[mythtv-users] Does video card brand matter? VDPAU

Bruce Nordstrand brucen at ksl.com.au
Wed Oct 28 14:44:31 UTC 2009




On 29/10/09 1:33 AM, "Brian Wood" <beww at beww.org> wrote:

> On Wednesday 28 October 2009 07:30:36 Johnny wrote:
>>> I went out today a bought what I thought was a Gigabyte 9500GT 1Gb  card
>>> but it turned out to be a 9400GT instead (the box said 9500GT!). The
>>> supplier does not have any more Gigabyte cards but has ECS and Inno3d
>>> versions of the same card so I was wondering if the brand makes any
>>> difference. My only real ³requirement² is an HDMI output and I would be
>>> satisfied with either 512mb or 1GB. I have read that some brands, like
>>> Gainward have issues with VDPAU so want to make sure that what I get is
>>> compatible with everything else.
>> 
>> In general the answer is no, the specific card manufacturer should not
>> matter. VDPAU is provided by the nvidia GPU and the driver. Having
>> said that there are certainly ways for a manufacturers to screw things
>> up (not follow spec) or just make a crappy card that will fail. So
>> brand matters in terms up support and quality, but generally is not an
>> issue in terms of VDPAU support.
> 
> One thing that might make a difference to some buyers would be RoHS compliance
> (Reduction of Hazardous Substances). The compliant boards will use lead free
> solder, considered by some to be a potential long-term reliability problem.
> The loss of a communications satellite has been attributed to the "tin
> whisker" problem with some of the lead-free solders. This has not been
> proven, AFAIK.
> 
> It may be that any recently made board will be RoHS compliant, but when buying
> older stock it might be an issue.
> 
> Probably not a significant factor for most consumers, but something to be
> aware of. Commercial buyers may be required by contract or other constraints
> to purchase only RoHS-compliant products.
> 
> The primary factors when choosing a video board are the GPU chip, how much and
> what type of memory, and what the clock speeds are.
> 
> The reputation of the maker, in terms of warranty support etc., may make a
> difference to some folks.
Thanks Brian & Danny

I see now that it has no bearing on the product. As far as support is
concerned, with the price point on these cards I would just chuck it and buy
another one :)

I see my supplier has GT220's for $8.00 more then I paid for the Gigabyte
card so I might grab one of those instead. From what I have read they are
pretty good for what I want one to do...

Cheers
Bruce




More information about the mythtv-users mailing list