Cheap Video Card for HTPC Build

[choliscott]

Can someone please recommend a cheap video card ($50 or less) for a HTPC build, or at least give a few AMD & Nvidia chipsets to look for?

Thanks

[Mike88]

Sometimes an HD 6450 is recommended & I waited for one to go on sale. I got this one a couple months ago for $14.99 after rebate & it works for me.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814127584

Some people may not like it because it has a fan. I think the PSU's fan may be louder but it's difficult to tell. My HTPC is hidden in the corner so I don't hear it anyway.

[newfiend]

NVIDIA GT430 & GT640 are both good htpc cards as well.

Sent from my SGH-i937 using Board Express

[kc10boom]

I bought the EVGA GT430 based off of recommendations here. I haven't been a big fan of ATI video cards, their drivers, or the Catalyst software for a very long time.

You could probably get a good GT430 off of eBay for $20-$30.

[NNate]

I love my GT430. Works well with MadVR and all other video related tasks I've tried.

[Mike88]

I just saw this for HD 6450 $29.99 after rebate. It appears to be fanless.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 14-102-933

The GT430 is more powerful & more expensive. I'm just using WMC7 and didn't need a powerhouse. I just needed something to fix the 29/59 bug which WMC does not appear to handle well. FWIW I only experienced this problem with some older SD OTA programs.

[lithium630]

I don't see the point in a discrete GPU unless you are gaming. Why add the extra heat and power draw for little to no benefit.

[richard1980]

I just needed something to fix the 29/59 bug which WMC does not appear to handle well.

WMC handles 29/59 content well. It's the GPUs that don't handle the instructions from WMC very well...which is why some GPUs are better for 29/59 content than other GPUs.

I don't see the point in a discrete GPU unless you are gaming. Why add the extra heat and power draw for little to no benefit.

29/59 is an excellent example. If someone has an onboard GPU that can't handle 29/59 content, switching to a discreet GPU is the only solution short of switching motherboards. Aside from 29/59, you've still got overall performance differences between GPUs. This may be worth a read: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4380/disc ... s-shootout

[STC]

+1 for the HD6670. I used to see 29/59 with a Nvidia GT but do not with this card.
I play a bit of MSFlight on the big screen so need a slightly beefy card. This works fine.

[choliscott]

The current video card that's in the machine is old & no drivers for Windows 8 exist for it.

I don't see the point in a discrete GPU unless you are gaming. Why add the extra heat and power draw for little to no benefit.

[choliscott]

Thanks Everyone for the response. Now I have a few options to look at.

[Mike88]

I just needed something to fix the 29/59 bug which WMC does not appear to handle well.

WMC handles 29/59 content well. It's the GPUs that don't handle the instructions from WMC very well...which is why some GPUs are better for 29/59 content than other GPUs.

I don't see the point in a discrete GPU unless you are gaming. Why add the extra heat and power draw for little to no benefit.

29/59 is an excellent example. If someone has an onboard GPU that can't handle 29/59 content, switching to a discreet GPU is the only solution short of switching motherboards. Aside from 29/59, you've still got overall performance differences between GPUs. This may be worth a read: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4380/disc ... s-shootout

I have a G620 CPU and was using integrated graphics & never noticed a problem when watching HD OTA recordings with WMC7. But when watching some older SD TV programs I would notice a stutter every so often, e.g. when someone was walking it looked like a frame was skipped every so often. I played some recordings over & over & the stutter always appeared at the same spot. I used the WMC 4-1-1 then the Info button on the remote & noticed the frame rate briefly jumped exactly when the stutter occurred. Except in my case it jumped from 59 to 29. FWIW there was no stutter when playing the video using MPC-HC, even though it indicated a frame rate change.

I read that the HD 6450 was one of the video cards recommended to fix bug this when using WMC7 and it did.

As a side note, before adding the HD 6450 & viewing using MPC-HC and its ctrl+j function, the Green video line in the graph would slowly decrease in amplitude for about 16 seconds & then spike at which time the frame rate would change for about 5 seconds. And this would repeat.

After adding the HD 6450 & using MPC-HC the frame rate stays a steady 29.971 & the Green video line is now straight & horizontal which I understand is how it should be. I rarely use MPC-HC but it's nice to know that the HD 6450 corrected a frame rate problem in it. And I'm presuming it smoothed out the overall frame rate when using WMC7 in addition to correcting the noticeable 59/29 bug.

[adam1991]

It's not a bug. And nothing corrected the situation; MPC-HC and the HD 6450 merely accommodated the situation.

The frame rate switch, which was programmed in at the source, is still there inside the recorded program.

[newfiend]

NVIDIA had some driver issues with the GT 430 and GT 640 for awhile that made the 29/59 issue very noticeable on screen. This has been resolved though in the last 3 or so driver updates. Neither card for me has this issue anymore. So either the NVIDIA or AMD card will work for your needs.

Sent from my SGH-i937 using Board Express

[richard1980]

In MPC-HC, the frame rate listed is irrelevant. I believe that is an average frame rate anyway, so it's not even an accurate measure of real-time information. The important item to look at is the frame type. With 29/59 content, you'll see the frame type fluctuate in MPC-HC from interlaced to progressive. This corresponds to the value listed for frame rate in WMC. Additionally, the green line is a measure of rendering performance and has nothing to do with the source video.

So again, it's not that the 6450 corrected the 29/59 issue. Instead, the 6450 is actually able to handle 29/59 content smoothly, whereas your previous GPU was not able to handle 29/59 content smoothly. The core problem still exists in the content, and if you observe the frame rate changing in WMC, you'll also see the frame type changing in MPC-HC.

[Mike88]

I understand the HD 6450 does not actually fix the frame rate. It just fixes the visible stutter, at least in my scenario. Perhaps I should have used a different word such as "workaround" as mentioned on one of the websites discussing the 29/59 bug.

I was really planning on not needing a video card based on most things I read. And for HD OTA I did not. I don't watch a lot of older SD programs, but when I did the stuttering was quite noticeable without the video card. I just waited for one to go on sale & bought it & so far it does the job.