Video Card for Media Server

[BHarris42]

The short version of this question is this:

I am building a media server and I need to figure out what video card to get.

The card or cards will be going into an Asus P5Q3 Deluxe.

It needs to supply a REALLY great picture to a Plasma that might be as large as 60" (still shopping) and I want to watch 1080p video on it.


So what should I buy?

 

[bearnet2001]

Any card made in the past 2 years should have no problem with this. Note that the fact that your TV is a plasma and it's 60" is completely irrelevant: that's the display of your TV, which it handles itself. The video card will take care of the 1920x1080 pixels, whether it be on a 24" monitor or 60" plasma, equally well. The "video quality" is going to be a product of the quality of your TV and the resolution of whatever you are playing, not the quality of the video card -> they'll all handle 1080 easily.

 

[Modular]

HD4850 or 8800gt? Anyone else have a different idea?

 

[SolMiester]

Too hot and noisy both...

 

[godforbids]

Your video card's effects on PQ will not be trivial.

You should probably ask your question over at AVS Forum, as their focus on video is almost overboard.

 

[renethx]

Radeon HD 3450 or higher, or GeForce 8400 GS (G98; core 567MHz) or higher is enough for 1080p.

Deinterlacing? Then HD 3650/GeForce 8600 GT or higher. The upcoming Radeon HD 4650 supports multichannel LPCM over HDMI and will be the best choice.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

i'd go for the cheapest 3650 you can find. Great for vista's aero and can run 3d apps pretty well. In multimedia it doesn't even break a sweat.