Video Card Question

[r0b0t]

I have 2 options for displaying video with my HTPC. I have an XFX MI-9300-7AS9 motherboard which has ok onboard video that I am currently using. I also have an HD4650 kicking around that I could use. Would there be any benefit to using the 4650?

Also, I just have 1 GB of system memory at the moment. Will that be a bottleneck for playing 720p content?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[rhansen5_99]

The 4650 should give you hardware assisted decoding, at least enough to properly de-interlace stuff properly. The card will also free up the amount of shared ram you are giving the motherboard (say 64-256 mb) which if you are using win 7 give you a little more head room in pre-fetching stuff for the os.

If you take a look at the anandtech article you can get an idea what this means to picture quality (it shows a 5450 and a 4670 close to a 4650)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2931/4

 

[CrimandEvil]

Uh, you should have an problem with the onboard 9300 so why are you wanting to add a GPU again?

 

[r0b0t]

Uh, you should have an problem with the onboard 9300 so why are you wanting to add a GPU again?

I am sorry, I didn't phrase my question very well.

I am running XP and my HTPC can be pretty sluggish, and I have had Media Portal freeze up on me a few times now, but the video play back is fine. I am only using 1GB of ram currently, and I have a spare 4650 doing nothing.

I was wondering if by using a dedicated GPU instead of onboard:
1: would that free up some system resources and make a snappier interface?
2: would the 4650 be as good or better than the 9300 onboard?
3: should I just get more ram?
4: all of the above

Thanks for the replies!