Recommended AMD Video for older HTPC

[kmp14]

My old AMD HD 6570 is acting up. I would like to replace it with a newer model. I have seen some recommendations in threads but cant find them now. I am looking for a reasonably priced PCIe card for TV watching only, no gaming. Picture quality is most important to me. What is working well for you?

[mdavej]

I don't know how old the 6570 is, but the 5450 and 6450 both work fine for TV and can be quite cheap.

[christoph86]

mdavej, which driver version do you use?

[DSperber]

I recommend the HD7750. 1GB DDR5 memory, single-slot, low-power with no external 6-pin PCIe power connection required, three digital connectors (DVI, DP, HDMI).

A while back I bought two of the Sapphire low-profile version of the card intended for SFF cases, but which also comes with a full-size bracket you can use instead for installation in a tower case. Unfortunately, these were so desirable and in-demand that they're now sold out from all previous sources. Gone. History. Sorry. I've already used my two cards in two machines, and am very glad that I had the presence of mind to take advantage of the opportunity when I did... at least to buy two of these cards.

However XFX still makes a single-slot low-power version of the card. It just has a somewhat different fan and cooling system than the Sapphire version, but otherwise appears to be the same 1GB DDR5 design with the same three digital connectors.

NOTE: the XFX card is a full-size card, so it will NOT fit in a SFF case. That's what made the Sapphire low-profile card so special.

This is a "modern" mid-level card, with excellent performance for HDTV etc. Obviously not a high-performance gaming card, but for non-gaming uses I can't recommend this card highly enough. I'm using it in one new Haswell machine (Lenovo M93p) and also in an older home-made (ASUS P5Q3 board) machine, and it's wonderful.

The HD7750 is WORLD's BETTER than the very old HD5450 or HD6450 low-performance entry-level cards. Yes, these other two entry-level cards are inexpensive, but they also have bandwidth in the 5-10MB/sec range. The mid-level HD7750 has a 72MB/sec bandwidth.

NOTE: I see that VisionTek also makes a low-profile version of the card for SFF cases, but it only has two digital connectors, DVI and HDMI, so it cannot connect to a monitor with DisplayPort.

[kmp14]

I recommend the HD7750. 1GB DDR5 memory, single-slot, low-power with no external 6-pin PCIe power connection required, three digital connectors (DVI, DP, HDMI)....

Great info, thanks! I seem to have revived my 6570. I did a full uninstall of the drivers, cleaned up leftover folders and registry entries, and knock on wood, it seems ok now. What was happening was some of the settings would randomly stop staying active. The setting in question would still be selected, but not applied, so I would have to unselect it and re-select it to get it active again. Clearing and reinstalling the drivers seems to have fixed it.

Thanks again for the advice!

[mdavej]

mdavej, which driver version do you use?

For a long time, only 12.8 would work. But now the latest stable 14.4 works fine. Nothing in between or before those two fully works. All others had some issue like no audio device after waking, HDCP problems, screen blanking, overscan, etc. From what I can tell, 14.4 actually loads most of the same individual driver versions I had on 12.8.

[blueiedgod]

4250 integrated into the motherboard is working for me.