The Best HTPC Video Card
A lot of people are lost when it comes to their HTPC and what video card to get.
To me there are a few requirements when it comes to buying a HTPC video card, which are:
1. Quiet (I don’t want to hear it from the couch)
2. Small (I want it to fit in my HTPC case, not have to buy a huge case just for the video card)
3. HDMI out, preferably with audio
4. Low Power Consumption (equals less heat and noise)
5. Powerful enough to play High Definition content and Blu-Ray DVDs
Now the thing with HTPC video Cards is that it does not need to be more powerful than to complete these tasks. These tasks won’t change, and any more powerful is going to cause more heat, take up more power, and make more noise than necessary.
Now to be honest, Nvidia cards at the moment just don’t add up to what ATI offers. The Nvidea cards have worse picture quality (only fractionally), but a lot of them don’t provide for the HDMI out with audio, so they are out of the question.
So that leaves ATI. In my opinion the best option is to go for a motherboard with onboard graphics, and at the moment the obvious and best board are the boards with the AMD 780g chipsets, that have inbuilt a ATI HD3200 video chip, which will satisfy all the above requirements.
An example of this would be the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H motherboard. Because it’s onboard, it is smaller and more efficient than a dedicated graphics card, so is my preferred solution.
Now if you are adding on to an existing HTPC, or for some reason just want a dedicated video card, there are a few options. The first is a 2600 Pro, however this puts more load on your processor when playing high definition. If you don’t have a powerful processor in your HTPC, I’d skip this one because there is a chance you won’t be able to play HD and Blu-Ray.
The better option is the HD 3450. These come in half height cards, so can fit into most HTPC cases. It satisfies all the requirements listed above, and is probably the best dedicated video card for the HTPC at the moment.
Remember not to go overboard when buying your HTPC video card. It needs to fulfil all those requirements, but it doesn’t need to be too capable. If you aren’t playing games on your HTPC, you don’t need the power drain and noise of all the extra features on the higher end more powerful video cards of today.
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Hey,
Is it possible with the HD 3450 to output 720×480 interlaced video? I’d like have a setup that offloads untouched digital SD content to an external video processor like the DVDO VP 5000.
I’m pretty sure it’s just a matter of configuring the application running the DVD, but I’d love to hear what an expert thinks.
Thanks.
hello there, nice guide for gc for htpc. i am wondering if a 4670 is overkill? will this 3450 handle the job well enough as it’s 64bit? i don’t think this is the best gc but i am thinking it’s the most budget dedicated gc for htpc…