[mythtv-users] Video card recommendations for new build

[Stephen Worthington]

On Sat, 22 Jul 2017 21:08:36 -0400, you wrote:

>On 7/22/2017 8:23 PM, Stephen Worthington wrote:
>> On Sat, 22 Jul 2017 11:39:29 -0400, you wrote:
>>
>>> I'm looking for some help picking out hardware to build a new FE/BE Myth
>>> box. I haven't had good luck lately buying hardware. Twice now I've done
>>> a bunch of research and then ordered the wrong thing. I'm getting a
>>> little gun-shy. That's why I'm asking for help this go round.
>>>
>>> I'd like recommendations on the video card to begin with and from there
>>> I think I can pick a MB and CPU.
>>> I prefer NVIDIA to use VDPAU. Full height is fine as this will be an ATX
>>> desktop size box. Cooling fan is ok too. I'm in the US and generally buy
>> >from Newegg but not stuck on them. This box will have 2 HD-PVR and 3 HD 
>>> Homeruns for tuners. And it will be running current Myth. (I'm finally
>>> upgrading from Mythbuntu 10.04 with Myth .025.)
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for all replies.
>> You need to first decide whether you want to future proof yourself by
>> getting a video card that will do 4K.  If you already are playing
>> files that are 4K (eg from Netflix), then you will need a 4K capable
>> card.  If you are only wanting your MythTV box to play recordings from
>> FTA or cable, then as yet 4K support is unnecessary and you can get a
>> much cheaper card.
>>
>> The recommended cards for MythTV are still, as far as I know, only
>> Nvidia.  MythTV has proper support for using the higher hardware
>> interleaving support modes on Nvidia cards only.  So if you are
>> wanting 4K support, take a look at this page:
>>
>> https://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/4k/supported-gpus
>>
>> If you do not need 4K support, then I believe that a 610 or above GPU
>> is fine.  However, I have no personal experience with 610 cards (I am
>> still using my old 220s), so someone else should confirm this.  I
>> recommend at least 1 Gibyte of GPU RAM, as if your system is using
>> other GPU RAM intensive things (such as compiz on Ubuntu), a 512
>> Mibyte card will run out of GPU RAM when asked to do VDPAU by MythTV.
>>
>> Frontend boxes are best with a fanless card if they are in the same
>> room as the screen and speakers.  There are lots of options for
>> fanless 610 cards, but I have only seen one 4K capable 1050 card that
>> was fanless.  The 610 cards are pretty cheap, so you may want to get
>> one of those now, and then upgrade later if you then need 4K.  4K
>> cards are not cheap.
>>
>I don't need 4k at this point and a fan should be ok since it has a 
>cabinet to live in.
>What do you think of this GeForce GTX 750 Ti w 1GB of ram
>It doesn't say it works on Linux though...

>https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125882&ignorebbr=1

That looks fine.  It is listed in my Nvidia 340 driver docs as having
VDPAU Feature Set E (the best available).  If you have Linux Nvidia
drivers installed anywhere, their doc files should be available under
/usr/share/doc/nvidia-<driver version number> and the appendicies have
useful information about the supported chipsets.  Look at

html/supportedchips.html
html/vdpausupport.html

Since that GPU is listed in the Linux 340 drivers as supported, that
card should be fine with 340 or later Linux drivers.

Personally, I prefer to have a fanless card even when fan noise is not
a problem, as the tiny fans tend to die well before the rest of the
card, and the card then dies due to overheating.  If you make sure to
do annual maintenance of the GPU fan(s) (clean and take the cover off
and oil the bearings), then it will likely last as long as the rest of
the card, but that is big pain and tends not to happen.

The card you are looking at has a slightly larger fan, so it may last
longer without special care.