LGA775 G41 chipset onboard video for HDPC

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dalekphalm

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
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I have an HTPC running off a G41 chipset, it has onboard video w/ HDMI.

Proc is a e6400 (or something similar)
8GB DDR3
120GB Samsung 840 ssd

Will this be sufficient to run HD media? Some of the files are high quality blu-ray rips that can approach 20GB in file size.

The reason I'm curious is that the motherboard only has 1 PCIe slot I can use, and I have to choose between my discreet video card (HD 4250 fanless - works great in HTPCs), or my new ASUS Xonar DSX PCIe sound card. I have sufficiently good speakers to warrant the sound card, but if the onboard video won't cut it, I'd rather use the graphics card and be able to watch ALL my content.

Thoughts?
 
Well, here's the question... Do you want to watch Blu Rays with the loss less codecs? If so, no, it won't. Neither will that 4250. You don't need a fancy sound card either. Regardless of whether or not you're wanting the loss less codecs you should either be using HDMI or optical/digital coax which all the processing will be done by your receiver and not by the sound card.

My suggestion, get a 5450 or a 430.
 
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So my receiver/surround setup uses Analog outputs only. It's not exactly "high-end" in terms of the Home Theatre Audio scene, but it still sounds good. I'm actually using Logitech Z-5300's.

I would of course prefer to use the lossless audio codecs like TrueHD and DTS-HD, but until I have a high end receiver with HDMI or optical, it'll all have to go through the sound card.

Anyway, turns out that the PCIe slot on the motherboard is dead, so no soundcard or video card either way :p

I got the board used, no guarantee, and it was less than $40, so no biggie. For now I'll use the onboard video chipset. Eventually I'm planning to replace the mobo/cpu with a Trinity APU (Or newer if the newer AMD APU's come out), something like an A6 probably, to get decent on-die GPU.

I also have a Gigabyte HD 7770 OC lying around, but unfortunately it's too large to fit inside my case anyway (Just picked up an NMedia 5000B). The 120mm fan on it sticks about an inch out the top of the case.

Once I have everything installed and tested, I'll post the performance results of the onboard video. Now, to decide the first blu-ray rip to watch...
 
After fiddling with the settings in the Plex Client (Specifically, fine tuning which hardware acceleration works best - CrystalHD seems to work best here), I can now confirm that the onboard graphics on the G41 chipset are definitely good enough for my HTPC. I tested a blu-ray rip of Terminator Salvation, which was approx 18GB. Video was perfectly smooth.

Unfortunately the PCIe x16 slot on the motherboard is dead. Video doesn't output when any card is plugged into it (Whether it's a video card or something else). Rather then spending the $50 or so to buy a brand new LGA775 board, I think I'll just save it and pick up a whole new CPU+mobo eventually instead. Something that supports USB 3.0 and has a modern CPU (Thinking AMD A6 probably - Might consider an Intel i3).

Until I get a new motherboard, then Onboard Audio it is.
 
Unfortunately the PCIe x16 slot on the motherboard is dead
Click to expand...

Did you change your Motherboards Bios setting from "On-Board graphics" to the "PCIe slot" setting ?
 
Javvis said:
Did you change your Motherboards Bios setting from "On-Board graphics" to the "PCIe slot" setting ?
Click to expand...

I did indeed try both "On-Board" and "PCIe" for graphics output in the bios. Regardless of which setting is selected, neither onboard nor video card output works when the PCIe slot is occupied.

Even if its set to onboard, and the PCIe slot is occupied by a Sound Card, the onboard doesn't work.

It's a Pegatron used motherboard I got off Kijiji. At this point, it works with onboard graphics and audio, and that's good enough until I can get a new CPU + Mobo platform.
 
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