ATI 3450 or hybrid crossfire 3450 + 3200 fro HTPC?

[Nolonemo]

This question is specifically directed towards Blu-Ray playback in an HTPC. The HTPC is running Vista Home Premium on a Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H with a 64 X2 4400+ CPU and 2GB of Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2800 RAM.

I see the occasional lurch in Blu-Ray playback running the on-board GPU, which I hear is a 3200. I could install a fanless 3450 graphics card, which would give me a little more video power (I understand that the 3450's clock runs a little faster - that the on-board GPU is basically the same as the 3450 running at a lower clock speed).

I also could use hybrid crossfire with the board and the 3450. However, I have read that in hybrid crossfire, the clock speed of the faster GPU is dropped to the clock speed of the slower GPU.

So my question is, all other things being equal, will I get smoother playback with the 3450 alone, or with the two GPUs crossfired?

Thanks.

 

[ther00kie16]

I don't know how acceleration would be handled, if at all, by the 2nd card but either one of those should be capable of playing blu-ray perfectly. Maybe there's some software issue. You can always overclock the CPU or onboard GPU a bit, which by the way is actually based on the 2400 so it's not that close to the 3450. That onboard should overclock a bunch (up to 75+% easily) so that would probably take care of the problem. Also, check to see if Cool'NQuiet is throttling the CPU and ram. Because it's integrated, the GPU will be using the system ram which would very likely be underclocked when the CPU is running at a lower multiplier, thus reducing bandwidth.

 

[Nolonemo]

Thanks, I'll try turning cool n quiet off...I had just assumed that BD playback would tax the CPU enough so that it would be running at the max.

It is possible that this is a software issue. I was getting smooth BD playback with a 2400pro and 64 x2 3600+ with Power DVD. When I switched to ArcSoft MediaTheater, playback stuttered until put in the 3450. This was with a different board and cool n quiet off. . . .

I'll see what turning off cool & quiet does, I'd rather stay with the onboard GPU, not having a video card in the PCIe slot lets me position my tuner card so that it gets better air circulation.

 

[ther00kie16]

I use CrystalCPUID to manage multiplier and voltage but easiest way to turn cool n quiet on/off is to go to power options.

 

[Binky]

The 3450 is easily powerful enough to playback blu-ray without the need to enable the hybrid crossfire. I have a 3800+ with a 3450 running Vista64 that plays back anything i throw at it with no problems. I've been very impressed with the 3450 for HTPC use.