780G + card + crossfire = better videos?

[sherpagirl]

i have the GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090 which has an Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200-based graphics. i would like to know the following:

1. what is the best graphic card should i get that i can use the crossfire function of my setup?

2. will adding a card/crossfire function will improve the playing of 1080p HD res videos? (some of the 1080p res videos that i have are a bit choppy when played with the onboard graphics)

3. i use the setup mainly for viewing HD videos on my 42" LCD TV. will there be a big difference in adding a card and using crossfire?

thanks a lot guys. keep your comments coming please.

 

[Granite3]

Tell me your cpu as well. CPU speed has a big impact on platback. Toms was able to run blu ray on the 780G with a 3200 AM2 cpu.

I have the foxconn 780G, and it does fine on HD with just the onboard.

I have a 5000+ BE on it though.

I added a 3870 vid card, as it is the fastest card currently rated for the hybrid board (4xxx to get it later) for some gaming on my 42" plasma, and it games BF2, MOH Airborne, and World in Conflict very well.

 

[Nik_I]

if all you need the computer for is to play hd video on a tv, then just the onboard HD3200 should be sufficient.

 

[tonyn84]

Might check your software for updates, I'm assuming its a bluray movie you are having issues with. Mine had some stuttering as well, snagged the upgrade and it's been smooth ever since.

 

[orangegator]

The fastest card that will work for crossfire with that is the hd3450. But for just hd playback, you should not need it. The onboard hd3200 should work fine. Have you tried overclocking it through the bios? The stuttering could be due to the codecs or player you are using. What cpu and ram are you using?

 

[sherpagirl]

thanks to you all guys. this is my system:

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090

Western Digital Caviar GP WD5000AACS 500GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136149

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103211

WINTEC AMPX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161030

i dont play bluray disk so i dont have a cd drive. i play the HD movie files i download from the internet. the SMPlayer plays the 1080p res videos fine but the audio is not synchronized most of the time. the same video is played with VLC, WMP and Total Media Theater but they get frozen in the scenes where the SMPlayer is able to play smoothly.

i use Windows Vista as my OS.

hey tonyn84, what software updates did you have? whats the best codec and player combination that can play HD movies smoothly?

 

[piratepast40]

Here's the link to the Tom's article about your chipset: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-780g-chipset,1785.html

Hope that helps.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Your probably downloading crappy quality videos. Thry a BD player and see what happens.

 

[sherpagirl]

thanks piratepast 40 for that link. the article mentioned only the use of powerdvd. it only plays a certain types of file but not MKV, etc. i think the article tested only the movies from CDs but not the downloaded files.

roadrunner 197069, are you talking about the BS Player? could you please give me a link?