[mythtv-users] Standard PCI VDPAU-capable Video Cards vs. PCIExpress

[Robert Longbottom]

On 28 Nov 2010, at 03:26 PM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:

> I have several Socket 939 systems, which I would like to upgrade to be 
> able to use VDPAU. They all have AGP and PCI slots, and no PCIExpress.
> 
> I see two options:
> 
> Replace the motherboards with ones that have a PCIExpress slot, and use 
> PCIExpress VDPAU-capable video cards. I'd have to do that quickly, as I 
> suspect Socket 939/PCIExpress mobos won't be available for too much 
> longer.
> 
> Use the current mobos, and standard PCI video cards that can do VDPAU.
> 
> Obviously the second choice will save money, but I'm concerned about the 
> limitations of using standard PCI video cards.
> 
> The cost of the PCI and PCIExpress video cards is similar, so choice 2 
> will only save the cost of the mobos, which is not that much. I really 
> want to save the cost of replacing the CPUs and the RAM, which either 
> option will do.
> 
> So the real question is, what would I be giving up by using standard PCI 
> video cards, is anyone using them with a Myth system, and what, if any, 
> problems is it leading to? OSD problems? Speed problems when the CPUs 
> are throttled?

I have a pci gs8400 card (I think that's the right chipset number) from Sparkle. That's in an old ish Pentium 4 something or other. I've used it in the past as a second frontend. It was incapable of playing hd without vdpau, but with the pci card and vdpau it works fine. 

The only issue that I had was that I had to leave the old graphics card in there as well or the system wouldnt boot at all. It's like it can't handle booting from the sparkle card for some reason. This was / is a bit of a pain because it means you get nothing on the screen until X starts. (unless I unplug the monitor and plug it into the graphics card!) But once you have everything up and running it works flawlessly.

Robert.