Mobo HDMI vs VGA card?

R

Redleader

2[H]4U
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Is it better to use a mobo with hdmi vs using a VGA card? Im going to be building an htpc soon and have no problem using my current 8800gt as it will give me an excuse to upgrade but if I will see zero benefit from it I wont do it. Also is the gigabyte mobo the very best out right now? I see everyone using it but never could find if it is actually the best out.
 
The Gigabyte board in question is an excellent choice for HD playback via the integrated chipset and HDMI port. Whether it is the "best" board out there depends on if it fits your needs or not. It is perfectly capable of decoding and playing back both HD DVD and BluRay content without the need for a discrete video card.
 
I have that board and have some minimal noise int he picture. I have done zero troubleshooting on it, though
 
its only visible on a black screen or very dark screen. small white flecks, like static, but not very dense.
 
My needs are just the best picture possible out of the HTPC. I dont mind spending money to get it. Ill be using this mostly for 1080p playback and possibly recording HD off of cable.

Edit: Forgot to add I will probably be buying a BR-rom also. I will be hooking this up to my 6.1 surround sound system via I imagine optical?
 
in that case, a card will be better. the onboard hdmi is only about as good as the entry level HD cards from ati.
 
So using a DVI->HDMI cable will be my best bet? Or is there a certain card that is better?
 
all I can accurately tell you is with my experience. I have the above linked mobo and a Nvidia 8600. The 8600 gives me stutter free playback of everything I have put on it at 1920 by 1200. the on board chokes on some of the HD content.
 
I don't have any stutters. And going by the 2700+ post official gigabyte 780g thread at avsforum, the general consensus on ways to improve this board is having 8 channel LPCM over HDMI and a cooler running northbridge.

I do have mine with a Pioneer Bluray player. When I used the included WinDVD 8 to play back bluray, it ran at about 95~100% all the time and stutter throughout. Switched over to PowerDVD 7.3.something and cpu usage is now between 10 and 30%. Never stutters now
 
admittedly all I have done is put the board in and install drivers from disk. I still have some work to do on this box, but it gets limited use in the bedroom so its not my top priority.
 
Is getting a ATX board better than getting the GA-MA78GM-S2H? The case Ive picked out supports both. I was also thinking about getting the Phenom 9600 and ram deal. I know that might be overkill for just an htpc but then Ill get some gaming use out of it too if needed.
 
Redleader said:
Is getting a ATX board better than getting the GA-MA78GM-S2H? The case Ive picked out supports both. I was also thinking about getting the Phenom 9600 and ram deal. I know that might be overkill for just an htpc but then Ill get some gaming use out of it too if needed.
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Since the Phenoms use HT3.0 they have much more bandwifth available to them then a regular X2 and the 780G really shines when used with HT3.0; it lets it do better deinterlacing.

ATX or MATX doesn't really matter; mostly it's if your going Intel then get a video (which makes either MATX or ATX irrelevant) or AMD if you want to/need to/want to use an IGP thats is actually capable of HTPC use.
 
So if I get a Phenom 9600 pair it with the GA-MA78GM-S2H with 2gb of ram and my 8800GT, will that give me the best picture possible?
 
Redleader said:
So if I get a Phenom 9600 pair it with the GA-MA78GM-S2H with 2gb of ram and my 8800GT, will that give me the best picture possible?
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Yes but the phenom would be nearly useless with the 8800 in an HTPC. What I msaid only applies to the 780G IGP when using the IGP.
 
Oh I dont have a problem with an overpowered htpc, with it having the 8800gt it will kinda be like a second gaming rig on a big tv. Only thing Im worried about is the best quality.
 
Redleader said:
Oh I dont have a problem with an overpowered htpc, with it having the 8800gt it will kinda be like a second gaming rig on a big tv. Only thing Im worried about is the best quality.
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Its not "overpowered" but worthless, eats more power and puts out more heat and a total waste of money.... unless your gaming.

An X2 and a 780G mobo will be nearly identical to a Phenom and a 8800GT. A Phenom and the 780G is a good match, a 780G and a 2 Ghz X2 is a good match. A Phenom and a 8800GT are a good match but totally wasted (blu-ray playback and all) unless your gaming.
 
Seems like he puts some worth on gaming.

An interesting setup would be an Nvidia 8200 based board with a HybridPower compatbile card (which currently are 9800GTX and the 9800X2 but soon to include a lot more). You would connect your display to the IGP and the discrete videocard would pass thru (at a slight loss, I think I read about 3% or so) but when you didn't need the power of the separate videocard, the motherboard automatically shuts it off and runs off the IGP.

This is the setup I want but I will wait a few more months for boards that use Intel cpus.
 
Yea I dont feel that is will be worthless if Im able to casual game on it. If I feel I need to save a few bucks Ill get a 5000+ next time its on sale again but right now I dont need to save any.
 
hdmi digital
vga analog

LCDs/Plasmas are natively a digital process. The DAC on your video card has to take that information and turn it into an analog, travel, and then change back to a digital signal. The question isn't only about what hardware you have on your computer. It's also important to ask how good your ADCs are on your tv. What resolution would you be allowed to use on your tv? etc., etc.

HDMI. It's also futureproof, to use 2004's sizzle word.
 
Fincher said:
hdmi digital
vga analog

LCDs/Plasmas are natively a digital process. The DAC on your video card has to take that information and turn it into an analog, travel, and then change back to a digital signal. The question isn't only about what hardware you have on your computer. It's also important to ask how good your ADCs are on your tv. What resolution would you be allowed to use on your tv? etc., etc.

HDMI. It's also futureproof, to use 2004's sizzle word.
Click to expand...

I dont think you read the thread.
 
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