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Methal
12-23-10, 11:29 AM
A seemingly simple question, yet I know its really not =)

While looking at video cards for my latest project: an ultra small desktop pc that I can use to play bluerays, and some gaming, I began to wonder how much processing power from both the cpu and the gpu is needed to play 1080p.
thideras
12-23-10, 11:35 AM
If you get a card that is able to offload video processing to the video card, you don't need a strong processor to run content. Any of the newer ATI cards do it and I think nVidia does as well, but I'm not sure.

Personally, I'd grab a mid-range ATI card if I was going to do Blurays and some light gaming. I'd then get a low power dual core processor to run on top of it.
Jayws
12-23-10, 12:40 PM
With only firefox open playing a 1080p video from youtube, my laptop can do it with a 1733MHz C2D and Intel GMA 4500 integrated graphics. It isn't quite seemless but in full screen you can't notice any lagging. Using the nVidia 210M instead of the integrated graphics helps quite a bit though. That's all I can really offer.
Grief
12-23-10, 06:39 PM
I think getting a i3 5xx would be what you need. It can run HD videos on the intengrated graphics.
Methal
12-23-10, 07:32 PM
what would be a good video card for CoD/SC2/D3-when it comes out type games, and blueray action?
Jayws
12-23-10, 07:47 PM
what would be a good video card for CoD/SC2/D3-when it comes out type games, and blueray action?

Those aren't the most demanding games. I've played CoD/SC2 on high/ultra settings @ 1920x1080 on a 9800GTX. I recently got a GTX 460 and I can't say the difference is huge. I can play SC2 on ultra/extreme up to 4v4's but in custom games there are simply too many units which forces me back down to medium/high settings.

Remember that CoD is designed to play on the 360 so it doesn't take a whole lot to run it. A higher end card will have additional benefits but if you don't mind how it looks on an xbox, then save some $$$.

In SC2 I don't see a huge difference between high, ultra, and extreme settings. As for card recommendations, the 460 is currently positioned at the sweet spot on the nvidia side of things imo. You can find it on sale w/ rebates as low as $150 if you wait.