Is a GeForce 8400GS missing anything important for video decoding?

[mikeymikec]

I'm wondering whether it's worth keeping it around as anything more than a test card, whether for example it will handle any likely video formats delivered through a browser.

I realise newer cards will be more power efficient and likely throw out less heat.

 

[LTC8K6]

It's either Pure Video 3 or 4 depending on which 8400GS it is, revision 2 or 3.
2 is a G98 chip and 3 is a GT218 chip.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_PureVideo#The_third_generation_PureVideo_HD

 

[mikeymikec]

Admittedly I tried to read up about html5 video (after posting this thread), which apparently supports one of three formats. I then started reading up about one of them (MP4) which apparently supports a number of sub-formats. I gave up at that point.

Based on the article you posted, it looks promising.

 

[NTMBK]

It doesn't have h.265 decoding hardware, so it won't do well on modern content.

 

[SPBHM]

I think the original 8400GS (G86) is very limited even for h264
the less old ones (G98+) can handle that pretty OK, youtube 720P60 or 1080P30 seems to run fine on it (with h264/AVC1 video)

keep in mind that even youtube normally prefers VP9 (which is not decoded via hardware with the 8400GS, but you can kind of force h264), also as mentioned, no HEVC support, and the 8400GS will struggle with higher res/framerate h264.

it still is fairly usable IMO, and if you have a fast CPU you don't really need it for decoding anyway.

 

[VirtualLarry]

No H.265, no VP9, limited H.264... I say junk it. Even the Fermi-based GT610/620 are better cards.

The minimum I would go with these days is a Kepler GT630 / GT 730, bonus if it has GDDR5 rather than DDR3.