AGP card for 1080i

[capone]

I won't be using for TV. This will be for HD video like h264/mkv. I may or may not get a blueray in the future.

It looks like my options are nVidia's 7600, and the ATI 3850 & 3650 series (I didn't like what I saw about the 2400s).

[stustunz]

time you upgraded your motherboard
cheaper than trying to do what you are going to go through and achieve bad results
the 7600 wont cut it
so ati is all you can use but at double the price of pci-e for the same thing or less

[capone]

I've been reading positive things about the 3650 cards, and can get Saphire's for $80. You don't think that will cut it?

[stustunz]

i guess for $80 its probably worth a try
i was probably been a bit short
like you said the 2400 are crap
the 3xxx and up i havent heard bad things about

its just the dual core machines make watching video so much better because it gives the option of not having to use the gpu acceleration which doesnt alway do the best job with all video formats
you can have the hardware accel turned off and still be running other things without a glitch

[capone]

It won't be doing anything else but playing these videos (at a time), since it's a dedicated system, and won't be handling TV anymore. I just want to avoid redoing the whole box for now if I can.

I grabbed the card, so I'll come back to report how it goes.

[stustunz]

you have been warned
nah good luck

[pBS]

even a HD3450 would cut it now that they have the driver fixed...i'm using it for bluray..
[and tv too!] does great on both...get the 8.11 drivers tho...
3650's are just 3450's with faster mem and a few more shaders...you won't see any difference on video...[i have both] may help later when accell transcoding comes out tho..
and if you need hdmi out make sure to get one including hdmi adapter as not all do..[and it's 10$ at least for real ati one which is needed for hdmi audio]

i got my 3450 for 37$ without adapter..
even with ffdshow and no decode accelleration, i get only 10% cpu utilization..lol go figure..
[use ati avivo for full acell, tho ffdshow is smoother, and pdvd8 codecs work great]

EDIT: forgot you need agp...just saw a 3450 agp tho for....49$ http://www.directron.com/ah3450htp256m.html
agp drivers can sometimes be real fun...tho i think they've fixed all those agp problems..my bro in law has a agp 3650..

[bigstusexy]

i guess for $80 its probably worth a try
its just the dual core machines make watching video so much better

Is it that you know his system or are you just assuming that since its AGP its not a dual core?

[capone]

EDIT: forgot you need agp...just saw a 3450 agp tho for....49$ http://www.directron.com/ah3450htp256m.html
agp drivers can sometimes be real fun...tho i think they've fixed all those agp problems..my bro in law has a agp 3650..

There have been a bunch of posts in newegg about the drivers, so I know to play w/ them if I run into a problem.

I paid a bit more to get the 3650, just to cover my bases, and to get a brand I had heard worked well/quietly (saphire). I also wanted to get from someone I could return it to in case this didn't work (and amazon was only one w/ a return policy on the card).

[capone]

Is it that you know his system or are you just assuming that since its AGP its not a dual core?

Which is ture, and it isn't dual...it's a AMD 1.8Ghz, but again, only does one task, which is GB.