Video Card

[timwhit]

My HTPC has real trouble playing 1080p video, lots of stuttering. I was thinking of ordering a new video card for it. Currently I am using the onboard video on the Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H motherboard.

I'd like to get a fanless video card if possible. I don't care about games. I think I will stick NVIDIA chipset as their Linux drivers are more solid than ATI's. Any suggestions?

 

[timwhit]

How about the ASUS GT520-1GD3-CSM GeForce GT 520?

 

[CougTek]

IIRC, from the video quality articles I've read, you should target a card with a bit more power, like a GeForce GT440 or GT630. The GT520 is under powered for pretty much anything above freecell.

 

[timwhit]

OK. The ASUS ENGT440?

 

[Stereodude]

Yeah, something like that.

 

[CougTek]

That's exactly the card that's in my main computer right now and I have no complain about it. I've had it for about a year.

 

[Stereodude]

The 520 has a more advanced hardware decoder, but the 440 has better post processing capabilities. I'm not sure where the 620/630/640 fit. I know they have the VP5 engine that's in the 520, but I don't know if they have the post processing muscle of the 440.

 

[Stereodude]

I should point out that supposedly the 6x0 series cards have the VP5 (per Wikipedia). However, it seems some of them are rebadged cards from previous generations (the 630 is the 440 and the 610 is the 520). The 620 is a Fermi card also. That likely means only 640 is Kepler based with the VP5 and some post processing muscle.

 

[timwhit]

Thanks for the info on PureVideo. It looks like the current onboard video supports VP2. I need to enable experimental GPU acceleration to get GPU acceleration in VLC or use a different media player.

Is there anyway to tell how much post-processing power these various cards have?

 

[timwhit]

I should point out that supposedly the 6x0 series cards have the VP5 (per Wikipedia). However, it seems some of them are rebadged cards from previous generations (the 630 is the 440 and the 610 is the 520). The 620 is a Fermi card also. That likely means only 640 is Kepler based with the VP5 and some post processing muscle.

This is beautiful, not confusing at all for consumers. From Wikipedia it looks like the 28nm 630 supports VP5, but the 40nm 630 only supports VP4.

 

[mubs]

Interesting. My version of VLC (2.04) does not have the word "experimental" next to the GPU Acceleration option. It is also the very first option on the Input & Codecs settings page.

 

[timwhit]

Interesting. My version of VLC (2.04) does not have the word "experimental" next to the GPU Acceleration option. It is also the very first option on the Input & Codecs settings page.

For some reason I am on 1.1.12, which is the latest version that is available in the Linux Mint repo. I'm not on the newest version of Mint though.

 

[mubs]

I'm on Windows. Sorry, didn't realize you were on Linux.

 

[Stereodude]

This is beautiful, not confusing at all for consumers. From Wikipedia it looks like the 28nm 630 supports VP5, but the 40nm 630 only supports VP4.

You also can't overlook that Nvidia gimping all the GT 640 cards with DDR3 instead of GDDR5. The GT 440 was available both ways. I'm pretty sure mine has GDDR5.

 

[Stereodude]

Err... it looks like I spoke too soon. The GDDR5 GT 640 is the GTX 650, not to be confused with the GTX 650 Ti, which is not a GK107, but a GK106 (GT660 chip). :rofl:

 

[timwhit]

Why does NVIDIA make this so complicated?

 

[Stereodude]

You got me, but there don't seem to be many fanless options. There's the Asus GT440 you linked to earlier and two GT640 cards. One from Asus and one from Zotac.

 

[timwhit]

Both of the 640 cards are quite a bit more than I wanted to spend. I really only want to be able to watch 1080p video without stuttering.

 

[Stereodude]

Give the Asus GT440 a shot then. It shouldn't have any issues with 1080p hardware accelerated playback.

 

[ddrueding]

In a similar boat with my "home 2" machine, but I need a low profile card that can simultaneously drive a 27" Dell @ 2560x1440 via DVI and HD video @ 1920x1080 via HDMI. According to that Wikipedia link, the nVidia GT 610 does VP5 and VDPAU feature set D. Price isn't really an issue, but silence and power consumption are. Would this do it?

[h=1]GIGABYTE GV-N610SL-1GI GeForce GT 610 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card
[/h]

 

[Stereodude]

That depends... Do you want to be able to do all the fancy video post processing (top tier deinterlacing etc)? If so the card lacks the power to process the video after it hardware decodes it. If you're just looking for 1080p (or higher) playback with minimal post processing it should be okay.

 

[Stereodude]

So, I decided to overpay for a MSI GTX 650 today. My GeForce 8600 GT can't drive my 2560x1440 monitor adequately for video playback. I can't play back ___p60 video smoothly using VMR (not overlay).

The decision to get this card was based on these charts and these charts. I would have bought the non OC edition, but it can't be found anymore. Barely anyone sells the OC one either. I'm hoping that with 4x the pixel pushing and 4x the memory bandwidth + the VP5 engine this card can do the job.

 

[Stereodude]

Well if anyone cares...

The 650 GTX I ordered works fantastic. _____p60 video scales to the 2560x1440 resolution of the monitor perfectly while maintaining 60FPS with no hiccups or dropped frames. I can also enabled the better deinterlacing in the LAV video decoder and everything stays smooth.

 

[ddrueding]

I'm watching a lot of video on my 2560x1600 monitor these days (driven by a GTX690). What tricks are you doing to get better scaling?

 

[Stereodude]

Just using the LAV video decoder in MPC-HC which lets you control the Nvidia hardware deinterlacing a bit better.

You can use the MadVR renderer if you want better scaling. It's got a pile of options.

 

[Mercutio]

Has anyone ever managed to get Zotac to accept an RMA? I have a GTX970 that needs to go back and I've completed their warranty registration and tried to RMA several times in the last month, but I've not gotten any responses yet. It's an expensive enough card that I don't really feel like eating the cost of replacement.

 

[ddrueding]

Nope. The only video cards I've had die were my own fault (failed watercooling or running way out of spec).

 

[Stereodude]

Has anyone ever managed to get Zotac to accept an RMA? I have a GTX970 that needs to go back and I've completed their warranty registration and tried to RMA several times in the last month, but I've not gotten any responses yet. It's an expensive enough card that I don't really feel like eating the cost of replacement.

Stories like this are why I quit buying Zotac hardware (not that I ever bought much of it). They don't even list old products on their website anymore so you can download drivers, manuals, and the like.

You could always bake it Linus style.

 

[jtr1962]

A tool like this is a much better way to reflow the card. I've been happily using one for the last year to both repair boards and build new ones. It looks like he killed the SSD with excessive heat. Then again, there may have been a component failure which caused it to stop working in the first place. Only a small number of electronics failures are due to failed solder joints.

 

[Stereodude]

At the very least he could have used one of the Arduino toaster oven "hacks" out there. http://www.instructables.com/id/Hack-a-Toaster-Oven-for-Reflow-Soldering/