DennyCraneBL

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I have a ATI Radeon X300, it does the job for me - small gaming, not too bothered will ultimate perfection onscreen.

I watch a lot of DVDs - my computer works as a TV and DVD player, I have a pretty powerful processor, but when I want to watch a DVD - I still like to have things like virus scan, downloads and such running in the background - so, since the CPU is working away on the DVD the processor can be outpowered and stutters occur - the horror.

I don't really want to throw away my X300, its a nice card for me - it was so cheap, I've become emotionally attached to it :lol: :oops: :p

Is there a way to get a hardware accellerator for DVD watching, in secondary PCI-E X4/1?
 

Blacken

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If that is the maximum of what you do, go for a x1300 or 7300 series. Cheap and should play DVDs w/o a problem. As far as your processer goes, a P4 only uses about 35% of the processer to decode divx. Make sure your hard drive is not constantly loading, that could be a ram insufficiency.

As far as PCI legendary goes, theres a 6200LE that goes for 40 bucks. Be warned as it has not much more power than your x300. If you have a PCIe x16 slot available, use it :wink: The 7300GS will go as low as 60 -70 bucks at times.
 

SuperFly03

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Stick to the ATI series GPU's if you are going for DVD viewing.

Check this out

Basically it boils down to ATi's DVD hardware decoding is better than nVidia's.

Which brings up a question, do you have hardware acceleration enabled on your DVD program? If you don't, then turn it on and try that out before you buy a new GPU that is unnecessary.
 

SuperFly03

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The option is in the DVD playback program not in the ATI drivers.

What do you use to play DVDs? WMP? powerDVD? Check the options menu, then video playback, or hardware options (something to that effect).
 

DennyCraneBL

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OK, I turned it on in PowerDVD but ever since my computer has being giving me BSOD errors during playback - it works fine however with it turned off.
 

darkstar782

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Stick to the ATI series GPU's if you are going for DVD viewing.

Check this out

Basically it boils down to ATi's DVD hardware decoding is better than nVidia's.

Which brings up a question, do you have hardware acceleration enabled on your DVD program? If you don't, then turn it on and try that out before you buy a new GPU that is unnecessary.

Do remember that that was Geforce 7000 vs Radeon x1000, the G80s are supposed to be able to reach 128/130 in HQV.

Of course, there are no mid or low end Geforce 8000 cards out yet, but the x300 cannot be said to be equivalent to the x1000 series in the review either.
 

SuperFly03

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Good point. I really meant that, if he has to buy a new card and it is strictly for general use and DVD playback, get an ATI. Yes, that is excluding the GeForce 8 series, but I am assuming that is too much money for the OP given the intended application. You are quite correct and a point well worth articulating.

-Denny

That is not good, obviously. I am not sure why it would give you a BSOD. The obvious course of action would be to keep it off and consider a new card. According to the article, any X1000 series GPU will give you the same results on DVD playback.
 

cleeve

Illustrious
Just an FYI, that article had some serious flaws (totally my mistake).

We pulled it for now, and it's being rewritten.

Nvidia does indeed have more pulldown and noise reduction features than manifested in our testing. The summary is, a 7000 series is at least as good as an X1000 series for DVD playback, maybe even a bit better.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
Why are you looking to replace the GPU? A dual core CPU is what you need. One core to handle the video, the other core to run the virus scan, etc. There is also a chance you're having a harddrive bottleneck. (unless you truely are watching a DVD and not an AVI on your harddrive. If your trying to watch a highbit rate video, and a virus scan, then your harddrive might be overloaded. I'm making guesses here seeing as I have no idea what your system is.
 

SuperFly03

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Just an FYI, that article had some serious flaws (totally my mistake).

We pulled it for now, and it's being rewritten.

Nvidia does indeed have more pulldown and noise reduction features than manifested in our testing. The summary is, a 7000 series is at least as good as an X1000 series for DVD playback, maybe even a bit better.

Doh, it happens. Thanks for letting me know (kinda nice to see THG is still human :wink: ). Well then scratch what I said previously.... although I would still stick to an ATI card if you don't want to spend too much money, because silly nVidia makes you pay for their DVD decoder. It is another $20 on top of what you will pay for the card, and fora budget minded person that is a big strike against nVidia.

--4745454b

Please don't make suppositions. The OP said he watches DVDs on his computer, that implies that he sticks a DVD disc into his DVD drive. If he were watching an AVI clip then he would have mentioned such and said something different. In any case, for the hard drive to be a bottleneck that would have to be a ridiculously high bit rate video (50 mb/s +), plus how would a new CPU help if the hard drive was the bottleneck? Just a thought. I wouldn't go recommending a dual core CPU before you know whats going on. I can watch a HD clip and virus scan and check my email in outlook all on my single core... so as nice as a dual core is.... it isn't the answer to everything.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
I did admit the harddrive was a long shot. It really depends on what programs he uses, and what harddrive he has.

I do however stand by the dual core CPU. If I'm having problems watching DVDs and having other programs run in the background, the faster CPU will help a lot more then a faster GPU.
 

SuperFly03

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I did admit the harddrive was a long shot. It really depends on what programs he uses, and what harddrive he has.

I do however stand by the dual core CPU. If I'm having problems watching DVDs and having other programs run in the background, the faster CPU will help a lot more then a faster GPU.

It doesn't take alot of CPU power to decode a DVD, even software only rendering shouldn't peg a CPU, but that virus scan is a nasty little bitch. In the article it showed a CPU graph for software rendering only (since it was pulled I can't check the exact system, so I am speculating) but it hit between 20-25%, not too bad. However, combine with with virus scan on a single core and you're gone (most likely), so we agree there. However, with AVIVO the CPU utilization dropped to about 8%, now combine it with a virus scan and sure the virus scan will take slightly longer, but your DVD should be fine.

If we were to stick to software rendering only, I would agree with you a better CPU is in order. However, it is much much easier to upgrade a GPU (in this case, most likely cheaper) and could provide the necessary experience I think the OP is looking for. So your idea does have merit, I just think there is another option short of breakin off the heatsink and installing a new CPU.