Best video card for my Opteron 165 rig, mainly for 1080p

[badboyeee]

I'm wanting to be able to play 1080p movies more smoothly. 720p movies lagged a bit but using the CoreAVC codec solved that problem. But I can still barely play 1080p movies (get 90%+ cpu usage).

Also planning to buy a BD-ROM to play BluRay movies.

I also want to be able to play StarCraft 2 when it comes out. I doubt the requirements will be as high as current games.

What would be the best video card for me? When I first made this rig I made it for being a budget gaming PC. But now I want it to be more a HTPC. Please see my signature for the specs of my system.

I hope to squeeze more juice out of this rig for at least a couple more years with minimal costs.

I did a quick search, would a Radeon HD 5450 be a good choice? or any suggestions that I can probably get cheap on Ebay.

Thanks in advance.

 

[toyota]

a 5450 might be a good HTPC card but its horrifically slow if gaming is a concern. a 5570 or 5670 would be a better choice for some gaming at that res. a 5750 would be even better if you can find one around 100-110 bucks. of course your cpu is going to be pretty darn poky for some of the more modern games though.

 

[borisvodofsky]

Anything less than a 4870 won't cut it anymore.

ALSO forget about starcraft 2.

The problem is the CPU is just not powerful enough.


My rig:

Opteron-165, (2.7ghz) 1.4v Air
Ultra-D
ATI 4870

 

[evolucion8]

The HD 5670 will do nicely with you CPU, as far as you don't crank all the image quality to high, is almost as powerful as the HD 3870 (My GF has an HD 3870 and she can max Lost Planet with 4x FSAA and get playable framerate, the same goes for Bioshock 2 and Need for Speed Shift at 1680x1050, but she has a Quad Core). So anything faster than an HD 5670 will be hold back by your CPU, but the HD 5670 is one of the best cards for video playblack including BluRay support and very low power consumption, it will fit nicely your bill, Star Craft is CPU bound, so expect to lower your settings for playability's sake.

 

[Leyawiin]

GT 240 would give good video playback performance and would be a nice step up from your current card. If MSI doesn't make getting a rebate a p.i.t.a. this would be a pretty good deal:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127483

 

[Emulex]

i stick to nvidia the gt220 is definitely more than enough - i have one of those $9 msi 5450's here it looks fancy and all but looks hella weaker than the gt220. heck my old 3650 was fine at 1080p (which really doesn't do anything but eat up alot more power than the 5450). you may need to graphedit optimize your codecs or tweak your system to locate any bottlenecks.

think about power draw 5450 is what 20 watts? that is pretty low. i prefer passive cooling myself. less noisy. some of the cheapo geforce (Evga) 210 the fan seems to run at high speed all the time. the 220 doesn't. odd.

 

[RussianSensation]

The best budget card for video is 5570. The best budget videocard for games is GTS250, especially for Starcraft 2.
GTS250 is almost as fast as the 4870 for only $75.

Performance: http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/starcraft_ii_wings_of_liberty_beta_performance,4.html

$114.99 - 15% off with coupon code Sunshine15 (ends July 11th)
- $25 Mail in Rebate
= $75

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=...ess-Video-Card

 

[evolucion8]

The best budget card for video is 5570. The best budget videocard for games is GTS250, especially for Starcraft 2.
GTS250 is almost as fast as the 4870 for only $75.

Performance: http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/starcraft_ii_wings_of_liberty_beta_performance,4.html

$114.99 - 15% off with coupon code Sunshine15 (ends July 11th)
- $25 Mail in Rebate
= $75

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=...ess-Video-Card

The GTS 250 is nowhere near the HD 4870 in performance, its like saying that the GTS 250 matches the GTX 260+ which is far from true, may be in that game comes very close, but in other games, the GTS 250 shows its age. Better off buying the HD 5770 or a used HD 4870, spending money on that old design based on the old G92 doesn't make much sense.

 

[Leyawiin]

Its true the GTS 250 is about 1/3 slower than an HD 4870 overall (and much less it appears in SC II), but he does have an Opteron 165 on a socket 939 board. Even OC'd to 2.4 Ghz its no faster than a lower end Athlon X2 4600+. No sense spending more for a card that's just going to choke on the CPU. The one he linked is the slower speed GTS 250 that's actually more like a standard 9800 GTX (675 Mhz) instead of a 9800 GTX+ (738 Mhz). Still, it would be about the most you should pair with that CPU.

 

[RussianSensation]

The GTS 250 is nowhere near the HD 4870 in performance

I know it's not; but in SC2 it is pretty close! Plus that CPU can't feed a 4870 anyways (I agree with Leyawiin here). Might as well spend $75 - $85 for a GTS250 / 4850 1GB, than waste $$$ on a 4870 which costs at least $120 and won't play any faster on such a slow CPU.

 

[tweakboy]

You say 1080p which is 1920x1080 .

Let me set it sorta straight here.

88xx 98xx can do 1920x1200, however theres a big performance hit.

The new cards 470 480 and Aladin I mean ATI cards 58xx 5970 dual gpu were made for IMO high resolutions.

If this is the case and you want your games AF 16x 4xAA high quality all game settings on and high and playing @ 1920x1080 then you need a 5870 possibly Xfire or 5970.

nVidia's 470 and 480 offering are teases by them as to what is to come.



If yo

 

[badboyeee]

Thank you everyone for all the info, it helped me get more familiar with the newer video cards.

I was looking into spending around $50. Before I put this thread up my bro bought a GTS 250 for $50AR at Fry's, I almost did the same but thought I needed more research. Then saw that cheap HD 5450 card for $10 but I found its apparently worse than my 7600GT in terms of gaming. Well those deals dont exist anymore but I guess I'll wait for the next one.

If I go the CPU/Mobo route what would be a good cheap combo? Also if I can still use the same RAM..

I also saw a HD 4650 $40 AR on newegg, is that a good one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102829

What are the benefits of the newer HD 5XXX series over the 4XXX series in terms of HTPC and playing 1080p videos??

Well I guess in the meantime, I'm gonna start trying to overclock my Opty even more. From what I remember I got to 2.5ghz pretty easily but just brought it down a bit to be sure of longevity and 100% stability, 2.4ghz was already a lot back then. Hope I can get to 2.6-2.7ghz. Also see if I can overclock my current 7600gt.

Also might be smart to wait for the official SC2 system requirements. Or probably just even wait til my bro buys it and see how it performs on my system. I'd be happy with medium settings at least, dont have to be full 1920 x 1080 res.

My main concern is being able to play HD videos. If its gonna cost me $150+ in upgrades to play StarCraft2, then it may not be worth it for me, its the only PC game im interested in.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Thank you everyone for all the info, it helped me get more familiar with the newer video cards.

I was looking into spending around $50. Before I put this thread up my bro bought a GTS 250 for $50AR at Fry's, I almost did the same but thought I needed more research. Then saw that cheap HD 5450 card for $10 but I found its apparently worse than my 7600GT in terms of gaming. Well those deals dont exist anymore but I guess I'll wait for the next one.

If I go the CPU/Mobo route what would be a good cheap combo? Also if I can still use the same RAM..

I also saw a HD 4650 $40 AR on newegg, is that a good one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102829

What are the benefits of the newer HD 5XXX series over the 4XXX series in terms of HTPC and playing 1080p videos??

Well I guess in the meantime, I'm gonna start trying to overclock my Opty even more. From what I remember I got to 2.5ghz pretty easily but just brought it down a bit to be sure of longevity and 100% stability, 2.4ghz was already a lot back then. Hope I can get to 2.6-2.7ghz. Also see if I can overclock my current 7600gt.

Also might be smart to wait for the official SC2 system requirements. Or probably just even wait til my bro buys it and see how it performs on my system. I'd be happy with medium settings at least, dont have to be full 1920 x 1080 res.

My main concern is being able to play HD videos. If its gonna cost me $150+ in upgrades to play StarCraft2, then it may not be worth it for me, its the only PC game im interested in.

If you have a Fry's near you, keep an eye out for those cheap AMD Athlon II dual or quad combos around $60. That will solve your video playback problem. Then I would think about getting a better videocard.

That $50 GTS 250 would have probably been the best videocard deal you could get. Much better than that crappy 4650. I'm not sure about video playback features, but performance-wise it would not have any problem at all. You could also easily play SC2 with it.

 

[badboyeee]

If you have a Fry's near you, keep an eye out for those cheap AMD Athlon II dual or quad combos around $60. That will solve your video playback problem. Then I would think about getting a better videocard.

That $50 GTS 250 would have probably been the best videocard deal you could get. Much better than that crappy 4650. I'm not sure about video playback features, but performance-wise it would not have any problem at all. You could also easily play SC2 with it.

yeah after what most of you are saying and doing more research, getting a new CPU would be the best way to go if i really want to play SC2.. would i have to buy new RAM? hmmm new cpu/mobo then probably RAM & new OS..

for the past years i've been waiting to upgrade until i can double the specs of my current CPU.. so in this case my cpu would need to be a quad-core 4ghz hehe.

 

[badboyeee]

Within the 45 mins of time I had the other night, I was able to overclock my Opteron to 2.55ghz on stock voltage. Temp averaged 50C during 75%-95% CPU usage while I was playing Dark Knight @ 1080p. The movie was actually watchable. but still some lag. CPU load averaging 90%. Turning off deblocking helped too. Still need to test with Prime95..

 

[PieIsAwesome]

yeah after what most of you are saying and doing more research, getting a new CPU would be the best way to go if i really want to play SC2.. would i have to buy new RAM? hmmm new cpu/mobo then probably RAM & new OS..

for the past years i've been waiting to upgrade until i can double the specs of my current CPU.. so in this case my cpu would need to be a quad-core 4ghz hehe.

Oh yes, you probably have DDR ram and you'll need DDR2 or DDR3. So another $60 or so for 4GB. But you can resell your old RAM, last time I checked DDR ram had pretty high resale value.

Can't you reuse the same OS?

Even one of the more lowly Athlon II quads you would find in a cheap Fry's combo would wipe the floor with what you have now.

 

[badboyeee]

Oh yes, you probably have DDR ram and you'll need DDR2 or DDR3. So another $60 or so for 4GB. But you can resell your old RAM, last time I checked DDR ram had pretty high resale value.

Can't you reuse the same OS?

Even one of the more lowly Athlon II quads you would find in a cheap Fry's combo would wipe the floor with what you have now.

hmmm any cpu/mobo combos out there i can still get that's compatible with my DDR ram?? or if you know of any examples of the best i can get..

 

[TurtleCrusher]

hmmm any cpu/mobo combos out there i can still get that's compatible with my DDR ram?? or if you know of any examples of the best i can get..

None. DDR is truly dead. Sell it and you could probably break even on a DDR2/3 set.

 

[bryanW1995]

you need new ram if you're upgrading. there were a few hybrid boards with ddr/ddr2 available a few years ago, but reliability was an afterthought and their performance potential would not be much better than what you have now.

One of those fry's specials for $60 with a cpu/mobo would almost certainly double the actual power of your cpu, though it wouldn't double the clock speed or # of cores. Don't feel bad, since I got rid of my fx 55 I've gone: opty 180, e6750, q6600, x3350, i7 920. I think I need to start watching more tv or making more babies!

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Those Athlon X4 2.6ghz quads/board combos from Frys are killer. They typically are around $90-$100. The jump will amaze you. I went from a s939 X2 4200+ OCed (2.5ghz) to a basic C2Q @ 2.33ghz and most CPU intensive tasks (even the then single threaded CS:S) nearly doubled in performance.

Considering you could OC the Athlon X4s to at least 3ghz, it's no comparison.

If you spent the $$ on an Opteron at the time, you could snag one of the Hex-cores Phenoms/Board for less than you paid for your current chip. Frys often has them at $230 for a X6/mATX combo. Now that's an upgrade.

 

[badboyeee]

Okay everyone thanks for the replies. Was just hoping I can still get some juice out of my Opteron for another couple years. I spent a little extra on my current system hoping it will last longer than my past ones, too bad it feels it lasted just the same.

My rig before this was built around a cheapo Fry's mobo/cpu combo (see my sig below). Spent $49.99 for the XP 1700+ cpu / FIC mobo. My very first system was a AMD K5, then Celeron 300A, then the XP 1700+, then the Opty. I thought this system was gonna last forever and I had the most fun building this one, maybe thats why it's hard to let go, lol. Oh well I guess its time to move on...

I'll be keeping an eye out on the Fry's combos now. Would 2gb DDR2 ram be good enough or is 4gb the norm now? I'll might jump to Windows 7 as well, I'm still on XP with my Opty..

 

[faxon]

If you are eyeing something new even DDR2 is hard to get a good combo on. Most of the DDR2 boards we still have are nf4 or nf5 based junk (GF6150LE) and the few 785g boards we have are only a few bucks less than their DDR3 counterparts. Look for a combo with a DDR3 board and CPU and you should be solid for a long time. Right now 4th of DDR3 is sometimes cheaper than DDR2, otherwise they're usually the same

 

[chucky2]

New CPU and motherboard designs from Intel, and quite possibly AMD if they don't slip, should be out in the first quarter of next year.

You've lived with your current rig for so long...why not just put up with it a little longer and then make an upgrade that will last you a long time next year, rather than upgrade now and already be behind the times in 7-9 months?

It's not like your system is a total POS, it's a good system for most of what you need to do with it.

Chuck

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Chuck, if he upgrades to a Hex Core he certainly wont need to upgrade again for quite a long time.

If you keep waiting for the next big part, you wnt have anything to show for it.

 

[chucky2]

Oh, I realize a hex core would last him a long time...but not as long as a Bulldozer rig, or, Sandy Bridge.

I'm just sayin, there's wanting to upgrade, and, needing to upgrade. If this is just a want, look how long he's waited already....mine as well wait a few more months, do a nice big upgrade, and then be good for a long while.

I'm not sure on either Intel or AMD's guarantee on current platforms fulling supporting SB or BD, but, I really wouldn't put it past either of them to release a new chipset for full CPU support when they release their next gen products next year.

Of course, if the upgrade is a need, then, can't do anything about that. It's needed.

Chuck