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From: GT on 29 Mar 2010 11:39
Recomendations please for an AGP graphics card to sit in a media centre PC:
I need it to decode HD video thereby taking the load off the athlon 2500
CPU.
On the gaming front, most demanding at the moment is Trackmania Nations
Forever at a decent resolution.
Physically, it can only be single height as the AGP slot is right next to
the edge of the small case.
I'm not convinced that there is much overhead in the PSU, so I would like
low power.
I would also like silent (passive only) or at least *very* quiet fan.

There is an old radeon 8500 with custom fanless heatsink in there at the
moment and it simply can't handle HD video and even struggles with some
normal video (BBCi player, downloaded TV)!

Full Current Spec:
Shuttle SK41 case with original motherboard (Forgotten model)
Athlon 2500
1.5GB DDR2 (2 sticks)
1x IDE drive
1x DVD drive
1x 120mm fan
1x AGP Radeon 8500 (passive) - to be replaced.


From: Paul on 29 Mar 2010 14:57
GT wrote:
> Recomendations please for an AGP graphics card to sit in a media centre PC:
> I need it to decode HD video thereby taking the load off the athlon 2500
> CPU.
> On the gaming front, most demanding at the moment is Trackmania Nations
> Forever at a decent resolution.
> Physically, it can only be single height as the AGP slot is right next to
> the edge of the small case.
> I'm not convinced that there is much overhead in the PSU, so I would like
> low power.
> I would also like silent (passive only) or at least *very* quiet fan.
>
> There is an old radeon 8500 with custom fanless heatsink in there at the
> moment and it simply can't handle HD video and even struggles with some
> normal video (BBCi player, downloaded TV)!
>
> Full Current Spec:
> Shuttle SK41 case with original motherboard (Forgotten model)
> Athlon 2500
> 1.5GB DDR2 (2 sticks)
> 1x IDE drive
> 1x DVD drive
> 1x 120mm fan
> 1x AGP Radeon 8500 (passive) - to be replaced.
>
>

KM266 chipset ?

http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html

VIA KM266 (VT8375) Universal AGP Motherboard

I guess that means 4X/8X cards will work.

This one is fanless, and bridged (Rialto chip and pink protective
plastic, on the back of the card). HD 3450.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102862

HD 3450 uses RV620.

http://www.gpureview.com/Radeon-HD-3450-AGP-card-582.html

RV620 is UVD+.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVD

RV620 Radeon HD 3400 Series UVD+

The HD 4650 would likely be UVD 2.2 version. But the power
is a bit higher on these, and the ones I see listed have a fan.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161308

It is listed as 48 watts power dissipation here.

http://www.gpureview.com/Radeon-HD-4650-AGP-card-611.html

Then, you need video playback software, that knows about the
video acceleration features on the card. The video playback
acceleration, is not automatically applied in any sense. The
software has to know that the video card has an accelerator.

I have a 48 watt card in my current computer, and it is down
near the bottom of the case. It helps, if there aren't any
air circulation dead spots down there. (My card tend to wallow
in its own heat.) I added a separate fan nearby to assist
in that respect.

Even with UVD 2.2 present on a card, I have no way of saying
whether your 2500 will cut it or not. The acceleration that
Purevideo or UVD provides, helps, but in the benchmarks I've seen,
they're still using pretty powerful processors as well.

Paul
From: VanguardLH on 29 Mar 2010 17:41
GT wrote:

> Recomendations please for an AGP graphics card to sit in a media centre PC:
> I need it to decode HD video thereby taking the load off the athlon 2500
> CPU.
> On the gaming front, most demanding at the moment is Trackmania Nations
> Forever at a decent resolution.
> Physically, it can only be single height as the AGP slot is right next to
> the edge of the small case.
> I'm not convinced that there is much overhead in the PSU, so I would like
> low power.
> I would also like silent (passive only) or at least *very* quiet fan.
>
> There is an old radeon 8500 with custom fanless heatsink in there at the
> moment and it simply can't handle HD video and even struggles with some
> normal video (BBCi player, downloaded TV)!
>
> Full Current Spec:
> Shuttle SK41 case with original motherboard (Forgotten model)
> Athlon 2500
> 1.5GB DDR2 (2 sticks)
> 1x IDE drive
> 1x DVD drive
> 1x 120mm fan
> 1x AGP Radeon 8500 (passive) - to be replaced.

I have the ATI x850 in my old host. At the time, it was the best you could
get in AGP. However, over time the games have moved up to required Pixel
Shader Model 3 which this card won't handle. The GPU has more than enough
horsepower to play the stealth games that I would want to play but the
firmware only support Shader v2. ATI later came out with their HD series.
After researching, the one that interests me to spend the money and time
(especially for resolving any conflicts after installation) is the ATI HD
3850.

I have a saved search at eBay to keep watching for a good deal on the ATI HD
3850 AGP but it's been rare that I've seen the auction close for less than
$100, and those that were around $60-$80 didn't look like anything that I
wanted. I can get the average price for a new card for the same price
elsewhere so eBay hasn't proven fruitful to find a good deal on this item.
I usually stick with the Sapphire brand for ATI cards. They are a
recommended vendor for ATI cards. I prefer solid products that are
reliable. An unreliable glitzy or overclocked card is of no value if it
doesn't work or fails often.

However, since it is only games that are pushing my need for a new video
card and only because they demand Shader model 3 (and some require v4), I've
procrastinated on getting a new video card and probably will continue to do
so until I get around to building a new computer.

You can see some specs comparing various ATI video cards at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_AMD_graphics_processing_units
From: GT on 30 Mar 2010 05:12
"GT" <ContactGT_rem_ove_(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4bb0c98e$0$7040$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com...
> Recomendations please for an AGP graphics card to sit in a media centre
> PC:
> I need it to decode HD video thereby taking the load off the athlon 2500
> CPU.
> On the gaming front, most demanding at the moment is Trackmania Nations
> Forever at a decent resolution.
> Physically, it can only be single height as the AGP slot is right next to
> the edge of the small case.
> I'm not convinced that there is much overhead in the PSU, so I would like
> low power.
> I would also like silent (passive only) or at least *very* quiet fan.
>
> There is an old radeon 8500 with custom fanless heatsink in there at the
> moment and it simply can't handle HD video and even struggles with some
> normal video (BBCi player, downloaded TV)!

Anyone know the power draw of a Radeon 8500? There is not an entry for power
draw for this card on GPUReview.com and I can't find it on google.


From: Paul on 30 Mar 2010 06:05
GT wrote:
> "GT" <ContactGT_rem_ove_(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:4bb0c98e$0$7040$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com...
>> Recomendations please for an AGP graphics card to sit in a media centre
>> PC:
>> I need it to decode HD video thereby taking the load off the athlon 2500
>> CPU.
>> On the gaming front, most demanding at the moment is Trackmania Nations
>> Forever at a decent resolution.
>> Physically, it can only be single height as the AGP slot is right next to
>> the edge of the small case.
>> I'm not convinced that there is much overhead in the PSU, so I would like
>> low power.
>> I would also like silent (passive only) or at least *very* quiet fan.
>>
>> There is an old radeon 8500 with custom fanless heatsink in there at the
>> moment and it simply can't handle HD video and even struggles with some
>> normal video (BBCi player, downloaded TV)!
>
> Anyone know the power draw of a Radeon 8500? There is not an entry for power
> draw for this card on GPUReview.com and I can't find it on google.
>
>

http://web.archive.org/web/20040411032947/http://www.takaman.jp/psu_calc.html?english

VGA AGP = Radeon 8500 (estimated) 3.3V @ 4.5A + 5V @ 1A + 12V @ 1.5A = 37.85W

HTH,
Paul
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