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Need CHEAP PCI-E video what is best?

J

jrodson69

Member
Hi guys,

Got an old HP machine with integrated ATI Radeon 200. Needless to say the graphics suck. Need a very cheap PCI-E card which can push 1920x1080, don't need 3D gaming, this will be for video playing etc to a large HDTV.

What's the best option right now?
 
If its for an HTPC, do yourself a favor and get a passively cooled card. The noise difference can be incredible on an HTPC and since the card doesn't need to do much, its easy to get by on a lower-powered passive card.

Since they're so cheap, there's no reason not to get one new enough that it will do DXVA or whatever the ATI equivalent is (GPU decoding of video).

I bought a Radeon 4350 with HDMI (w/ audio) out, GPU decoding capable, and passive cooling for $35 2 years ago. I regularly see them now on Newegg for the same price with a rebate making them about $20-25. For an HTPC, besides using integrated video, there really isnt a better choice I can think of.
 
hoorah said:
If its for an HTPC, do yourself a favor and get a passively cooled card. The noise difference can be incredible on an HTPC and since the card doesn't need to do much, its easy to get by on a lower-powered passive card.

Since they're so cheap, there's no reason not to get one new enough that it will do DXVA or whatever the ATI equivalent is (GPU decoding of video).

I bought a Radeon 4350 with HDMI (w/ audio) out, GPU decoding capable, and passive cooling for $35 2 years ago. I regularly see them now on Newegg for the same price with a rebate making them about $20-25. For an HTPC, besides using integrated video, there really isnt a better choice I can think of.
Click to expand...

The one I linked is passive for 25$ar.
 
if the CPU can do all the decoding needed then the cheapest card you can find with a PCIe form factor would work.

If you want to offload any video decoding to the GPU then the above 5450 is a good choice.
 
If you're strictly running it to an HDTV, look for a card with HDMI out. Not having to buy / use and adapter is always nice.

Anything low-end should do the job. The HD 5450 listed above should be perfect.
 
I use the onboard 4200 (40core) for my HTPC right now. The 5450 has 80cores and I think better sound out through the HDMI so that should work fine.
 
Thanks for the link and opinions guys!

That looks like a perfect budget card. Don't want to spend any more than that on a machine that probably isn't worth a $50 bill these days 🙂

Would a card like that be powerful enough to do Blu Ray in the future? Also what is the thing with audio on these HDMI-out cards? Right now I just run a 1/8" stereo cable between the rig and the display which works fine; Do some of these support the audio/video both over the one cable without requiring that?
 
jrodson69 said:
Thanks for the link and opinions guys!

That looks like a perfect budget card. Don't want to spend any more than that on a machine that probably isn't worth a $50 bill these days 🙂

Would a card like that be powerful enough to do Blu Ray in the future? Also what is the thing with audio on these HDMI-out cards? Right now I just run a 1/8" stereo cable between the rig and the display which works fine; Do some of these support the audio/video both over the one cable without requiring that?
Click to expand...


The 5450 can do blu-ray out of the box with a lowwer end CPU.

Yea the HDMI will carry audio and video in one. No need for other cables.
 
if it means anything to you, you may want to check which version of hdmi is supported by the cards. afaik, hdmi v1.4/1.4a is only on a very few "budget htpc" cards.

also, a green team recommendation is the GT240. got the ddr5 version 4-5 months ago for 35$ AR. dxva on very high bitrate video with no hiccups.
 
Thanks Darckhart, I'll keep that in mind. I guess I'm not too concerned with the HDMI revision at this point, but I'm certainly looking for great bang for the buck!

I picked up one of the XFX 5450 looks like $25 after rebate, right up my alley price-wise. I'll report back on my findings in a few days.

Appreciate all the responses guys, thanks!
 
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