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HTPC Video Card

B

bclark

n00b
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
9
Good afternoon [H]!

I am looking to upgrade my HTPC video card to a passively cooled single slot card. I currently have an Nvidia Quadro FX3400 and it is pretty loud and seems sluggish at 1920x1080 on my 46" LCD TV when playing 1080p videos/movies. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Trying to keep the price point <= $50 if possible (used/refurbished is fine as long as it works).

Thanks!
 
In regards to passive cooling, I've had great success with the VNF1000. I chose it over other passive coolers because of the heat sink placement. This cooler moves the heatsink, the bulk of any cooler, to the opposite side of the chip. I needed the PCIEx1slot next to my GPU for the TV tuner. I currently have this setup with a 9800GT XXX in my shop workstation and it runs pretty cool and obviously quiet. :)

IMG_0564.jpg
 
Thanks Jeremy,

Do you think the HD5450 would be sufficient for my usage? (no gaming, just video playing)
 
yeah it will be enough. Though if you have 1080i content and need to deinterlace it well, then a HD5550 will probably be bare minimum (vector adaptive deinterlacing needs sheer shader power).
 
The price different between the HD5550 and HD5570 is non-existent. Makes no sense not to get the HD5570 (outside of the fact that it's over my budget).

Do you happen to have any recommendations from Nvidia that are comparable?
 
GTS 430, I think, is the only one that will really fit your bill. I think Anandtech said it best in their GT 430 review, "nVidia simply gave up competing against AMD's well established low end market." (paraphrasing, here). You can sometimes find insane deals on the HD5550 (like the ASUS 10usd deal :p), however, if the price difference is that small, then go for it :)
 
HD5450 is fine for video, and is less than 20 watts, which means even with a small passive heatsink it runs fine. The GT430 is an impressive 60 watts+, and that means you'll need a hefty cooler to cool it passively, and they don't normally come with them as standard.
 
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