Radeon HD 3450 for $49.99 + shipping

[jalaram]

Originally posted by: hans007
for $50 you might as well get the 2600xt for $55 after rebate that is in stock. 2600xt is actually faster than the 3650

Link please?

 

[Replay]

This 2600XT was $60 after rebate with free shipping until recently ($85 AR now). I might buy one if the deal comes back, although the fan looks like junk.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161179

 

[culex]

Got the 3450 today and can confirm sound does not work with HDMI -> DVI cable. Waiting on the HDMI adapter from ATI... hopefully that one works.

 

[imported_typhoid]

Originally posted by: jalaram

Originally posted by: typhoid

Originally posted by: ibex333
4)My PC will be used ONLY for watching movies.
5)I cant afford a video card costing more than $60

Which would be a better card for me? The 3450 or the 2600xt?

PS: Where do you guys see a 2600xt for $55? They cost a lot more.

If you mean standard definition movies and DVDs, then even a 3450 or 2600xt are overkill. Even integrated video is fast enough for standard definition.

If you do need high definition, then either of the two cards above should work fine and you can buy strictly on price.

I've heard that you would need some power if you wanted to do post-processing on the DVDs. That said, I'm not sure how the video cards rate in that aspect. Otherwise, I do agree on all your points.

Video editing and rendering do take a lot of horsepower, but mostly in the form of CPU (more cores is better) and memory.

I think that the 3450 would be suitable for that type of work, but that would be a strange machine - high cost multi-core CPU, lots of memory (and 64-bit OS to take advantage of it), big fast hard drives, but a low-power, low-cost graphics card.

I already have a "big box" that I use for video editing (mostly from miniDV camcorder). Although I think that the 3450 would be fine for video editing, I use an 8800GT in my big box because I *might* want to play the occasional game on it. 😀

 

[jalaram]

Originally posted by: typhoid

Originally posted by: jalaram

Originally posted by: typhoid

Originally posted by: ibex333
4)My PC will be used ONLY for watching movies.
5)I cant afford a video card costing more than $60

Which would be a better card for me? The 3450 or the 2600xt?

PS: Where do you guys see a 2600xt for $55? They cost a lot more.

If you mean standard definition movies and DVDs, then even a 3450 or 2600xt are overkill. Even integrated video is fast enough for standard definition.

If you do need high definition, then either of the two cards above should work fine and you can buy strictly on price.

I've heard that you would need some power if you wanted to do post-processing on the DVDs. That said, I'm not sure how the video cards rate in that aspect. Otherwise, I do agree on all your points.

Video editing and rendering do take a lot of horsepower, but mostly in the form of CPU (more cores is better) and memory.

I think that the 3450 would be suitable for that type of work, but that would be a strange machine - high cost multi-core CPU, lots of memory (and 64-bit OS to take advantage of it), big fast hard drives, but a low-power, low-cost graphics card.

I already have a "big box" that I use for video editing (mostly from miniDV camcorder). Although I think that the 3450 would be fine for video editing, I use an 8800GT in my big box because I *might* want to play the occasional game on it. 😀

Not that kind of post-processing. I was referring to stuff like ffdshow that makes DVDs look better on projectors and HDTVs.

 

[sjwaste]

Bump. Has anyone had a chance to try this card w/ an ATI HDMI adapter? If not, I'll update after the weekend since mine is sitting here waiting for me to throw it in the HTPC.

 

[Karaktu]

Originally posted by: culex
Got the 3450 today and can confirm sound does not work with HDMI -> DVI cable. Waiting on the HDMI adapter from ATI... hopefully that one works.

Video does not work or audio? Audio wouldn't work, no question, because the DVI -> HDMI adapters from ATI are different from your standard DVI -> HDMI cables, which are only designed to pass video.

One other thing you will discover is that you cannot pass audio over HDMI and SPDIF at the same time. Frequently because the HDMI driver and onboard audio driver are different (and you can only use one at a time), and if you actually get around that, Microsoft doesn't allow it in their O/S because of DRM. :roll:

I just got one of these to resolve that problem...

 

[Samus]

the powercolor's in stock and its identical. and cheaper

 

[imported_typhoid]

Originally posted by: sjwaste
Bump. Has anyone had a chance to try this card w/ an ATI HDMI adapter? If not, I'll update after the weekend since mine is sitting here waiting for me to throw it in the HTPC.

My first attempt did not work, and in trying various drivers I've hosed my system so badly that I can't even get sound from the motherboard jack. This is with 32-bit Vista Home Premium on a "fry's special" ECS motherboard (945GCT/1333).

I'll probably reload the box with XP this weekend on the assumption that the XP drivers are more mature. If I can get it working on XP, then I'll know that the hardware all works and it's just a matter of drivers under Vista.

If anyone does get it working, it might help the rest of us to know what motherboard you're using and what type of audio your TV accepts over HDMI. For instance, my TV can only accept 2-channel PCM over HDMI. From what I've read, the 3450 *should* be able to output a compatible audio stream.

 

[sjwaste]

I hate to report that this card may not be the ideal HTPC solution. Despite being able to install the HDMI audio device, I can't get any sound out of it, so I reverted back to my Envy24-based card. Also, there's a weird bug where if the machine goes into suspend, when it comes back up, you won't have a display over HDMI unless you unplug and replug the cable or reboot (must be something to do w/ the negotiation or HDCP handshake?). I have to work around this by making sure I wake up my HTPC w/ the remote, THEN switching inputs on the TV to it, and it usually works. Still, for $50, the image quality is superb, but the card is not without its flaws.

 

[austin316]

sooooo, can this thing run Call of Duty 4 with say a very low resolution?

 

[texasfury]

...

 

[imported_typhoid]

Originally posted by: sjwaste
I hate to report that this card may not be the ideal HTPC solution. Despite being able to install the HDMI audio device, I can't get any sound out of it, so I reverted back to my Envy24-based card. Also, there's a weird bug where if the machine goes into suspend, when it comes back up, you won't have a display over HDMI unless you unplug and replug the cable or reboot (must be something to do w/ the negotiation or HDCP handshake?). I have to work around this by making sure I wake up my HTPC w/ the remote, THEN switching inputs on the TV to it, and it usually works. Still, for $50, the image quality is superb, but the card is not without its flaws.

I get the same result with audio. The audio device installs and claims to be working, but no audio from the TV via HDMI. Unfortunately, I don't have another TV or HDMI equiped computer to test with, so I can't be certain which device is at fault. I do know that my TV will only accept 2-channel PCM over HDMI, so maybe it's just a compatibility problem.

However, I don't have any problem with S3 sleep and wake-up.

I'm a bit disappointed about the audio problem, but it's still not a bad deal for a budget HTPC as long as you're prepared to route audio separately.

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: typhoid
I get the same result with audio. The audio device installs and claims to be working, but no audio from the TV via HDMI. Unfortunately, I don't have another TV or HDMI equiped computer to test with, so I can't be certain which device is at fault. I do know that my TV will only accept 2-channel PCM over HDMI, so maybe it's just a compatibility problem.

However, I don't have any problem with S3 sleep and wake-up.

I'm a bit disappointed about the audio problem, but it's still not a bad deal for a budget HTPC as long as you're prepared to route audio separately.

I agree on the card being good in general for HTPC use, I'm definitely not ditching it. I later realized my Dvico HDTV card needs a CD/Line in to route audio, so I was going to have to go back to a discrete sound card anyway.

Lately what I've done is VNC'ed into my htpc to wake it up, but sometimes I have to change and then reset the resolution for it to work. I'm thinking I should just disable some of the power management stuff on it and see what happens.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Waiting to see if the G98-based 8400GS can do better 🙂

 

[proroc]

Any issues with using this card in MCE2K5?