3500 mobo video. I totally forgot that this CPU is so old that it doesn't even have on-die video, its on the mobo.

I'm wondering if I get a lower end Nvidia GPU on the PCI-E 8x slot if that will help render 1080p content vs the onboard mobo video and the CPU itself? Or if that won't help and will just be a waste.

EDIT: I also don't wanna spend more then $50 on a new or used GPU
 
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That e8500 should still be fine for anything you throw at it, but something to do some GPU hardware decoding will probably help. I added a cheap ($15 after rebate?) AMD 6450 to my HTPC, with an e7200 in it, a while ago and there's nothing it won't play. I was avoiding nVidia cards because of the frame rate bug that was causing a lot of flicker on some programming.
 
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a 750ti should work fine given good acceleration support in your codecs (have a look at LAV Filters)
I think the 750ti even does h.265/HEVC acceleration so that card should do just about any video playback you need it to do.
 
FnordMan said:
a 750ti should work fine given good acceleration support in your codecs (have a look at LAV Filters)
I think the 750ti even does h.265/HEVC acceleration so that card should do just about any video playback you need it to do.
Click to expand...

It's not full hardware support. Given his older dual-core, this means you might as well just buy a cheap card now for h.264 support, and wait a few years for h.265 acceleration to filter-down to the cheap seats. It's already available in Broadwell, and it may even be in the new Cherry Trail, which should use the same GPU core tech. In a few months you'll be able to buy Broadwell desktop Celeron that can decode it for 50 bucks!

The GTX 960 is the first GPU to support h.265 in hardware, but definitely not worth dropping $200 for a single feature.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8923/nvidia-launches-geforce-gtx-960
 
I agree with the HD 6450 recommendation. Even an older 5450 would probably be fine. Either should run you about $20-30 after rebate at the Egg.
 
Arct1c0n said:
Ung...I can't stand AMD drivers though.
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What about them bothers you? They seem to handle TVs better than nvidia does in terms of using full range vs. limited. Nvidia seems to default to limited range which makes tvs look washed out; it's easy to fix but a lot of people miss it. They also aren't as great at 23.976 as AMD is (though I think the newest intel processor graphics are actually the best now).

So what is it about the drivers that bother you? I've not had any issues for a while now.

Also, is your x8 slot a physical x8? If so, it's time to break out the dremel possibly. EDIT: That motherboard doesn't have an x8 slot.
 
I've been pretty pleased with AMD / ATi divers as of late. I upgraded my HTPC to an A6-6400K based system and the drivers are great for the on-board. We upgraded our engineering workstations at work and the video cards are FirePro W4100's and again, drivers are working great.

For an HTPC set up, the AMD drivers are perfectly fine. It's really a "set it and forget it" deal.


Pylor said:
What about them bothers you? They seem to handle TVs better than nvidia does in terms of using full range vs. limited. Nvidia seems to default to limited range which makes tvs look washed out; it's easy to fix but a lot of people miss it. They also aren't as great at 23.976 as AMD is (though I think the newest intel processor graphics are actually the best now).

So what is it about the drivers that bother you? I've not had any issues for a while now.

Also, is your x8 slot a physical x8? If so, it's time to break out the dremel possibly. EDIT: That motherboard doesn't have an x8 slot.
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Went and ordered an Evga Geforce 210, I simply don't trust AMD software in any of my machines.
 
Arct1c0n said:
Went and ordered an Evga Geforce 210, I simply don't trust AMD software in any of my machines.
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I would have ordered something a little more recent. The 210 will play any pre-HEVC video you throw at it, but the driver updates have been discontinued, which may make it tough to upgrade to a new OS (i.e. Windows 10, which will be a free upgrade for the first year of release).

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3473

Anythng form the 500-series onward should be supported for a long time.
 
Wrong


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Yes they're rolled-into the current driver sets until 2016, and then they stop cold. Yur new card is a year away from abndonment.

Just wanted to save you another purchase a few years down the road when Microsoft inevitably releases Windows 11.
 
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