Min req cheap video card

[gemmagirl]

Any recs would be greatly appreciated.
Looking for PCI-Express and a s-output or composite or TV out so I can hook it up to my TV. Also can work with a 320w power supply.

[johnsonx42]

I think the Radeon HD3450 is supposed to be a good card for GB-PVR, and it's quite inexpensive.

edit: here's a couple of cheap fanless models that have Composite Out (via an adapter from the s-video port - with the ones that show a red-green-blue component-out cable, the blue one usually doubles as composite out)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814121230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814102724

(beware the open-box deals - NewEgg doesn't promise the adapter wil be included)

[gemmagirl]

I think the Radeon HD3450 is supposed to be a good card for GB-PVR, and it's quite inexpensive.

edit: here's a couple of cheap fanless models that have Composite Out (via an adapter from the s-video port - with the ones that show a red-green-blue component-out cable, the blue one usually doubles as composite out)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814121230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814102724

(beware the open-box deals - NewEgg doesn't promise the adapter wil be included)

Thank you Besides the worry of noise, is there any other reason to want a fanless model?

[johnsonx42]

Thank you Besides the worry of noise, is there any other reason to want a fanless model?

no fan also means no moving part to eventually get dirty, make weird noises, eventually sieze up and overheat your gfx chip

in the case of the HD3450, it consumes so little power many of them are fanless, and the two I showed you are the two cheapest with composite out, fanless or otherwise

[McBainUK]

+1 for a HD3450 or (the newer) HD4350. I've just bought a Powercolor HD4350 and very pleased with it. I did find the heatsink can obstruct the adjacent PCI slot though, something to bear in mind. Some are low profile also, if that's what you need.

[johnsonx42]

I've had quite a bit of trouble with my HD4550, and I don't think a HD4350 is any different. To this day I still have no hardware acceleration of 1080i HD channels. Every decoder that attempts to use DXVA stutters so badly it's unwatchable (though 720p channels and SD channels are buttery smooth). I've had to resort to Cyberlink PDVD8 with hardware accel turned off, which is pretty good but doesn't de-interlace really well and I get some screen tearing.

Everything I've read says that the HD3000 series doesn't have this trouble, that it was all fixed up sometime in the 8.x driver series. I'm still holding out hope the HD4550 will get a driver fix eventually. The 9.3 drivers just came out, I haven't had a chance to try them yet....

The difference in our experiences McBain is probably due to either source material (us being on opposites sides of the pond), or perhaps output format (I'm outputting to an SD tv, like gemmagirl will be doing).

The really frustrating irony in all of this, as I've mentioned in other threads, is that my gb-pvr test rig had an old ATI 9500Pro - AGP, and I got better video output with that than I've ever gotten with any modern video card.

regarding the heatsink and obstructing the adjacent slot, the two cards I gave links for are single-slot width. this is important to gemmagirl, because I recommended a PCIe x1 tuner (hvr-1250) for the slot next to the video card.

[McBainUK]

The difference in our experiences McBain is probably due to either source material (us being on opposites sides of the pond), or perhaps output format (I'm outputting to an SD tv, like gemmagirl will be doing).

SD source with ATI codec playback and TS mux. Haven't tried any HD stuff yet.

[gemmagirl]

I think the Radeon HD3450 is supposed to be a good card for GB-PVR...

I happened to come across a NIB buy it now SAPPHIRE HD 3450 256MB off Ebay for 10$+5$ shipping. I hope it works! It was so cheap, I couldn't pass it up. Other cards by the same name where selling for more there. I think this one was so cheap and still there 'cause the seller didn't know/care about computer related items and that they had not posted a photo. But they have sold lots of stuff and have 100% feedback - so I think the odds are good that this card will work. They also promised I could return it for a full refund if necessary.

Does anyone know what kind of cable I will need to hook this card up? I know the Radeon cards can have different pin counts on the composite connections. I was told by the seller that the box did not have a cable.

(BTW: What is the exact name for the port that one uses to connect to the TV from the video card? S-out? TV-out? Composite? I have seen all used. Is there a difference?)

[fuzzweed]

(BTW: What is the exact name for the port that one uses to connect to the TV from the video card? S-out? TV-out? Composite? I have seen all used. Is there a difference?)

S-video and composite are two different types of video connection - the socket type on the card is usually that used for svideo (black with 4 tiny pins) but they'll usually output a composite signal from the same socket with an adapter cable (4 little pins to a single big pin - normally yellow, like the one on your TV). TV out I guess is a generic name that encompasses both signal / socket types, so they're all correct.

[gEd]

ATI cards have standard 4-pin s-video output sockets. I have used the same cable on my old 9600 pro and my new 4650 ATI cards.

FWIW: I saw a clear improvement (reduction in noise) when I went from a cheap s-video --> scart cable to a £30 one (which you might say is just as well after spending £30 on a friggin cable)