View Full Version : What Nvidia card to buy for hw-decoding?
I getting tired on my GIGABYTE MA78GM-S2H HDMI SOCKET AM2+ M-ATX with the ATI HD3200, so Im thinking of buying a NVIDIA gfx.
What is the cheapest card that works good with XBMC, Ubuntu and hardware decoding?
/Söder
I think this is a fair question... I did some research and did not find the answer so I'm also interested.
So... What NVidia chipset is the lowest-end that will do 1080p video well?
I think this is a fair question... I did some research and did not find the answer so I'm also interested.
So... What NVidia chipset is the lowest-end that will do 1080p video well?
I found this in Sweden.
ASUS GEFORCE 8400GS 256MB DDR2 VGA/DVI SILENT
Costs about 40$
Wonder if thats a good start, of if its to good or to bad...
/Söder
decaturguy
2009-04-05, 21:30
I found this in Sweden.
ASUS GEFORCE 8400GS 256MB DDR2 VGA/DVI SILENT
Costs about 40$
Wonder if thats a good start, of if its to good or to bad...
/Söder
If I were you i should invest in 9 series... there are at alright price right now in Sweden.
http://www.komplett.se/k/kl.aspx?mfr=&bn=10488&sortBy=p&zbo2=true&filter=A03616.K144543.
Personally I'm using good old 8600GS 512MB SilentFX, bought it with my computer when it came out.
What does the 9000 serie have that the 8000 doesnt have? I need the gfx for nothing more then XBMC.
The 9000-cards cost half the price of my motherboard cost... =(
Are there any plans for hw-decoding with the ATI?
/Söder
9400gt 512mb
Why? Doesn't this one have crappier chip than 8400gs?
i have an 8500gt 512mb passive cooling and it works perfectly :) even the killa sample is LOWWWWWWWWWW cpu usage :)
i have an 8500gt 512mb passive cooling and it works perfectly :) even the killa sample is LOWWWWWWWWWW cpu usage :)
I thought the killa sample couldn't run on hw-decoding?
/Söder
I thought the killa sample couldn't run on hw-decoding?
/Söder
?? Sure - works fine. Why wouldn't it? It is a sucky test though - artbeats is better...
xnappo
No offense but this has been discussed so many damn times now. 8400gs will do VC1 in hardware, but its got a hardware bug. Steer clear.
9400 does 'partial' VC1 acceleration, which in plain English means that on my 5050e running 1080p24 source loads the CPU to 5%/15% per core, its fine.
Killa works fine, it would seem you read the first 3 pages of the nvnews.net mplayer thread and then got bored. :P
Finally, in one post you ask about the 8400GS for $40 and then complainn about the price of the 9000 series, they're punch for punch almost identically priced.
Just get a 9400 or 9500 with 512MB, its really that simple.
I have 9400GT with 512vram. I'm running it on with A64x2 4200+ underclocked to 1000mhz and undervolted to 1.1volts. It runs killa without any frame drop (only 6-7 frames when the file starts) and doesn't even touch the cpu. The vga costs ~50$.
motd2k wrote much (all?) of the VDPAU support for XBMC and folks are questioning his recommendations for hardware to make use of it? wow.....
Is there any trick to get hardware decoding working? (switch?) I just built my machine a while back and I built it 'beefy' to begin with, and its ran great, so I haven't even bothered to look into it yet.
I have 9400GT with 512vram. I'm running it on with A64x2 4200+ underclocked to 1000mhz and undervolted to 1.1volts. It runs killa without any frame drop (only 6-7 frames when the file starts) and doesn't even touch the cpu. The vga costs ~50$.
Im trying DXVA at my Win7 computer, with MPC-HC, and Ive been told that the killa sample dont work with hw-decoding.
Thats why Im wondering why you guys can do it in XBMC.
/Söder
No offense but this has been discussed so many damn times now. 8400gs will do VC1 in hardware, but its got a hardware bug. Steer clear.
9400 does 'partial' VC1 acceleration, which in plain English means that on my 5050e running 1080p24 source loads the CPU to 5%/15% per core, its fine.
Killa works fine, it would seem you read the first 3 pages of the nvnews.net mplayer thread and then got bored. :P
Finally, in one post you ask about the 8400GS for $40 and then complainn about the price of the 9000 series, they're punch for punch almost identically priced.
Just get a 9400 or 9500 with 512MB, its really that simple.
OK. Thanks for the info.
Any differense for hw-decoding in 9400 and 9500?
512MB you say. I guess then 256MB is not good enough, but what about 1 GB. Any benefits?
/Söder
carvegio
2009-04-06, 10:41
I think 256mb would also be good, but I think motd2k was saying what he thinks the best bang for your buck card would be.
I think 256mb would also be good, but I think motd2k was saying what he thinks the best bang for your buck card would be.
OK, but 9400 or 9500 then? Are some card better then other in the hw-decoding thing? I will never play any games on the card, so it will only be an HTPC-graphic card
http://www.palit.biz/main/vgapro.php?id=733
or
http://www.palit.biz/main/vgapro.php?id=994
/Söder
Pvt_Ryan
2009-04-06, 13:40
Is there any reason *not* to get a 9400gt 1Gb and if not are there any benefits to having it over the 512mb version?
Is there any reason *not* to get a 9400gt 1Gb ?
Was that meant for me?
10 dollars diff for me! 9400 or 9500. Worth it?
/Söder
Pvt_Ryan
2009-04-06, 14:00
No that was a general query.
For me there is little/no price difference between the 9400gt 512 and 1024.. I just wanted to make sure there were no known issues in terms of the hardware.
In terms of 9400/9500, I think the lower clock speed and therefore lower cooling / power requirements is better so the 9400 would be my choice. For me the most important feature of the card is the passive cooling.
No that was a general query.
For me there is little/no price difference between the 9400gt 512 and 1024.. I just wanted to make sure there were no known issues in terms of the hardware.
In terms of 9400/9500, I think the lower clock speed and therefore lower cooling / power requirements is better so the 9400 would be my choice. For me the most important feature of the card is the passive cooling.
GPU Core Clock 550 MHz on both cards.
Memory speed 700 MHz vs. 800 MHz.
I took the 9400.
/Söder
GPU Core Clock 550 MHz on both cards.
Memory speed 700 MHz vs. 800 MHz.
I took the 9400.
/Söder
9400 passive here too (512mb) but I can safely say it does run hot on a small HTPC box... it is by far the hottest component on my PC, usually hoovering around 82C.
9400 passive here too (512mb) but I can safely say it does run hot on a small HTPC box... it is by far the hottest component on my PC, usually hoovering around 82C.
Mine not that small. I got an passive 8800 GT in my gaming PC, and that works. Got some fans to running 7V.
/Söder
Pvt_Ryan
2009-04-06, 22:34
9400 passive here too (512mb) but I can safely say it does run hot on a small HTPC box... it is by far the hottest component on my PC, usually hoovering around 82C.
What cooling do you have in your box? or is it completely passive?
I think 256mb would also be good, but I think motd2k was saying what he thinks the best bang for your buck card would be.
No, he was saying 512mb. This has been discussed at length in the VDPAU thread. 256mb can be made to work with hacks and other ugliness but it wasn't the way to go, you wouldn't be able to play as much content and different encodings could trip you up. Get 512mb so that VDPAU can be run properly. For the price difference why hesitate?
9x IGP here and no issues I'm aware of. There have been heat concerns with this board expressed by at least one really vocal guy on the AVS forum but since I'm using an Intel style CPU cooler I'm not sweating it. I had an 8x PCIe passive in my previous config and can confirm it got hot but it never gave me issues or crashed because of it. <shrug> Even a small amount of airflow would greatly help a passive card keep cool...
I took expert's advice and ordered MSI's passively cooled 9400 gt. Being a complete linux newbie i propably can't get it up and running but we'll see :p
PainToad
2009-04-07, 08:44
According to wikipedia, 9400 and 9500 both consume the same amount of watts, does that sound right?
I'm very short on power on my Dell POS power-supply is why I'm wondering.
What cooling do you have in your box? or is it completely passive?
Zalman cooler on the CPU, Nexus PSU with silent fan (totally irrelevant for the box because the fan is pointing up and out of the box), 2 Noctua chassis fans - these are on the opposite side of the box to the GPU... they are mostly keeping the HD cool.
I might invest in a box with better airflow one of these days...
fasteddy
2009-04-07, 19:53
The latest nvidia beta may help IGP users unable to dedicate 512mb ram.
On systems using integrated graphics, VDPAU now uses system RAM instead of video RAM for many purposes. This should prevent "out of resources" problems in most cases, even when the video RAM carve-out is configured as low as 128M.
The latest nvidia beta may help IGP users unable to dedicate 512mb ram.
Now THAT sounds like good news. Motd2k can you comment on this - will this help guys with 256meg cards?
9400 passive here too (512mb) but I can safely say it does run hot on a small HTPC box... it is by far the hottest component on my PC, usually hoovering around 82C.
My Palit 9400 GT is also very hot. Sometimes about 95 C.
And this is with my case open.. =(
I guess the card will handle this, since its the orignal passive cooling device....
/Söder
Pvt_Ryan
2009-04-08, 12:43
Buy some artic silver.
remove the heatsink from the gfx card, clean off the thermal paste. then apply artic silver, spread thinly then reattach the heatsink to the gfx card.
I find that artic silver on it's own reduces temps by up to 4 degrees.
You could also try underclocking the gfx card and see if that helps.
Buy some artic silver.
remove the heatsink from the gfx card, clean off the thermal paste. then apply artic silver, spread thinly then reattach the heatsink to the gfx card.
I find that artic silver on it's own reduces temps by up to 4 degrees.
You could also try underclocking the gfx card and see if that helps.
How do I underclock the card, in linux?
As said before, I will only use the card for XBMC and VDPAU, soo I guess the card can be underclocked to not produce so much heat.
/Söder
Buy some artic silver.
remove the heatsink from the gfx card, clean off the thermal paste. then apply artic silver, spread thinly then reattach the heatsink to the gfx card.
I find that artic silver on it's own reduces temps by up to 4 degrees.
You could also try underclocking the gfx card and see if that helps.
I thought the Nvidia Linux driver is already dynamically under-clocking the card, no?
Pvt_Ryan
2009-04-09, 00:31
How do I underclock the card, in linux?
As said before, I will only use the card for XBMC and VDPAU, soo I guess the card can be underclocked to not produce so much heat.
/Söder
you'll have to google it. but there are loads of hits.
leigh_munro
2009-04-09, 03:04
Does anyone know of any graphics cards that meet the following criteria?
HW-Decoding within XBMC (VDPAU Support)
HDMI output (not via an adapter)
Audio over HDMI
Passively cooled
There used to be some 8400GS cards that would meet that criteria but plugging your specs into NewEgg's search engine this is what I now get -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127396
Note that this isn't "true" HDMI audio in that it accepts a SPIDIF cable off the motherboard so advanced CODEC support will still be limited just as it would be with an optical output I think.
All in all the best solutions are IGP on boards like the one I'm running.
PainToad
2009-04-09, 07:44
Does anyone know of any graphics cards that meet the following criteria?
HW-Decoding within XBMC (VDPAU Support)
HDMI output (not via an adapter)
Audio over HDMI
Passively cooled
ASUS low profile 9400GT has all these except it has a tiny fan. $75AU.
Does anyone know of any graphics cards that meet the following criteria?
HW-Decoding within XBMC (VDPAU Support)
HDMI output (not via an adapter)
Audio over HDMI
Passively cooled
The PALIT 9400 GT I bought has that.
http://www.palit.biz/main/vgapro.php?id=1081
/Söder
My Palit 9400 GT is also very hot. Sometimes about 95 C.
And this is with my case open.. =(
I guess the card will handle this, since its the orignal passive cooling device....
/Söder
I have the same problem with my 8600GT, have even managed to burn up a cable that was too close to the heatsink :sniffle:
The PALIT 9400 GT I bought has that.
http://www.palit.biz/main/vgapro.php?id=1081
/Söder
What are the temps it runs at? I need to keep the HTPC cool as possible so I can run as few fans as possible... to keep it quiet.
What are the temps it runs at? I need to keep the HTPC cool as possible so I can run as few fans as possible... to keep it quiet.
I got two "big" nexus fan at one side of the chassi, and one small nexus on the cpu, all running in 7V. ATM I got the chassi open, and the PATIT is in 80 C idle.
/Söder
Buy some artic silver.
remove the heatsink from the gfx card, clean off the thermal paste. then apply artic silver, spread thinly then reattach the heatsink to the gfx card.
I find that artic silver on it's own reduces temps by up to 4 degrees.
You could also try underclocking the gfx card and see if that helps.
Hmm I now applied Artic silver 3. Before, with my chassi open, after watched some 1080p, the temp could be about 80C.
Now, with my chassi closed and Artic Silver, I idle in 65 C and direct after watched 1080p for about 10 min, the temp is 73 C.
Is that really possible? =) Great work Artic.
/Söder
Pvt_Ryan
2009-04-12, 18:02
Hmm I now applied Artic silver 3. Before, with my chassi open, after watched some 1080p, the temp could be about 80C.
Now, with my chassi closed and Artic Silver, I idle in 65 C and direct after watched 1080p for about 10 min, the temp is 73 C.
Is that really possible? =) Great work Artic.
/Söder
Yea..
Its great.. You may find that the temps can be higher/no change for the 1st few days while it beds in but the stuff is magic.. It just provides better heat transfer between your Heatsink and whatever it is attached to.
Zeppstar
2009-04-14, 17:51
I recently bought an Asus EN9500GT for my box. HDMI output and a supplied audio passthrough cable(connect from MOBO to GFX Card) This card has a reasonably large slow spinning fan and its suprisingly quiet.
There are also Asus EN9400GT 's that are low profile(come with extra brackets) and also have HDMI out but these little cards are very noisy. (Small Fan, High pitched whirrrrrring). Still, these cards perform well.