what card for 70% htpc and 20% gaming?

[mikek753]

hi all,

What card would you recommend for HTPC with some gaming?

HTPC video quality is top priority. It has to work with dvico HDTV tuner for DVR.
Some gaming with SM 3.0 support. And silent as it could be to play movies (DVD and h.264).

I'm looking for 7900 GT, x1900GT and x1900XT so far.
How good x1900 cards manage power / fan speed in 2D mode?
Does avivo better then purevideo in 2D for watching video or vs?

Which card has better "idle" power management that uses in 2D video play mode?

I know that in game 3D mode x1900 cards get almost 50+% power then NV 7900GT, but what about in 2D mode?

Thanks

Mike.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

10% pr0n?

 

[Corporate Thug]

7900 GT

 

[Gautama2]

Kind of overkill for a htpc...

I'd save your money and go witha ASUS 7600 GS. Passive coolings, runs most games on low-medium settings depending on your res, and has HDCP

 

[mikek753]

Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
10% pr0n?

other activity like a web browsing, email, encoding / decoding, etc.

 

[secretanchitman]

for our htpc, we got the msi 7900GT with vivo and hdcp. msi also has a 7600GT with hdcp as well.

 

[orangat]

The proportion of time spent on games/htpc is not relevant.
You should state the level of performance you are willing to put up with in games instead. Some people are still getting along fine with very old dx7 cards.

 

[tomt4535]

I have a 7600GS in my HTPC. It does well with games on my LCD at 1366x768 and its passivley cooled so no noise.

 

[fliguy84]

A 7600gt or x1600xt

 

[Cookie Monster]

7600GS. NV offers h.264 as well. Get the Asus 7600GS, passively cooled. HDCP ready.