HTPC card

[Rifter]

What is the best HTPC card currently out? Im looking to spend under $100.

Needs to be:

Passive cooled
PCIe
Nvidia as I will be running linux and ATI still has not got there shit together for linux drivers
HDMI out
I will never game on it so GPU power doesnt matter, i dont care if it cant render pong
Have spdif passthough to hdmi if it doesnt have its own audio chip


Hardware acceleration of as many formats as possible would defiantly be a bonus but i think the 2.7Ghz Dualcore 7750 BE CPU im putting in it should be ok for most things, eventually i will be going with a Athlon e series quad when i can find one in stock for a reasonable price.

 

[Rifter]

Oh yeah and needs to be able to be powered by a Earthwatts 430w PSU with a single 6 pin PCIe power connector.

 

[darkewaffle]

Any old passive GT 210 or 220. 240s can be had pretty cheap too, but I don't know if there are fanless versions.

 

[Rifter]

thank you, will look into those.

 

[Rifter]

Do you think it would be worth the power/heat/noise to run a Sapphire 512MB 4830 i have laying around in the HTPC?

 

[jdjbuffalo]

An ATI 5570 is probably the "best" HTPC card available that is passively cooled.
Here is one on NewEgg

This will be able to handle all the deinterlacing, Flash video, Blu-ray decoding and other stuff you can through at it.

 

[Rifter]

i know the 55xx series is probably my best bet, however the lack of linux drivers that dont suck is making me want to go nvidia.

Otherwise i would probably drop my 4830 in and forget about it.

Going to see if i can get a 210 cheap, maybe wait for a sale.

 

[lopri]

Go with the GT240. If you don't mind rebates they're around $60. (after $40 rebate, that is)

 

[Rifter]

Im in canada. So not really worth it for me to order from the US and pay shipping/duty for such a low budget card. The cheapest i have seen passive 240's in canada is $80 on sale.