Please recommend the best HTPC videocard: fanless & low-profile

[Jimzz]

What about the R7 240? XFX makes one that is fanless and low-profile ready.

Yea that should work great. Faster than a 6450.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

What about the R7 240? XFX makes one that is fanless and low-profile ready.

Tomshardware says R7 240 = HD 8570??? In that case, it would definitely spank the 6450....

 

[GTaudiophile]

TDP is 31 vs 18 (R7 vs. 6450) so this may be a concern.

 

[Jimzz]

TDP is 31 vs 18 (R7 vs. 6450) so this may be a concern.

That's at peak usage. At 2d/idle I doubt you notice the difference.

 

[andrx47]

I personally wouldn't go Kaveri (7850k). I had nothing but issues with mine (which thankfully Newegg let me return). I would get random crashing, the drivers never seemed to work correctly (HDMI didn't work with their drivers), and AMD wasn't much help on the support end. I tried it with 2 different motherboards. It also ran very hot at idle (like 45c). Maybe now that it has matured a little bit you will get better results, but just thought you would want some first hand perspective. Good luck!

 

[Aikouka]

The entire HTPC will be fanless. I am currently planning on a Haswell i3 with 35W TDP. The only Kaveri I would consider is the 45W A8-7600. But I don't see it on Newegg.

I'm pretty sure I've read the entire thread, but for the life of me, I still can't determine why you even need a dedicated GPU. You aren't gaming, and you state that you want it for the "best 2D quality". If you're just referring to using it for video, keep in mind that most video is MPEG4, which is decoded using hardware codecs built into the GPU. The actual GPU power doesn't really matter much at all.

I have a fanless HTPC in a Streacom FC8 EVO case, which just uses an i3-3225 with its HD4000 iGPU. I use it with a Ceton InfiniTV6 ETH CableCard tuner, and honestly, it works great. With that setup, I see no reason to waste my time with a dedicated GPU. The only reason I could see you ever wanting a dGPU would be if you're using an old Clarkdale-based i3, which is slow and can't even natively decode Blu-Ray 3D (Frame Packing).

Just to note, the Radeon 5450, which is still around and cheaper than the 6450, also cannot decode Blu-Ray 3D.

 

[Jimzz]

I'm pretty sure I've read the entire thread, but for the life of me, I still can't determine why you even need a dedicated GPU. You aren't gaming, and you state that you want it for the "best 2D quality". If you're just referring to using it for video, keep in mind that most video is MPEG4, which is decoded using hardware codecs built into the GPU. The actual GPU power doesn't really matter much at all.

I have a fanless HTPC in a Streacom FC8 EVO case, which just uses an i3-3225 with its HD4000 iGPU. I use it with a Ceton InfiniTV6 ETH CableCard tuner, and honestly, it works great. With that setup, I see no reason to waste my time with a dedicated GPU. The only reason I could see you ever wanting a dGPU would be if you're using an old Clarkdale-based i3, which is slow and can't even natively decode Blu-Ray 3D (Frame Packing).

Just to note, the Radeon 5450, which is still around and cheaper than the 6450, also cannot decode Blu-Ray 3D.

The 5450 has UVD2 the 6450 has UVD3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Video_Decoder

 

[Aikouka]

The 5450 has UVD2 the 6450 has UVD3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Video_Decoder

I'm not entirely sure if you were posting that as a means to correct something that I wrote or for informational purposes as the article corroborates my note about the 5450 being unable to decode Blu-ray 3D:

UVD3 adds support for ... Blu-ray 3D.

I really just made that note because some people may consider the 5450 since it's usually on sale for about half the 6450's price, and both cards have plenty of fanless options. I wouldn't want someone to get burned because the minute details between the two generations aren't that easily discerned.

 

[Jimzz]

6450 low profile for $10 AR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131511

 

[aldamon]

6450 low profile for $10 AR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131511

Um, note "fanless" in the title. Try again.

I'm still cruising along with an E3300 and GT240 combo (obviously not fanless), but will keep this thread in mind for any future upgrades. Amazon's Sliverlight implementation is awfully CPU intensive, so I might have to upgrade soon if I see any more stuttering in 1080p fullscreen with HD streams.

 

[Blue_Max]

The entire HTPC will be fanless. I am currently planning on a Haswell i3 with 35W TDP. The only Kaveri I would consider is the 45W A8-7600. But I don't see it on Newegg.

The i3's IGP (integrated graphics) is plenty fine enough. Just use that.