Another Graphics Card Recommendation

[Smoker]

Greetings Folks

I would like your recommendation for a PCI Express x16 card.

I am not doing HD at the moment (prolly not for a long while) but if your recommendation is cheap enough and handles HD then kewl.

I am also wondering if the memory on the card matters ? I am thinking at least 256 but not sure if I need 512.

The two cards I am looking at right now are

EVGA 256-P2-N541-T2 GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card $72.99 after MIR
EVGA 512-P2-N548-TX GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card $92.99 after MIR

Smoker

[alphabetbackward]

I think for the 7600GS, the 512MB is just marketing and the limiting factor is the 128-bit interface so more memory won't help much, if any.

[Smoker]

So is the 7600gs sufficient for standard tv out ?

[zaphod7501]

I recently got a 7600GS AGP and can play 1080i reasonably well on a Sempron3000+ (Barton core, socket A, 2000Mhz actual) with 40% - 60% CPU.

There is a "Trick" to it however. It takes a combination of drivers (90 series) and an application/filter that can access the PureVideo hardware on the card. There's probably no need to go into a lot of details right now, but needless to say, I was very disappointed at first when the new card performed exactly the same as the GF3-Ti200 that it replaced. When I installed the Hauppauge decoder that came with my HVR1600, (and figured out how to get MPC to use it) CPU dropped below 50% with occasional dropped frames from 100% and stalled out.

I use a $100 transcoder rather than the card's S-Video or Component output because I need both VGA outputs and S-Video for A/V distribution; so I don't know how well those outputs work.

[alphabetbackward]

Yes, that card should suffice.

I've used a 6600 GT and integrated GeForce 6150 graphics to output to a 35" SDTV.

[rowle1jt]

Personally... I'd pass on both because they use active cooling instead of passive. I want my HTPC to be QUIET as it is in my entertainment center.
I use this card in my main PC, knowing that when I want to go HD I can drop this card in my HTPC and buy a new one for my main pc.

Fanless Gigabyte 7300GT



Are you also using this pc as a gaming rig or something?? Now if its a back end server and you have an MVP attached the TV... thats a different story.