Video card for my old man - no gaming

[andrei3333]

hey guys, my dad is going to be redoing his HT room and i am building him a PC

price range is $1000 canadian

nothin spectacular, just a regular core 2 duo set up,. He will be connecting this PC to his new TV which he has not gotten yet, but i know it will be somewhere from 42"-50". This is strictly for him and that means absolutely no gaming, no hardcore, just plain internet , movies, and all that regular HT stiff,


so what is the best bang for the buck kind of video card for him thats available today (please dont tell me to wait a year until a new card is out lol?

i dont care if its nVidia or ATI

 

[MarcVenice]

one of those new HD4350 cards, or whatever it is they are called ? Perfect for HTPC stuff

 

[Murloc]

you can buy him the hd4550 which is much better than 4350 imho.
http://www.pcprofessionale.it/stappro61/uploads/2008/09/4550sadlk.jpg[img]
it has got a passive cooler.
If there's enough space I think I would get this one, you can choose between 256 or 512mb of video memory.
It has got: dvi, hdmi, displayport (next generation for monitors), therefore you can connect it to the TV without converters and such things, and you don't lose any quality.

a hd4350 cost less, it's low profile and has 256mb of video memory.
256 is enough to view films I think..
[img]http://www.pcprofessionale.it/stappro61/uploads/2008/09/4350afsihjlafs.jpg
the msi one has a passive cooler which definitely is better for a silent htpc.
It has that round video port, vga and dvi.

I would get the first because of the hdmi, if you have a 1000$ budget you can buy it.

 

[Butterbean]

There is a new ATI All-in-Wonder based on the Radeon HD 3650

http://ati.amd.com/products/aiwhd/index.html

http://techgage.com/article/am...with_all-in-wonder_hd/

Circuit City had them for 139 a few weeks ago but its usually around 180ish (USD). Their is a deluxe version too that has remote (around $200). It records tv and plays HD video and does video upscalling.

Its up for $152 on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi...POU/websearchengi40-20

Deluxe is $206

http://www.amazon.com/VisionTe...&qid=1223828823&sr=1-1
Other than that I would probably get a passive card like the passive 3850 or 4850 (Gigabyte).

 

[andrei3333]

Ok what about my old card that i have laying around, the XFX 7800GT OC 256 MB would it suffice with a large tv ?

it does have dvi and component capability

 

[Denithor]

Well, the 7800GT would certain work but probably won't be optimal. For HTPC use you want a quiet card (probably not) with low heat generation (certainly not) that can handle HD decoding (um...no?).

4350/4550 won't cost too much and would definitely be better suited to this duty.

 

[FalseChristian]

I've got a great card lying around. It's a 512MB GeForce 7950GT!