QUADRO 4000 or GTX 260 core 216 in my HTPC/Media Server

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Burn23

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Workstation specs in sig.

Looking for suggestions on which of my two cards I should install in my HTPC. I have the following two video cards at my disposal:
MSI GTX 260 core 216
PNY QUADRO 4000
Comparison

The main workload of this system is basically audio and video. Rarely do I play games anymore. The last game I played was probably three or four years ago.

Plex Media Server runs in the back to serve two additional PC's, an iPad, two Chromecasts and two smartphones.

Plex Home Theater runs occasionally in the foregroud, as well as Plex for Windows 8.

Windows Media Center running as the back end with HDHomerun PRIME for TV, and this feeds television and movies to two Xbox 360 Media Extenders.

Aside from this, I use the computer for web surfing, occasional video/picture editing, video encoding/decoding, etc. I also have two VM's running in Hyper-V (Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7), both running on their own SSD.

I currently have the GTX 260 core 216 installed, and have ZERO complaints with performance (generally). The machine is really fast at virtually everything that I do. The SSD's, 32GB RAM and fast CPU are to thank for that, I'm sure.

My question is, would I benefit at all from swapping out the current card for the QUADRO 4000? I assume it would benefit from transcoding, lower power consumption, 2GB GDDR5 vs. 896MB GDDR3, CUDA cores... etc. But, is it worth the lower clock rate, memory bus and bandwidth?

Thanks for your thoughts!
 
If your not playing games then either card will work well.

If your playing games then I have no idea... im not sure what those quadro cards are capable of games wise.
 
I'm confused, are you taking the 260 out of the workstation and putting it into the HTPC? In either case both of those cards lack proper HDMI connections so you won't have full multi-channel audio over HDMI (DVI to HDMI adapters on the 200 series only gave you 2 channel audio with a limited bit rate).
 
The GTX 260 is already in the HTPC and thinking about replacing with the Quadro 4000, Quadro has dual DisplayPort and one DVI, whereas the GTX 260 has dual DVI.
 
The Quadro 4000 is a REALLY cut down GF100, but it does pack more computer cores then the 260 (256 vs 216), better per core performance, and Direct X 11 capability. The only thing the 260 has on the 4000 is clock speeds (576mhz VS 475mhz)

I'd put the 4000 in there, it's overall a nicer card.
 
There is no point in putting in that Quadro. If you need an upgrade, sell the Quadro and buy a new video card. Preferably one that sucks down less power and makes less noise (e.g. GTX 650) assuming you have no intention on playing games on this HTPC. Quadro 4000's still go for $700+ new, so I would venture to guess that you could get a pretty penny for it on the used market. Probably more than enough to buy one or more video cards.

It won't play games faster, and it is also likely that the heavily optimised drivers might have issues with HDCP if you view any protected media like Blu-Rays. It may not have any problems whatsoever, but it is more likely than to happen than the other card.

It also is doubtful it will accelerate any media activities faster than the 260 would since most of that processing requires very little processing power to begin with. Most HTPC's suffice with today's integrated graphics or even a $50 video card, and that's assuming the GPU does any offloading work at all since most HTPC duties can be handled by processors as old as Core 2 Duo's.
 
Last edited:
CaptNumbNutz said:
There is no point in putting in that Quadro. If you need an upgrade, sell the Quadro and buy a new video card. Preferably one that sucks down less power and makes less noise (e.g. GTX 650) assuming you have no intention on playing games on this HTPC. Quadro 4000's still go for $700+ new, so I would venture to guess that you could get a pretty penny for it on the used market. Probably more than enough to buy one or more video cards.

It won't play games faster, and it is also likely that the heavily optimised drivers might have issues with HDCP if you view any protected media like Blu-Rays. It may not have any problems whatsoever, but it is more likely than to happen than the other card.

It also is doubtful it will accelerate any media activities faster than the 260 would since most of that processing requires very little processing power to begin with. Most HTPC's suffice with today's integrated graphics or even a $50 video card, and that's assuming the GPU does any offloading work at all since most HTPC duties can be handled by processors as old as Core 2 Duo's.
Click to expand...

Yeah, You make a good point.

Sell it.
 
If you aren't gaming, and the machine in your signature is the machine in question then i'm a little confused as to why you are bothering with a dedicated GPU at all. You'd be better off taking that out of the equation entirely and using the HDMI out from the HD3000 on the 3770K, that way you'd have a tiny power foot print and proper audio.
 
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