[mythtv-users] Video card recommendation sought.

[Mark Wedel]

On 11/27/19 8:01 PM, A. F. Cano wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm considering moving mythtv from the liva X to an i3 machine, but it
> doesn't have HDMI for the tv so I need a video card for the PCI Express
> x 16 (Rev 3).  I understand that Radeon cards are well supported but
> what is a good enough card that would take advantage of the capabilities
> of the computer for as little money as possible? (in the US).
> 
> The processor is a quad-core at 3.4 Mhz, I'm going to max out the RAM at
> 16GB (8GB x 2) and I'm using a WinTV Dual HD usb tuner exclusively for
> OTA.
> 
> I'll install Debian stable.
> 
> I've found various brands with Radeon chipsets that seem ok, but only
> one specifies PCIe x 16 Rev 3:
> 
> The Biostar Radeon RX550 4GB GDDR5 128 bit DirectX 12 PCI Express 3.0 x
> 16.
> 
> It is also the most expensive at $99.88.  I looked at $100 and under.
> Others say PCIe 2.0 or 2.1, others don't specify it at all.
> 
> Any advice as to what cards work well with Myth, Debian/KDE and would be
> a good match for this computer?  The TV (A samsung) does 1080p at 60 Hz.
> 
> The liva X can't quite keep up with 1080p x 50 fps videos.  It handles
> both the BE and a FE.  Other FEs connect to it.  It has also become
> quite sluggish recently, which could probably be improved with a DB
> optimization, but I'd rather upgrade to v30 and a newer Debian.  I had
> to patch the Debian 9 kernel to support the 2 tuners.
> 
> I presume this i3 computer is fast enough to run Myth and anything else
> I might want to run, so it would be the one and only computer running.
> Right now I'm running 3.
> 
> Any suggestions welcome.  Thanks.


  I'm running nvidia on debian, no problems.

  Realistically, pcie3.0 vs 2.0 is not likely to make any difference for performance - you are not sending so much data to the card that the increased speed is likely to be noticeable.

In fact, I'm running at pce2.0 x 8 (running 2 graphics card, so that I run mythtv front end on one and my usual linux desktop on the other), so lanes get split between them), and have no problems with performance running 1080p.

Of course, it can always be nice to run with latest tech, but you pay for that.  By definition, cards supporting pcie 3.0 are going to be newer.

However, going to newegg/video cards, and checking the box for pci-e 3.0 and hdmi, there are radeon cards for as low as $70 (radeon r7-360), nvidia cards as cheap as $50 (gtx750).

Though honestly, if I was going to go nvidia route, I'd probably go for a 1030 for about $85, as that is at least latest generation, but low end version of it.  It would have longest driver support before needing to go to legacy drivers, and likely have support for latest standards.  Which is comparable to $90 for the amd rx560 in terms of price.

If you don't care about PCIE3.0 or age of the card, I see refurb geforce 710 for $27, and radeon 5450 for about $40

So you probably need to decide what is important - if you really want pcie3.0 + radeon, looking at about $100.  But there are other options available.