HDMI Graphic Card

[demetrish3]

Hello,
My Pc is IBM Lenovo A63, intel core 2 duo, 2gb ram, 320gb HDD.
after opening my desktop pc i found a number (intel nh82801gb) and now i want to find out if i can make a change with my graphic card.
i want to put a card with an HDMI output, so i can watch movies & sound from my pc throught my av receiver.
my questions are:
1) which card do you thing is the best?
2) how can i know what is better to use DDR3 or DDR2?
3) and what shall i use? 512 Mb or 1GB?

 

[adam_x_brookes]

ok after looking up your computer you have an 280watt power suply and One half-length, full-height, PCI Express x16. If all you are using this card for is watching HDMI you will not ever see the difference between the DDR3 and DDR2 memory. I beleive that for just watching HD contect on one TV a 512mb card would survice.

I would recomend you an HD5450 if you are not going to game. This card will work fine with your very small power suply.

Any questions - just ask away.

Hope I helped Adam.

 

[demetrish3]

Thank you for the response.
i want to have great video and sound quality.
i'm not a gamer but a movie fan.

so as i understand you recommend the "HD5450 DDR3 512mb"?
would this HD5450 give me audio also?

Till now i'm using Dvi-Hdmi cable. the screen is great in my Samsung HDTv but in my Sony HDtv something is wrong. with some resolution settings some parts of the screens are lost(like zoom in). if i change the resolution setting, the screen shrinks and it's like not using the full screen. but i think this thing needs to play just a bit more.

i was wondering which is more simple, to change the sound card (my motherbord has only the analog output) to a new one which would have an optical or coaxial or to buy a new Graphic Card with HDMI output. all these are for my pc to be connected to my AV receiver.
Just sound with an optical Sound card or video&audio with an HDMI cable.

 

[scotu]

All modern graphics cards should give you approximately the same level of video quality, or exactly the same if using a software video decoder.

The HDMI cable is probably an easier choice to set up and use than the digital sound cable from a sound card and offer a better feature set(especially if your receiver supports DTS MA and Dolby TrueHD). The HD5450 would give you audio over HDMI, yes.

Your Sony TV sounds like its max resolution is just smaller than what you're trying to give it (i.e. is it a 720p HDTV and you're trying to give it 1080p?)

The HD5450 is probably a good bet

 

[demetrish3]

thank you scotu.

yes i know that my Samsung HDtv is more advanced than the Sony.
but as i understand it wont be a problem for Sony if i install the HD5450 (the whole idea is to connect my pc to Sony).

so shall i go for "HD5450 DDR2 512mb" or "DDR3"
what about 512mb? is it ok? or shall i go for 1gb?

 

[demetrish3]

my computer has an 280watt power supply and One half-length, full-height, PCI Express x16
what if i buy PCI Express 2.1? what is this?

 

[scotu]

I don't have personal experience with that tier of graphics card, so I can't tell you if DDR3 is worth any sort of monetary expense over DDR2 for your workload. You probably don't need 1GB if you're not doing any gaming. 512 should easily be enough.

iirc the HD5450 says you need a 400W Power supply. This sounds a little fishy to me, and I think i've heard of people running these sort of low end GPUs on miniATX class PSUs (much more likely with a quality PSU than with some piece of crap that comes with a case, dunno what kind you've got), so I'm not sure if your PSU can handle a discreet GPU or not.

PCI Express 2.1 is just a newer version of the PCI Express specification. For all intents and purposes, as long as you have a PCI Express x16 slot, you should be fine with a PCI Express 2.1 add in card (unless you're talking about very very high end GPUs squeezing a few extra fps in games out).

 

[adam_x_brookes]

This card is a low profile card, it uses no power I can assure you that it will run fine. I ran the 4650 on a 280watt power suply and it works fine to this day. 512mb is fine if you are not gaming. and 2.1 is backword compatible with 2.0 meaning it will work fine