Choosing a Suitable Media Centre Graphics Card

A

airush

New Member
Hi to all,
I'm currently in the process of building a PC Media Centre (win7x64) And I'm having a problem trying to find a Decent graphics card to suit. I've read and read and read, But without any clear answer. So I though I would put the question out there, to get your thoughts/ideas.
The card needs to have HDMI out including HDMI sound, budget $150
I had previously purchase and test a graphics card Gainward NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT Graphics Card 1024MB,DDR3,256bit, PCI-E VGA/DVI-I/HDMI. Which just ended in a refund.:mad::mad:

Spec's
Case - ThermalTake DH101
Mother board - Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3
CPU - 8200 Quad Core 2.66
Memory - 4GB
Power Supply - Cooler Master 650w
Tv Card - Dvico Fusion HDTV DVB-T Dual Express
Logictech - Music anywhere (for surround sound set-up)
WiFi - NetGear WN311B
Blueray
Plasma - Panasonic 60"

But currently considering purchasing a ATI Radeon HD5750 1GB 1024MB 128Bit DDR5 HD 5750..BUT LIKE THE GAINWARD model above, this card is built by HIS and I'm not sure of this brands reputation....???? and it maybe overkill..????:rolleyes:
 
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fastdude said:
Do you have a GPU budget?
Click to expand...

He said $150 ;)

If all it will be doing is streaming HD movies, you don't need to spend that much on a card, an 8600gt/HD3850 would suffice

As to brands, Gainward, HIS and any other brand are good brands. The only thing that ever differs is the cooler, warranty and some companies factory overclock the card, unless it is said. For instance some cards will have a special name, most of the time this is becaue the manufacturer has modified the circuit board in some way to make it better.

People usually recomend EVGA or XFX as they have good warranty systems, most of the time lifetime, and in the case of XFX double lifetime (you can sell it on and the buyer will also get the lifetime warranty), however, other brands, Asus, Sapphire, Gainward, Palit, Zotac etc are all just as good. You can get unlucky with any of the cards and get one with a fault. If you get 1, 2, or even 10 cards and all have problems, it isn't a reflection of the quality of the company's whole range of hardware, because it isn't a large sample when you consider the company makes thousands of these cards
 
Sorry, I'm very unobservant :o
Aastii's right, just because one person gives a and review of a card doesn't mean the companies rubbish.
The low-range HD 5*** cards will also serve you well in a media PC (5450, 5550, 5670)
 
Cheers Boy's I'll go check it,,,maybe I'll even have money left over to replace my dodgge desktop graphic card too.>>>>>>>>>

Okay,,, One other thing about the memory bit rate, some of the cards mentioned above have 64bit. But thinking to,, Future proof my system I should maybe aim for 128bit card....???

AND None of these card are capable of producing HD1080p
 
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Why would you need such a powerful GPU for a media PC? If anything a low powered passively cooled card would do you best. Take at look at HD 5450s.
 
airush said:
Cheers Boy's I'll go check it,,,maybe I'll even have money left over to replace my dodgge desktop graphic card too.>>>>>>>>>

Okay,,, One other thing about the memory bit rate, some of the cards mentioned above have 64bit. But thinking to,, Future proof my system I should maybe aim for 128bit card....???

AND None of these card are capable of producing HD1080p
Click to expand...

The memory rate won't make much difference to streaming movies in HD. If you want to go for a 128 bit card, it will serve you well, but a 64 bit will probably save you a little money and not have less performance. However, if the price difference isn't massive, then for the 128 bit card, it will hold its value better in the future should you wish to sell it to fund getting another card

For "none of these cards can produce 1080p":

1920x1080

2048 x 1536

1560x1600

The first is 1080p
The second is the maximum resolution of a nVidia 8600GT
The third is the maximum resolution of an ATi HD5450

They can indeed drive enough pixels for 1080p :)

daisymtc said:
For your budget, 5770 1GB is best.
Click to expand...

For the budget, yes, for the use, no, why spend that much on a card when only a fraction of the poewr will actually be used? May as well go for something that is only $50 and pocket the extra $100, or use it else where in the system, or as OP said, on replaceing his graphics card, than waste it
 
Right thanks you all for your input... Very helpful..!!
On your recommendations I have chosen: EVGA GT240 Video Card 1GB DDR3,128 NVIDIA Graphic GT 240.
 
New Evga 240gt Crashing

Hi,
I have filially got around to installing my new Evga 240GT. But have found it to lock-up my system after playing Video/Tv after 4-6 minutes from my hard drive library or Dvico Tv card... With the only option is to shut down the system by the power supply switch for a restart :(:(
I have updated the driver software and have searched without any answer...???

Anyone with any ideas? OR on how to find the fault....???? I would appreciate your input...!
 
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:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D


Okay, all is good. :cool: Easy just un-installed the (updated) drivers from the manufacture,,, did a Restart,,Windows installed a more stable/reliable driver on start up,,,, and you know it....!!! all is fixed and running sweet :D:D:D
 
Video Card Stop Working

Hi Guys,
I've got problems..!! and would like your assistance on what or why, my video card stops working...:mad::mad:

Okay after installing the video card Evga 240GT and drivers, and testing on lost of videos. This card stops working, Basically when I'm watching a movie the card stops working. This can happen at any time during video playback. And my system is then completely inoperable (not working) the only way I can get the system to respond is by pulling the plug.

Can someone assist in the steps I need to take to identify the problem...?
 
http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-64bit-258.96-whql-driver.html

download that.

go to control panel, then device manager. Expand Display Adapters and right click your GT240 and click uninstall. Let it uninstall it, restart, install the drivers you just downloaded, restart again, try again.

What media player are you using?
What format are the videos in?
Does it only happen if you are watching videos, or has it happened before when you are just using your system normally or having it idle?

Also download MSI afterburner from here:

http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/images/MSIAfterburnerSetup200.zip

and keep it open whilst you have a video up. See if the GPU clocks are going up and down. If they are, it may be a problem with power saving making the system hang. When the graphics card isn't being used fully, the clocks will drop down to save power and create less heat, but there have been problems with the feature on ATi and nVidia cards, causing the system to hang, drivers to crash, BSOD's etc, so might want to rule that out
 
Cheers for your response..!

I have carried out your method as described. With this driver installed the fault occurs more frequently and at the beginning of each movie. This fault also occurs while at the media player menu too.
There is also now a balloon windows message shown a the bottom of the screen "Display driver has stopped responding and has recovered":eek:.

The files are mostly in *.avi format
The media player are 1.Media Centre 2.Imedian HD 3.Media Player

The MSI afterburner software doesn't show anything different or abnormality.

Any others suggestions...????
 
Okay I have downloaded and installed Direct X,,,,but without any help the system still crashers....???:(:(:( What you think next...??;)


I think I'll try a clean install and start again,,, the system at the moment only has the bare minimum installed and running just Tv tuner, Imedian -media player and the up date's we have added.... But I think where running outta ideas..

Anyway over the next few days I'll try a fresh install and only add the drivers mentioned above Nvidia driver and Direct X to see if we get any satisfaction from that, using MS Media Centre...other wises I'll have to try the card on another machine to minimise\default card failure....

More help\input would be appreciated...!
 
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airush said:
Okay I have downloaded and installed Direct X,,,,but without any help the system still crashers....???:(:(:( What you think next...??;)


I think I'll try a clean install and start again,,, the system at the moment only has the bare minimum installed and running just Tv tuner, Imedian -media player and the up date's we have added.... But I think where running outta ideas..

Anyway over the next few days I'll try a fresh install and only add the drivers mentioned above Nvidia driver and Direct X to see if we get any satisfaction from that, using MS Media Centre...other wises I'll have to try the card on another machine to minimise\default card failure....

More help\input would be appreciated...!
Click to expand...

That would be the best thing to do. If it isn't software, it will either be video card or power supply problem most likely
 
Testing,,,Testing,,,,Testing

:confused::confused::mad:

Right these are the steps I've carried out to find and try to eliminate the problem..

1 - Install fresh copy Windows 7 64x only,, and installed the updated video card driver and Direct X software...System still CRASHERS with Evga 240gt:mad:

2 - Try Evga 240gt on another PC system 24h- Works fine;)
Spec's
MOBO - Gigabyte GA-965-DQ6
CPU - Core 2 1.6GHz
PSU - 550W Cooler Master
Memory - 4gb 500

3 - Tried Another video card (OLD--7600gs 512mb) in Media Centre system - 24h runs fine;)

This seems bloody weird or what,, I suspected it may have ended up being a doggie PCI-E slot, but having test it with another video card has eliminated that.:D
So the only thing left,,:confused: is to try the Evga 240gt in the media centre system,,, but run the video through the vga port into the Plasm vga port to see if this has some effect...


.
 
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