Sub £75 GFX card recommendations

[mac_monkey]

I'm after a new graphics card for my workstation PC (VISTA Ultimate, Q6600, 2GB Ram). It's not going to be used for gaming but I might want to put a HDDVD/BLURAY drive in there at some point. A passive card would also be a bonus as the machine is running really quiet at the moment. Going from the spec of my HTPC something like a 7600GT should suffice for these kinds of duties.

Is it worth going for a 7600GT or an 8600GT or is there any other bargain cards out there worth considering?

[McPhee]

You need one with HDCP if you're using it for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, you also need a HDCP compatable screen (TV or Monitor) to show the footage on.

Some of the new Nvidia 8*** series cards and all of the ATI 2*** series cards are HDCP compatable. If you want better gaming then look for a cheap HDCP enabled ATI x1950 Pro

[psikey]

Look at the ATI HD 2600pro range.

[mac_monkey]

Thanks for the replies,

Originally Posted by satchef1

You need one with HDCP if you're using it for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, you also need a HDCP compatable screen (TV or Monitor) to show the footage on.

Some of the new Nvidia 8*** series cards and all of the ATI 2*** series cards are HDCP compatable. If you want better gaming then look for a cheap HDCP enabled ATI x1950 Pro

It's more than likely I'll be getting a 20" widescreen monitor with HDCP, but if it doesn't have HDCP I'm not too bothered as anyDVD HD works well.

Originally Posted by psikey

Look at the ATI HD 2600pro range.

I've always lent on the side of NVIDIA due to the purevideo, hardware accelerated video decoding etc. Does ATI have a smilar technology?

[enablerbro1]

Originally Posted by mac_monkey

I've always lent on the side of NVIDIA due to the purevideo, hardware accelerated video decoding etc. Does ATI have a smilar technology?

When it comes to HD playback I believe ATI have got it squared away outperforming NVIDIA.

[ralphmalph]

I use an Nvidia 8500GT and it plays HD DVD's easily at 1080p and I think the picture quality is very good, but I have not seen an ATI card drive the same display so I can not compare.

[mac_monkey]

Originally Posted by ralphmalph

I use an Nvidia 8500GT and it plays HD DVD's easily at 1080p and I think the picture quality is very good, but I have not seen an ATI card drive the same display so I can not compare.

Thats good to know. I take it you are using powerdvd. Are you using hdmi or dvi and does it have hdcp? Which make/model card do you have?

[ralphmalph]

Hi Mac,

I use the DVI port on the graphics card with a cable that converts to HDMI whi goes into my amp and the amp has HDMI out to the display.

I use powerdvd and the card is meant to have an HDCP key, but I had HDCP errors when using powerdvd. I solved this using AnyDVD, I do notknow if it was hthe card with the error or powerdvd as the card would display fine apart from powerDVD.

It is a PNY 8500GT but I think that at this level they are all just copies of the nVidia reference design, so no difference between manufacturers.

Cheers,

[psikey]

The new 2000 series of ATI cards are designed for HD media being HDCP compliant and a single HDMI cable can be used to transfer Video & Audio to HDTV's. They take a big load of the CPU with regard to HD media.

Worth a look especially in your price range & there also DX10 so should be great under Vista.

The alternative is the 8600GT or 8600GTS but likely more expensive. Even the HD 2400 series in the sub £50 bracket can handle HD video!!