Help choosing GFX card for HTPC

[jkrohn1]

Ive been having some problems recently playing 1080p mkv's. that problem was coreavc not liking the way the mkv's were encoded.

I went back to standard codecs but my pc was struggling. i upgraded my CPU to a AMD x2 6000 and still on some fast moving scenes the cpu loads reaches 100% and i get stuttering.

so the next thing is to upgrade the gfx card. will this help?

was thinking Radeon HD 5750 as i would like the audio over HDMI.

I want this card to play 1080p at 1920x1080 res

Any advice will be helpful.

thanks

 

[RJC]

I use the ATI 4650 with my TV to play Blu-Ray @ 1080p, which also uses HDMI to carry audio.

 

[alex24]

What GFX do you have now? I have no issues with my Athlon X2 4200 and 780G (Radeon HD3200) combo. Blu ray playback is flawless, as are mkv files in high def. CPU never usually goes above 30%. Perhaps the problem lies elsewhere?

 

[siumatfung]

might be irrelevant but how RAM have you got? and erm hard drive?

 

[jkrohn1]

i have a 8600gt with 2gb of ram.

when i used Coreavc everything ran sweet. blurays are fine but mkv's are stuttering ever so slightly in fast moving scenes. its very slight but i can spot it and bugs me like mad.

im using k-media player on windows 7 (was vista) for playback.. im trying different codecs but it seems my cpu load is always very high

 

[InkZ]

try media player classic

 

[siumatfung]

try media player classic

download the CCCP codec pack and use the player mentioned in the quote it

comes with the codec pack

 

[jkrohn1]

Sorted.. using media player classic with GPU acceleration.. still getting high cpu usage tho..

never mind thanks

 

[InkZ]

The only codecs I use on my HTPCs is CoreAVC w CUDA, DXVA and FFDShow tryouts. Media Player classic is by far the best player I have found for h.264.

If Media Player Classic is working for you then you can put on Media Portal which uses the mpc codecs as standard. Not sure if you are using media centre or not.

 

[jkrohn1]

still wouldnt mind upgrading my video card.. want the HDMI audio.

Radeon HD 5750 worth the cash? it has to fit into a antec fusion matx case

 

[Claire Drew]

Just install VLC player does the lot and no problems. Also suggest 46xx range from ATI with direct HDMI they cheep and very power efficent.

 

[alex24]

Even a radeon 4350 or 4550 will carry the audio for you, and shouldn't cost much more than £20! No good if you're playing games though. Is it really a HTPC?

 

[jkrohn1]

yeah its a HTPC im my living room.. will the radeon 4350 or 4550 be able to run high res better than my 8600gt? (i know its old)

 

[alex24]

No, for 2D it's going to be the same for most cards. Even the low spec cards can run high resolutions, it just depends on what you're doing with it.

 

[neil27]

Just install VLC player does the lot and no problems.

X2

 

[Durzel]

Ive been having some problems recently playing 1080p mkv's. that problem was coreavc not liking the way the mkv's were encoded.

I know the issue you're speaking of - it should be fixed in CoreAVC 2.0 whenever that comes along. Unfortunately as you've found out the only real solution is to go back to FFDShow for the time being.

ps. Don't install massive codec packs - they're useless and just mess up your Windows install ultimately. I can play everything with a combination of FFDShow (tryout) & Haali Media Splitter with or without CoreAVC.

 

[jkrohn1]

Even a radeon 4350 or 4550 will carry the audio for you, and shouldn't cost much more than £20! No good if you're playing games though. Is it really a HTPC?

the reason i asked if one of these cards will be faster is the MPC im using now to get good playback uses the GPU for post processing or something so takes the load off CPU.

I know the issue you're speaking of - it should be fixed in CoreAVC 2.0 whenever that comes along. Unfortunately as you've found out the only real solution is to go back to FFDShow for the time being.

hope its not too long as coreavc really is the muttz!

 

[jkrohn1]

How about this?

Asus HD 4350 Silent 1GB DDR2 about £35