[mythtv-users] Looking for recommendations for PCI-E 1x video cards

[Roger Heflin]

Arthur Green wrote:
> Hi -
> 
> I'm looking for recommendations for a PCI Express 1x video card for use 
> in a FE/BE system. The unit's onboard video (ATI X1200) doesn't cut the 
> mustard - live TV and playback look like a slide show using the radeonhd 
> driver, and fglrx fails to work in a number of interesting ways 
> (corrupted MythTV screens in full-screen, "stacked" images when 
> displaying TV). The only available expansion slot is a PCI Express 1x. 
> Given the issues I've had with ATI, I'm inclined to use nVidia this time 
> around.
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions for a 1x video card that will handle 
> playback without choking?
> 
> Thanks and regards
> Arthur Green

Arthur,

You better keep trying to getting that build-in ATI to work then, pcie-x1 cards 
are slow, rare, and expensive.

Newegg lists *3* pcie-x1 video cards, and the cheapest one is $99 and 2 of them 
are ATI and the other one has a chipset I have never heard of and is $120.

About the only market for pcie-x1 cards is for another video card (3rd or 4th) 
in a machine that already has several (in x8 and x16 slots) so not many are sold 
(so the higher price, and limited selection with very limited abilities since it 
is often not used for high-performance graphics).

And given that PCIE-x1 is fairly low bandwidth that limits the cards ability in 
a lot of things.

Given the price, you could likely replace the motherboard with something that 
has a x16 (or AGP) slot and buy a new video card for almost the same price, and 
things be a lot less risky (you could use a normal NVIDIA card).

                                 Roger