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Cheap GPU Upgrade for HTPC

R

rironin

n00b
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
39
I've recently bought a new computer, and turned my old computer into a basic Home Theater PC for playing Blu-Rays, watching streaming video, and playing older games. However, the older video card hasn't got HDMI out. I connected it to the TV with a DVI-D to HDMI connector, but the picture looks absolutely awful, and I haven't been able to figure out why that might be except that perhaps it's the cable and/or the conversion from DVI to HDMI.

The picture on the TV is slightly smaller than the screen, leaving a black border of live but unused screen, and the picture is fuzzy. I've tried every possible setting for the aspect ratio on the TV, and don't think it's the issue (an XBOX 360 and a Blu-ray player both display fine when connected via HDMI - they fill the screen perfectly and are much, much sharper). I've installed the specific video card drivers on the HTPC and looked through every possible setting to try to improve the quality or at least get the picture to use the entire screen. I found something that magnified the screen, but this clearly didn't do anything to improve the picture. It's all baffling to me, since I assumed that the kind of data coming through an HDMI cable would be interpreted correctly - that is, an HDTV ought to know exactly where to display each pixel of the signal, since it's a 1920x1080 display and it's getting its (supposedly 1920 x 1080) picture digitally via HDMI.

In any case, the short story is that I'd like to try replacing the old video card in my HTPC with a new (but not top-of-the-line) card that has a native HDMI out, in the hopes that this will solve the issue. Here are the relevant specs for the HTPC:

MOTHERBOARD- GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R

VIDEO CARD - Sapphire Radeon HD4830

Can anyone suggest a cheap video card that is no worse than the old Radeon 4830 (better certainly couldn't hurt) and that has native HDMI out? Thanks!
 
scaling settings in catalyst will stretch the image out to fill your display. also, there should be scaling settings in your tv menu; something like 'scale to fit.' outside of that, dvi to hdmi cables routinely suck.
 
Second the Radeon 6450.

However, I have the opposite problem. My desktop has pixels beyond the edge of the TV.

I think it's due to feeding the HDMI through a receiver, but there's no way around it because I need the HDMI audio to get decoded and handled by the receiver.

No scaling options in my TV menu fixes it. Samsung 56" DLP 1920x1080. circa 2007
I haven't been able to find any options in Catalyst control either. I need to test a Geforce card with it, but don't have a spare one with HDMI out that will fit in the case.
 
Wait wait, he said no worse than a 4830 (assuming 3d performance here), a 6450 is wayyyy slower, even if it is better at htpc tasks. A 6570 is a bit slower, 6670 is about equal, a 7750 is faster. I'd go with the 7750 personally. The 6850 or 7770 on sale are also good buys.
 
J Macker said:
Second the Radeon 6450.

However, I have the opposite problem. My desktop has pixels beyond the edge of the TV.

I think it's due to feeding the HDMI through a receiver, but there's no way around it because I need the HDMI audio to get decoded and handled by the receiver.

No scaling options in my TV menu fixes it. Samsung 56" DLP 1920x1080. circa 2007
I haven't been able to find any options in Catalyst control either. I need to test a Geforce card with it, but don't have a spare one with HDMI out that will fit in the case.
Click to expand...

Its called overscan. I have that with my Mitsubishi DLP. Catalyst software should have the option to scale the window down. I had a 6450 in my previous HTPC and was able to do it. Can't remember the exact option but I know I was able to address mine through there.

On your TV you can fix it by going into the service menu but there is a chance of causing some damage if you don't know what you are doing.
 
I'll break the trend and recommend a GT430 or 440 for normal htpc services.

For playing games likely I'd go for a 7750+ or a 650+, at that point though it just depends on how fast you want the games to be and at what settings you're willing to live with.

I've seen folks use a GTX670 with advanced launcher in XMBC playing Crysis 2 with an Xbox controller so you have hundreds of options.
 
5450 ddr3 minimum better than.
any card with gddr5 would be really good!
so..You turned an ep45ud3p into home theater? :(
Waste of an overclocking board..PM me if you ever wanna sell it. :)
could sell it and get a cheap Biostar h61mgc+celeron g530=really good for htpc
 
rennyf77 said:
scaling settings in catalyst will stretch the image out to fill your display. also, there should be scaling settings in your tv menu; something like 'scale to fit.' outside of that, dvi to hdmi cables routinely suck.
Click to expand...

The 'scale to fit' option was an issue with connecting laptops to my Samsung 37" LCD TV, and was solved by a setting on the TV (Samsung calls it 'Stretch'). So I did look for something similar with this other TV, my roommate's Hitachi. I've checked all the options, and there definitely isn't one in this case. There are a few aspect ratio settings, but they're pretty basic and none properly align the screen.

I did find the stretch settings in Catalyst Control Center, and was able to stretch out the screen a bit, but it still seemed like the wrong solution. After all, this is a digital 1920x1080 signal being sent to a TV made to display HD images, being delivered by an HDMI cable... why would/should/could adjusting the image look and feel like adjusting a CRT Monitor?

That's the part that I don't understand. How can an HDTV not understand that pixel (0,0) goes in the exact corner of the screen, given the matching resolutions and the all-digital (supposedly) delivery system? The whole concept that it wouldn't be exact and clean vexes me.
 
rironin said:
The 'scale to fit' option was an issue with connecting laptops to my Samsung 37" LCD TV, and was solved by a setting on the TV (Samsung calls it 'Stretch'). So I did look for something similar with this other TV, my roommate's Hitachi. I've checked all the options, and there definitely isn't one in this case. There are a few aspect ratio settings, but they're pretty basic and none properly align the screen.

I did find the stretch settings in Catalyst Control Center, and was able to stretch out the screen a bit, but it still seemed like the wrong solution. After all, this is a digital 1920x1080 signal being sent to a TV made to display HD images, being delivered by an HDMI cable... why would/should/could adjusting the image look and feel like adjusting a CRT Monitor?

That's the part that I don't understand. How can an HDTV not understand that pixel (0,0) goes in the exact corner of the screen, given the matching resolutions and the all-digital (supposedly) delivery system? The whole concept that it wouldn't be exact and clean vexes me.
Click to expand...

like previously mentioned, it's called overscan. it's something that you will need to deal with to some degree with virtually any pc to tv setup out there. A video card change won't fix it.
 
You know for the price if you can find it the 430 and 440 gt (bagged to the 640gt I think) will give you some boom to your htpc at a pretty low cost. I do remember having the 4830 back in the day and the scaler thing was kind of annoying it used to be buried in the control center, they also used to set it to like 110% in the overscan by default which never played nice with my samsung or lg tv. I switched to an asus laptop with the gtx460 and have not really had any kinds of issues in that regard. I know its apples to oranges but it does feel like a cleaner initial setup.
 
Some LCD TVs have the ability to change the input to do 1:1 pixel mapping. This takes care of overscan/underscan. You set this option through the tv menu. If you have a DLP the only way to address it is through the service menu (dangerous) or through the video card settings.
 
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