Lowest end HD card?

[KonaKona]

Hey guys,

What is the oldest and or cheapest card you can use for HD video playback (Xvid/H.264 720p/1080p etc.)?

Nowdays my P4/6600gt strugle with h.264 and 720p. Can the current low end cards (43xx range stuff) play this? (CPU in this situation would be a low end dual core. A64 x2 5000+ or E2xxx range)

Also, while I'm here, my friend has a PCI 2400. Thanks to bad drivers, it plays worse than the IGP as far as videos go. (loldellintelIGP)

[Kendle6661]

well any of the nvidia 8xxx and up class cards should handle it,also on the ati front anything above a hd 2400 will but for the best bang ya might want either a 8600gt or ati hd 3650

[KonaKona]

8600gt is still a litle high up,

I mean stuff like a 8400 or a 3450. maybe even a onboard 9300 or somthing like that.

[freakdiablo]

Well, I've heard that the lower end 2600 series is good if all you're using it for is HD decoding. A couple are on Newegg for $60-$70.

[Wicked Klown]

Another vote for a 2600. I have the Sapphire HD2600XT and love it.

[JLK03F150]

The HD 4550 is supposed to be a really good HTPC card in the $50-$60 range.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048&Description=4550&name=Desktop%20Graphics%20%2f%20Video%20Cards

[madhatter256]

9400GT or 9500 for nVidia. You can get away with it with an 8400GS.

[KonaKona]

so you still need a mid-range card for HD playback.

I probably wont upgrade my rig unless I can get a AGP card that works as well as the 6600gt for 20$ ish. (gettin a new riggy very soon anyway)

Got a friend that might be getting a new one soon though. He currently has a old P4 dell with that 2400 in it. plays WoW fine but the video playback on it is useless. Don't know if his budget has room for a 60$ graphics card (Hence the question about the low end cards)

[ps2cho]

The HD 3450, 3470 and HD 4550 are great choices. I bought myself an HD 4550 because it only consumes 20w and can fully decode fully 1080p content. Cheap at $50 too.

[-maddog-]

Ati 4xxx series have nice hardware acceleration for decoding.

[freakdiablo]

so you still need a mid-range card for HD playback.



Not a new one, but maybe an older generation mid range one. A lower end older card may still put too much load on that P4, and I don't know if it has a PCIe slot but it looks like most of the lower end of the newer categories aren't PCI/AGP.