Choosing video card for HTPC, 8500gt good choice?

S

Silversierra

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 20, 2005
Messages
263
First, background info.

My PVR:
e4300 @2.7GHz
1GB HyperX
Multiple Hard drives
AverMedia HD a180
Maybe a Bluray drive in the Future

I mainly use the unit to record OTA atsc broadcast tv in vista media center. I usually play back using media player/media center.

I need to get a video card for the unit, but am unsure about what would be best.
I want the card to be relatively small, silent/very quiet, support hdcp, and have good performance for hd playback. I prefer nvidia cards, but an ati/amd is not out of the question.

So far I like this card(gigabyte 8500gt silent hdcp)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125062

The only thing I'd change about the above card is to make it a 8600gt, but I can't find any 8600gt cards that are silent and support hdcp. The one gigabyte 8800gts fits the bill pretty well, but is too expensive, I prefer to stay <$130, with $150 as a max.

There are also some 7600gs, 7300gt, and ati x16xx cards that would fit the bill.

My main question is whether a 8 series card is worth it for me over a 7 series/x16xx series. I've heard that they have new features like purevideo hd decode acceleration, but I'm not sure if this would benefit me. Will the 8 series accelerate the .dvr-ms files I get from media center? Do these purevideo hd features require purchase of a nvidia decoder or are they part of the drivers?

I appreciate any input on the matter.
Thanks.
 
IMO with the "silent" cards you pay for the heat generated somehwere anyways. That heat has to be exhausted out of the case, so either the case fans do it or the video card does it. So given that I wouldn't be overly obsessed with getting a fanless video card.

The 7900GS is a great card, and most of the included coolers are really quiet. Just as an example.
 
for under 100.00 bucks u cant beat that. I will let you know later next week after I am done installing vista on my new machine and see what happens.
 
valve1138 said:
IMO with the "silent" cards you pay for the heat generated somehwere anyways. That heat has to be exhausted out of the case, so either the case fans do it or the video card does it. So given that I wouldn't be overly obsessed with getting a fanless video card.

The 7900GS is a great card, and most of the included coolers are really quiet. Just as an example.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree... I can't keep a video card fan going... I've never had one last for more than a year in my case. The lower gen cards also tend to have noisy + poor quality fans on them... if you get a fanless model + you have good airflow you'll never have to worry about the video card again. If you don't have good airflow in your setup consider a PCI blower or get a model that includes a fan... and be willing to replace it within a few months (possibly a year)
 
I'd definetly go with the 8500 or 8600, especially if you plan on doing HDDVD or Bluray, even any other form of HD format like x264. The 8500/8600 nvidia cards do VP2 decoding where a Bluray/HDDVD movie is decoded about 80% in the graphics card, leaving only decryption stuff to be done by the CPU at around 20%. If you have ripped HDDVD/Bluray disks, your CPU usage will only be around 5% or so during playback. That value alone is worth it IMO.
 
I know the new features sound really nice, but how do you enable these features? Would I need a (paid) plugin or is it part of the newer drivers? Or do these features need a program like the powerdvd for hd? I mainly use WMP 11, so will these features benefit me?
 
Well.. hd movies play like garbage in WMP11 unless its WMV-HD, and those aren't too common on the net. But, for VP2 decoding, you'll use Nvidia Purevideo HD in apps that support hardware decoding. Mainly Bluray/HDDVD in PowerDVD 7.3.
 
w1retap said:
Well.. hd movies play like garbage in WMP11 unless its WMV-HD, and those aren't too common on the net. But, for VP2 decoding, you'll use Nvidia Purevideo HD in apps that support hardware decoding. Mainly Bluray/HDDVD in PowerDVD 7.3.
Click to expand...

Is the Purevideo HD a separate application or is it built into NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder 1.02.233? Thanks.
 
Purevideo HD is for the 8500/8600 series cards right now that support the Purevideo HD hardware decoding (vp2). It is enabled when you download the latest nvidia drivers that support it. It is Vista only as of right now. Not sure if its going to change in the future. So to answer your question, its built into the hardware, and enabled by the nvidia drivers for Vista.
 
So if I'm understanding correctly, I don't need to buy the purevideo plugin(s) to get purevideo hd benefits with a 8500/8600 because it's now part of the driver? If so, then that settles it, 8 series is the way to go. I wonder how much that asus 8600gt hdcp passive card will cost when it's available....

Thanks again.
 
Yup.. correct. The graphics card basically has Purevideo build into the hardware. The latest Nvidia drivers under Vista work with the VP2 decoding. I see it as a huge breakthrough for HTPC owners who want to display high definition content without having to have all the super high end hardware to play it back. With VP2 decoding, you can watch most HDDVD and Blu-ray movies with some of the lower end processors.
 
Thanks a lot w1retap, you were a big help, I appreciate it.

Now I just have to decide which to get 8500gt or 8600gt. I'm leaning more toward 8600gt.
 
I have the gigabyte 8500gt in my htpc. note that the hardware acceleration for h.264 only works in Vista at this point. supposedly we'll see XP drivers in June. also, only the latest versions of windvd and powerdvd have the hardware acceleration enabled. hopefully we'll see more support soon.
 
My 8500gt rocks and system runs really well. Playing h264/hd movies spikes only around 30-50% cpu thats without using windvd or powerdvd. And I only have a x2 3800+ 2gig ram. Windows Vista system rating is 4.8 total. Not too shabby this is a great little card for a htpc.
 
My 8500GT

My setup: X2 4200; 939 socket; 2gig ram; 2 Raid-5 cards with a total of 12 drives attached; 2 Raptors for OS and Par and Rar work; 3 1/2TB of storage space. I have a really large Lian Li case that is holding 14 HD&#8217;s with 5 fairly quiet fans. The video card that was replaced is an ATI 1950 Pro.

I will start off by saying that I give a thumbs up for the 8500GT if you are looking for an HTPC video card. I am not going to give bar graphs because I am not that kind of guy. I do not game so this card looked very attractive to me. The Gigabyte 8500GT uses a passive heat dissipation method so it is silent. The card comes overclocked from the base speed. The card does not need any extra plugs for power. It only needs the power from the slot to power it. Surfing is just as good as any card out there and will handle any non 3D program with ease and sharpness. I have yet to find a movie that will run at the 50% CPU processing speed that I was used to having to accept as the norm. VC-1 is at 25 to 35% range; H264 is in the 15 to 25% range for anything I threw at it with peaks at 40%. It did not make much of a difference if I was using PowerDVD 7.3 or Media Player Classic. I have not seen any difference in sharpness or detail from my old card but I do like the color that Nvidia has compared to ATI&#8217;s color by a considerable margin. It is just more natural looking with real flesh tones. For $100 the 8500GT is an excellent investment for an HTPC or an everyday non gaming computer. For those of you that like to game also, it will be interesting to see what ATI has coming out in a week from now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125062
 
got my 8500gt in today, installed it in my lc16-m case (holly tight fit batman)

I was using the on board ASUS A8N-VM CSM video (6150) but it just wasnt doing it for me anymore.

my 3dmark05 score went from 700 to 3244
my 3dmark06 score went from 272 to 1989
my vista preformance index rating went from 2.3 to 4.1 (only the video card changed)

be warned, if you get this card you prob will need to buy this:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4...1_Device_-_BLACK_ACR-RC32004.html?tl=g2c36s97

so that the ide connection from the optical drive doesnt hit the back of the heatsink on the video card.... right now my round cable is being smushed :(

to compare, a friend has the same computer basically but a 7600GT silent from asus (but using xp), his 3dmark05 score is 3592, and 3dmark06 is 1561.
 
Thats why u use sata :) my 8500gt runs well max cpu % 30 while playing a hd encoded files on a x2 3800. Great little card. My card rating in vista is 5.0.
 
Well, I sold my 7900GS to buy 8600GTS, I notice better picture quality with 8600GTS when playing DVD movies using PowerDVD Ultra v7.3. Do you think I'm right, or wrong?
What do you guys think?

Regards,
LimLim
 
PQ in power dvd looks good I have it as well, I also installed the codecs for windows media player the vista codec pack, picture looks tons better on powerdvd then windows media player thats for sure. And I have a 8500gt.
 
Thanks for the input guys, newegg finally has the card I want for sale, so I ordered it, can't wait!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121076

Should fit my bill just right, it's an 8600gt so it's fast enough for lighter gaming, hdcp for future bluray/hd playback, silent heatsink cooler, dual dvi, and it's an asus, so it's(hopefully) a well made card.
Only "con" is that it's dual slot, so it takes half my slots, but that should be ok, if I run out of pci, there are usb devices....
 
I'm trying to determine if I'm able to use this card and still use the slot next too it?

It look pretty large the heatsink
 
So, the Purevideo HD capabilities of the card are only available in Vista? I'm still running Windows XP Pro and don't see myself upgrading anytime soon.
 
farscapesg1 said:
So, the Purevideo HD capabilities of the card are only available in Vista? I'm still running Windows XP Pro and don't see myself upgrading anytime soon.
Click to expand...

Currently correct. They are supposed to provide support for XP this summer.
 
farscapesg1 said:
So, the Purevideo HD capabilities of the card are only available in Vista? I'm still running Windows XP Pro and don't see myself upgrading anytime soon.
Click to expand...
If you are going for HD playback and it sways your opinion, I found Vista plays back high definition content of all types much better than XP, especially HDDVD and Blu-ray content.
 
Hmm, well the problem is that right now I don't have the funds to upgrade both my HTPCs to Vista, especially since I need versions that would allow me to keep the ability to join domains (running Server 2003 at home).
 
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