Is the 9500GT the ultimate HTPC video card?
The new NVidea 9500gt was released the other day, and on the outside it seems like the perfect HTPC video card. But how does it really compare to what is currently available?
This video card is basically a revamped 8600gt card, is doesn’t really provide much better performance (only about 20% improvement), but it has PCIe 2.0 compatibility, lower power consumption and better PureVideo Hd decoding, making it great for a HTPC.
The card has a passively cooled version (produced by galaxy, palit and biostar), which means no fans. This will make your HTPC quieter. This card also comes in both a ddr2 and ddr3 version. The type of RAM won’t make a difference for video decoding, and both will do fine. However if you plan on doing some gaming on your HTPC, the ddr3 version will perform better.
Be careful when buying the 9500gt, as some of them don’t support HDMI natively, but rather through a DVI adapter. Some packages include the adapter, while others don’t (such as the Guru3d cards). In my opinion when you make a card designed for a HTPC, you really should include the required adapters. Other companies, such as MSI, have included native HDMI connectors in the card, so no adapter is required.
The 9500gt is also quite a small video card, so should fit into a HTPC case quite nicely. Hopefully someone will announce a half-height version of this card as well, allowing those of us with half height cases to get this good card.
The best part about these video cards is their price. Shipping for around $70 US, it is one of the cheapest available HTPC cards, with a lot of good features. The ATI HD 3650 is about the same price, but isn’t as good. The only advantage the HD 3650 has is that it can play sound through HDMI. Some people prefer to put the sound through the sound card, as then it only requires one cable, making everything simple. If you don’t have this, you need 2 cables, one HDMI one for your picture, and an SPDIF one for your sound. But the 9500gt has better performance than the HD3650, so it’s a matter of assessing your needs.
The 9500gt is currently the best budget video card for the HTPC. It is cheap, has low power consumption, and is quiet. It is also quite powerful for everything a HTPC will need to do. Currently ATI just doesn’t hold up in this price range, but with the release of their 4000 series next month, they just might kill this card before its hit off.
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Hello there, you have a good “review” and “recommendation” for HTPC setup here! Thank you.
As time goes by, ATI 4000 series is out, especially now they have a 4670 / 4650 for low budget graphic card around the corner. Do you still recommend this 9500GT? Thank you.