Need advice on agp video card for htpc.

[Apoculos]

Hi, I have an old pc I have converted to a htpc, and I need some advice on how good of a AGP video card to get. It has an socket A athlon 3200+, and 2 GBs of ddr ram. Currently for video card it has a pci 5200FX which doesn't cut it for hd video. The goal is for it to be able to handle 1080, my current max is 720 but I wouldn't mind future proofing if I get a new tv. Appreciate the help.

 

[Apoculos]

Surely someone can help me!

 

[Davidh373]

If you have a pci card why cant you replace it with a pci card...?


This is the best card you can get with an AGP interface and it's HORRIBLE and overpriced!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-337-_-Product

If you can find you can manage to yank that PCI card out and jack another in it would be better as long as it's not an x1 slot.

 

[Davidh373]

Never mind on the PCI, the best option you have is a AGP, or spending around $100 on something with decent onboard video.

I would actually do this to get 1080p and a faster comp instead of spending MORE just for 1080p

Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-237-_-Product

Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-687-_-Product


If you need it, RAM (DDR memory not supported in new mobo)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-203-_-Product

 

[Davidh373]

Sorry for all the posts, but I want to keep up if you're replying


Total for the motherboard and CPU combo is $132.97 with shipping.

With the ram it's $169.95

 

[Apoculos]

I think I might be better off buying a used agp card. Think a 6800 would do it?

 

[Apoculos]

if its not good enough for 1080 it should cover 720 for sure.. I will just have to do without 1080 for now I guess! Thanks for the input.

 

[fffblackmage]

I'd either stick with what you already have or upgrade the cpu+mobo. Buying a $100 AGP card just seems stupid. You could get used for cheaper, but I doubt it'll do any good.

 

[mfenn]

I'd either stick with what you already have or upgrade the cpu+mobo. Buying a $100 AGP card just seems stupid. You could get used for cheaper, but I doubt it'll do any good.

This.

Hardware decode acceleration wasn't a big deal in the AGP era, so even if you were to find a card that is technically powerful enough to do it, it's not likely that it has the UVD (or whatever Nvidia's equivalent is called) hardware or drivers to support it.

A $38 Sargas is worlds more powerful than your Athlon XP. Here's a CPU and mobo for $63 AR. Throw in 2GB of DDR3 for $33 and you get a more powerful system with UVD 2.0 full hardware decode acceleration and HDMI. Total is under $100.

 

[Apoculos]

Thanks for the replys! I'm not interested in buying new components, or dealing with rebates. Only reason I'm even trying to do anything with this old pc is because it was free! Anyways after doing some research I think I'm gonna go ahead with a used 6800 for $25. I think it will enable this rig to handle 720 fine, but not so sure about 1080. Not a big deal since the tv I have currently only can do 720. I'll report back and let you guys know how it goes!

 

[Davidh373]

Good luck! $25 isn't a bad price I guess.

 

[ther00kie16]

Really? a 6 series? You know your CPU is doing all the work right? That's going to be a waste of $25
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814187041 this is way better and actually does HD provided you get the right codecs.
Ideally, you'd find a better deal on an agp/pci radeon 4650/4670 but demand has been high for those so prices are high as well.

 

[Slugbait]

Really? a 6 series?

Yeah, back in the old days HP used the 6800GT on most of their Z media centers. They supported 1080i, but not 1080p. Of course, no HD optical drive, so they didn't need to support 1080p.

And I'm pretty sure the 3200+ is better than the Prescotts, too. Runs a lot cooler, anyway.

 

[mikeford]

A lot depends on what you call HTPC. My HTPC is on 24/7, has several cable tuners (all clear channel so far), 2TB of mirrored raid storage, and gigabit ethernet. Its the main network storage for all our home PCs and laptops, and the primary interface to the home AV system, currently Svideo and S/Pdif audio, but HDMI soon for video. It serves as DVR, and all general movie and music storage and playback (via the main system), manages torrents, and all sorts of internet streamed media.

Its quiet, runs around 74 watts for most operations, uses Win7 64 and Windows Media Center (tweaked to smoothly handle all formats and output 5.1 digitally).

24/7 power consumption was a big factor, here in Electric Hell (Calif) I pay 31 cents/KWhr top tier rate, and we pay twice for a computer, once to operate it, and a second time to run the AC to get rid of the heat.

Once you get into HTPC I think you will find running an older system ineffective.

 

[ther00kie16]

Yeah, back in the old days HP used the 6800GT on most of their Z media centers. They supported 1080i, but not 1080p. Of course, no HD optical drive, so they didn't need to support 1080p.

And I'm pretty sure the 3200+ is better than the Prescotts, too. Runs a lot cooler, anyway.

I still have a 3200+ barton paired with a radeon 9800pro. Vlc handled compressed 720p and some compressed 1080p content. However, for any full-blown HD media, you'll need a modern gpu to do it. And if power is a factor, an undervolted athlon x2 with a 785 chipset could operate at <60w.

 

[bigsnyder]

Options from the ATI camp:

HD2400
HD2600
HD3450
HD3650
HD4350
HD4650

All of these are available in AGP at $50-$90. Sometimes you can get the 2400/2600 under $50. I would check the FS/FT forum, might be a reasonably priced card there. The Nvidia 6800 offers very little video decoding, but its a great gaming card for DX9 era games. Supposedly (I cannot confirm) Flash acceleration is broken on anything newer than Catalyst 9.11 for the AGP cards. I have an Athlon XP machine and a HD2600XT that I will experiment with later this week.

 

[fffblackmage]

Anyways after doing some research I think I'm gonna go ahead with a used 6800 for $25. I think it will enable this rig to handle 720 fine, but not so sure about 1080. Not a big deal since the tv I have currently only can do 720. I'll report back and let you guys know how it goes!

Wiki - AMD's UVD
Wiki - nVidia's Purevideo

Hopefully, you did your research thoroughly.... Apparently, the NV40 version of the 6800 doesn't even support purevideo (ie. gpu h264 decoding).

 

[jacktesterson]

I think you can get 4670's in agp now.

I would never spend a dime on agp to be fair.

 

[piasabird]

You can purchase a used computer probably for $100.00. It is not worth purchasing any AGP video card. It probably would not be HD anyway. You may get better rusults with a new integrated video processor.

 

[Homerboy]

you people saying he shouldn't bother with AGP... do you realize that he can get a cheap card that will do the processing for him? most HTPCs (for play back purposes) don't need a high-end CPU. In fact a single threaded Atom, couple with a decent GPU can decode 720p or better.

 

[fffblackmage]

you people saying he shouldn't bother with AGP... do you realize that he can get a cheap card that will do the processing for him? most HTPCs (for play back purposes) don't need a high-end CPU. In fact a single threaded Atom, couple with a decent GPU can decode 720p or better.

But you didnt show us a card that can do it for cheap. And no one said HTPCs need high-end CPUs. mfenn recommended the Sempron 140...

newegg - list of AGP video cards
I saw an AGP version of the 4670 for $105 AR on newegg. The cheapest AGP card that has excellent video decoding support is the $75 4350. $75 is certainly cheaper than upgrading the entire computer, but I'd still be reluctant to buy a video card for the old AGP bus.

It's kind of weird, but PCI would probably be better choice as it's still found in modern mobos. If you make a mobo upgrade, you could at least bring the PCI video card with you. The PCI version of the 8400GS seems to be a better deal than an AGP video card at $40. Not sure how it compares to a 4xxx series video card though, in terms of decoding capability and compatibility.

Now, I'm no HTPC expert, but I find that DXVA only works half the time for me. I wouldn't be happy if I bought a $75 AGP or $40 PCI video card and I find myself having trouble playing back 1080p video half the time. I'm guessing the newer cards have better support and compatibility with different encoding settings.

 

[Auric]

Options from the ATI camp:

HD2400
HD2600
HD3450
HD3650
HD4350
HD4650

All of these are available in AGP at $50-$90. Sometimes you can get the 2400/2600 under $50. I would check the FS/FT forum, might be a reasonably priced card there. The Nvidia 6800 offers very little video decoding, but its a great gaming card for DX9 era games. Supposedly (I cannot confirm) Flash acceleration is broken on anything newer than Catalyst 9.11 for the AGP cards. I have an Athlon XP machine and a HD2600XT that I will experiment with later this week.

This.

I had a 2600 Pro and 3650 and they were excellent

 

[CU]

The GeForce 8400 GS will work for you. It supports everything the ion does, so it will play 1080p without any problems. Being PCI means you can most likely use it in your next system. I bought a BFG Tech GeForce 8400GS 512MB from geeks.com when it was on sale for $25 not to long ago for use in a htpc with a P4 1.8ghz cpu. If I remember correctly having 512megs is important for 1080p decoding and 256meg can lead to problems with the 8400 GS.