GTX480 in an HTPC

rudy

rudy

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Apr 4, 2004
Messages
8,703
antec eco 620 PSU
i5 2500k
8 gb ddr3 1600
320gb hdd
160gb ssd
currently running GTX460

Do you think I can put a GTX 480 in there? Will the PSU handle it, will the case cool it?

Using a silverstone LC13B-E
 
You'll probably have to remove one of the drive bays, your hardware should easily handle one. It'll work but I have to ask: why? You're not going to gain anything over the 460 GTX other then gaming ability. Hell, one of the newer 640 GTs would make for a better HTPC experience then a 460 or a 480. The only thing you gain is gaming ability.
 
Yes we game on it and consider that one of the main reasons to have an HTPC over just using a BR player.
 
rudy said:
Yes we game on it and consider that one of the main reasons to have an HTPC over just using a BR player.
Click to expand...

I own 2 GTX 480's and the noise they make during heavy game sessions annoyed me enough that I bought and installed a custom water cooling system for them. They are dead silent now but the noise level was crazy high.

If you get A LOT of air flow moving over the GTX 480 it may not get that loud but you certainly won't have a silent HTPC.

I would recommend a newer generation GTX card with a aftermarket cooler that's quiet. Gigabyte has lots of choice with there three fan aftermarket cooler , its quiet and powerful (depending on your budget of course).
 
The psu will handle the 480 just fine, but be prepared to crank the AC =)
 
rudy said:
antec eco 620 PSU
i5 2500k
8 gb ddr3 1600
320gb hdd
160gb ssd
currently running GTX460

Do you think I can put a GTX 480 in there? Will the PSU handle it, will the case cool it?

Using a silverstone LC13B-E
Click to expand...

I recently built an HTPC with the Silverstone LC13B-E. I popped in an old Radeon 4870 I had lying around, which is an inch shorter than your graphics card. I had enough room to pop it in with the drive bay intact, but I removed it for additional room as I only have a single harddrive in the unit.

My only complaint so far is noise, as my card gets quite loud under heavy use. The Silverstone case doesn't have tremendous airflow and worse yet uses relatively small fans. The combination of everything means that the fans can really get going, which makes for somewhat noisy experience. It doesn't bother me too much though, because I wear headphones 95% of the time.
 
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I cant imagine it being louder than my stupid BR drive.
 
One problem Ive had with the 480 for htpc other then noise/heat is I for the life of me couldn't get it to it to fit the display on my 65" Sony... No overscan or underscan options worked for me and nothing with ratios on the tv work either, With my 6870 its a quick simple option that works perfectly. The only thing my 480 had was cutting down the size of my display and ending up with some odd 1865x1073 ration that I didn't want to live with.
 
tumblr_lputxuy6Mf1qmh1s6o1_500.jpg


The gtx 480, hot suff coming through. Do you own a GTX 480 already if not then a 7850/7870 seems better.
 
Yes I already own a GTX480, the reason for the question is I recently purchased an HD7950 because it was a good deal but I really did not have a specific plan for it.

Option 1 was to put it on my main rig but you will see that may be a problem as detailed here.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1701649

Option 2 was to put it in the HTPC which you will see is a problem as detailed here
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1410597/ati-hdmi-loss-of-sound-on-receiver-input-change/30#post_22167905

So I am sort of working out my options and they all seem to suck. =P

Option 3 is to put the HD7950 in one of the kids computers. But it just doesnt feel right knowing one of the kids gets a better GPU than myself.

Also interesting note about the underscan / overscan the HTPC had a GTX460 in it running without any problems for over a year. I had the most trouble with under/overscan when using a HD5670
 
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