Multimedia PC - need to add discreet GPU? Which one?

[tluxon]

I put together a i5-2500k with an ASUS P8Z68-V PRO and an Antec Neo Eco 620W PSU and 8GB of RAM to use primarily for multimedia editing, conversion, and playback. I hoped to be able to use the Radeon HD3000 GPU integrated into the CPU, and it meets my needs perfectly except for one problem. I'm not able to get any output out of the motherboard's HDMI port.

If there's some kind of secret for unlocking that potential, I'd love to hear it, but some users have said their solution was to add a discreet GPU, and then everything worked fine.

If I'm to add a discreet GPU on a PC that does solid-modeling (I use SolidWorks) more than gaming but is primarily for high definition video, what is the best bang-for-the-buck?

How about this GIGABYTE GV-R667D3-1GI Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card?

Is there an nVidia-based GPU that is considered equivalent?

 

[bucknutty]

The intel i5-2500k does have an integrated gpu called the intel HD graphics 2000 / 3000. Its confusing because AMD (intels largest competitor) also had a radeon HD 3000 series like 4 years back.

Any way the i5 and P8z68 should make an great pair. The integrated gpu on the i5 2500k should run perfectly on the asus board. With no discreet gpu installed the board should automatically use the gpu on the cpu. I would check the manual that came with board to make sure you have all the power cables connected to the board correctly and that there is no setting or any thing to enable the integrated GPU.

Make sure you did not get the intel i5 2550k. It has a slightly higher clock but no integrated gpu.

 

[tluxon]

Sorry for the misrepresentation. I knew that the integrated gpu was the Intel HD graphics but was posting from work off the top of my head and I messed up.

When I first put it together a couple months ago, I spent some time on ASUS technical support and the user forums and nobody seemed have an answer to the problem despite numerous people expressing it. The only "answers" I found came from people who had added a discrete graphics card.

Every aspect of the Intel HD graphics seems to work as it's supposed to (and very well, as I can play 4 1080p sources at the same time) except the HDMI. That is, the DVI-D and VGA outputs of the P8Z68 work perfectly, but the HDMI always acts like nothing's connected to it, regardless of whether I've got the connected display on or off or rebooted while connected or not.

This makes me think I too may be better off simply adding a discreet GPU for the job and calling it good.

 

[bucknutty]

If something is up with the boards HDMI port you could look to see if Asus has a bios update that might correct it.

As far as video cards go if your looking for something less than $100 the AMD cards really cant be beat. I have a AMD5450 in my HTPC and it works wonderfully. The HDMI picture and audio are perfect at 1920x1080. I think the 6670 would be a good fit and it would be a very big upgrade over the integrated graphics. This would fix your problem because the HDMI cable would plug directly to the new video card and not to the motherboard at all.

At around $70 you could look at the nVidia GT430 or the GT520 both are good cards but the AMD6670 has double the memory bandwidth and is an all around faster card.

Hopefully with the new nvidia 600 series rolling out over the next few months they will have something thats decent in the under $100 range.