[mythtv-users] time for a new graphics card

[Jonathan Rogers]

Andrew Hutchinson wrote:
> Lots of people talk about this 5200's on the list, and I can understand why
> because they seem to have all the features that are needed for a MythTV and
> they are cheap.
> 
> However, in my situation I want to dual boot the box so that I can load
> Windows to play games at times.  Because I want to play games, I want a
> reasonable graphics card.  Would there be any disadvantage in using
> something like a 6600GT compared with the 5200?

I haven't tried a 5200, but I have used a 6600GT and it ran hot. It has
a huge heatsink on both sides of the card and came with a fan that can
be optionally attached to the heatsink. I ran it for a while without the
fan, but it stayed at 60C while idling with my case open in the winter,
so I decided it needed the fan on it. I would recommend trying to find a
cooler running card for a quiet Mythbox.

<URL:http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=1269>

I'm also looking for an ideal card. Right now, I'm using a Radeon 8500,
which does have a fan. My Athlon64 3700+ system can just barely keep up
playing HD video, but I think it'll be fine once I swap the CPU for the
Athlon64 X2 3800+ I have in my other machine. I want to get maximum
functionality while using a Free driver, so I'll probably get a little
bit newer Radeon that runs cooler. I did get a cheap, fanless Radeon
9000. However, I didn't investigate well enough before buying and
discovered the hard way that it's inferior to the older, lower-numbered
8500. The system can't keep up playing HD video with the 9000 in there
and its XVideo overlay doesn't even seem to be able to handle 1920x1080
video at all, since it has a big pink border on the right.

Jonathan Rogers