Best PCI-E X16 Card for around $150

[mikeyp410]

What is the best card for around that money that will be great for media center pc watching movies and such on a plasma display?? I have found a few that I am going to buy but I just cant pull the trigger yet.


FYI- I like to shop NewEgg. 8)

 

[The_Abyss]

For media centre work only, any 8500 or 8500.

 

[mikeyp410]

Sorry I forgot to mention it HAD to be a Radeon. No geforce allowed =o)

What do you think about a 1950xt instead of the 8500?

 

[The_Abyss]

Pointless hot loud power-consuming overkill for a media centre PC.

 

[sirheck]

Maybe try the x16xx series. by ati.

 

[kukito]

Sorry I forgot to mention it HAD to be a Radeon. No geforce allowed =o)

Then wait for these. Should be out soon.

 

[angelkiller]

Yes, since you for some odd reason don't want a Nvidia card :? , I would strongly recommend you wait until ATI's new midrange cards come out. I have heard good things about their power consumption and power.

 

[mikeyp410]

Only reason why no geforce is:

Heard that they are crap and my board has crossifre support not sli. I could still run the sli on it but it was made for crossfire.

 

[mikeyp410]

Sorry I forgot to mention it HAD to be a Radeon. No geforce allowed =o)

Then wait for these. Should be out soon.



How soon will they be out?

 

[mikeyp410]

Pointless hot loud power-consuming overkill for a media centre PC.

What about this? Is this going to be too loud?

SAPPHIRE 100176U Radeon X1950PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Ultimate Video Card - Retail
Model #: 100176U
Item #: N82E16814102070

Power is not a issue. I have a Antec P190 case @ 1200 watts.

 

[zhaf]

What about this? Is this going to be too loud?

SAPPHIRE 100176U Radeon X1950PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16

Yes all X1950 cards are loud... except maybe for the water cooled one

How soon will they be out?

July I think...

but seriously the reason you gave not having a Nvidia card is pretty bad. You stated that you want mediacenter functionalaty and one 8500 handles that just fine. All the stuff you've read it being bad is gaming. But since you only want mediacenter functionalaty that card is enough for your needs. You won't ever need to X-fire or SLi cards if you don't want to play games.

 

[TyroneShoelaces]

but seriously the reason you gave not having a Nvidia card is pretty bad. You stated that you want mediacenter functionalaty and one 8500 handles that just fine. All the stuff you've read it being bad is gaming. But since you only want mediacenter functionalaty that card is enough for your needs. You won't ever need to X-fire or SLi cards if you don't want to play games.

You beat me to it, I thought exactly the same thing. There's no need to consider crossfire or SLI if you will only use this machine for media center.

What's especially attractive about the 8500/8600 cards is there are fanless solutions out there. For an HTPC, quiet is ideal.

-TyShoe

 

[mikeyp410]

Wouldn't X-fire or SLI get me a better picture though???


The board I have is a Asus P5K3 Deluxe. It says this on the overview of the board.

ATI CrossFire Technology
ATI´s CrossFire boosts image quality along with rendering speed, eliminating the need to scale down screen resolutions to get the high image quality you want. CrossFire ignites with the higher antialiasing, anisotropic filtering, shading, and texture settings you desire. Adjust your display configurations, experiment with your advanced 3D settings, and check the effect with a real-time 3D-rendered preview within ATI´s Catalyst™ Control Center to rule your CrossFire system.


Now does that mean it is better to use a X-Fire card or does it matter??

Sorry but I have no clue when it comes to video cards because i do not use my PC for gaming.

 

[TyroneShoelaces]

An additional card will not improve your image quality at all, it will just allow faster rendering. Only necessary if you are playing 3D games, or maybe if you are running media center on a 2560x1600 resolution monitor.

ATI CrossFire Technology
ATI´s CrossFire boosts image quality along with rendering speed, eliminating the need to scale down screen resolutions to get the high image quality you want. CrossFire ignites with the higher antialiasing, anisotropic filtering, shading, and texture settings you desire. Adjust your display configurations, experiment with your advanced 3D settings, and check the effect with a real-time 3D-rendered preview within ATI´s Catalyst™ Control Center to rule your CrossFire system.

The image quality improvement they are talking about here is actually a result of the increased rendering performance, because you can then crank up the AA/AF IN GAMES.

Besides that, adding a second card with a fan spinning will introduce more noise, and higher power requirements.

-TyShoe

 

[mikeyp410]

Ok so what would be the best brand or actual card to get?

 

[zhaf]

If you want a card today I say passive cooled gf8500.
If you want a better deal for Mediacenter you can wait a couple of weeks and get the HD2400 that can give audio and picture on the same HDMI cable.

 

[TyroneShoelaces]

If you don't need HDMI, this card looks nice...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125062

Passively cooled (quiet), HDCP, and under $100.

-TyShoe

 

[shellofinsanity]

Sorry I forgot to mention it HAD to be a Radeon. No geforce allowed =o)

What do you think about a 1950xt instead of the 8500?

well you just shot that in the foot, but your choice, even if its a stupid one, but not all you ati nut jobs can be helped i suppose

 

[akahuddy]

NO, Xfire and SLI will not give you a better picture... unless you have something like a 7000000x5000000 pixel display. (You see where I'm going) The 8500 series are great for home theater usage. Don't bother with the older Radeon cards. You should either buy and 8500 or wait until ATI's lower end HD2x00 cards come out.

 

[mikeyp410]

If you don't need HDMI, this card looks nice...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125062

Passively cooled (quiet), HDCP, and under $100.

-TyShoe

I would prefer the HDMI since I am now using a DVI to HDMI adapter.

Is there a card that has that that is good? Agian a brand of a l;ink would be great like the last one.


Thanks for the help guys

 

[mikeyp410]

Also is there a HDMI card that supports the SLI and Direct X10???

 

[TyroneShoelaces]

As stated earlier, you will probably want to wait for this card...

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonhd2600/index.html

Currently, there are no other cards that combine HDMI / HDCP / and DX10.

In fact, the currently available cards that have HDMI and HDCP leave much to be desired. I wouldn't recommend any of the ones available at newegg.

-TyShoe

 

[aevm]

Only reason why no geforce is:

Heard that they are crap and my board has crossifre support not sli. I could still run the sli on it but it was made for crossfire.

Watching movies on an X1900XT Crossfire setup... Wow. It would be what, 287 times faster than my trusty GeForce MX 4000 which costs $30 and also plays movies all right. Man, that's overkill...

Oh, and nVidia GeForce cards are not crap, at least not the recent ones. The best card ever is nVidia's 8800 GTX. OK, that's irrelevant here, you totally don't need that one. Get the 8500, or maybe the 8600.

 

[Sunder]

Yes all X1950 cards are loud... except maybe for the water cooled one

The X1950 Pro uses less power than the other X1950s and that Sapphire has a Zalman fan that doesn't make a lot of noise.

That being said, for a HTPC I'd look for passive cooling if the case is good.

 

[Sunder]

To echo what others are saying ... don't even consider SLI or Crossfire for a HTPC unless you also want to use it for gaming AND don't care about fan noise while watching TV/movies.