GT 620 not able to handle all HTPC tasks?

Always been an ATI/Radeon user so I need to see if anyone has tried running the cheaper Nvidia cards in a HTPC and can give me their account...

Had my 6670 start overheating with the cheap passive cooler I'd stuck on it, so tossed a GT 620 in there when it was dirt cheap (I think under $40) from amazon a little while back. It seems like it isn't handling the blu-ray and other decoding jobs nearly as well as a better card might, but it's hard for me to say as I wasn't using the system for that when the 6670 was in place. I just get lots of situations where media seems to either get out of sync with the audio and video timing, or where the video breaks up if there is too much going on in the background with the CPU (X4 965 until I stick the X3 455 back inside from a comparison test). Both CPU's seem to be handling so much of the load of the video playback, even with VLC using the GPU decoding option, that neither is able to really do so. Usually run two screens, one at 1080p for my desktop and a 720p for the actual HTPC viewing. That might be contributing, but it still can be noticed even with a single 720p output being called for.

Is there something besides raw processing capacity that is different between the two cards I've used= some sort of codec or such that is missing from the base level Nvidia models?

It should be more than enough for whatever except 3D. My HTPC has a Radeon HD4200 integrated GPU and it does with any format I throw at it in 1080p.

The CPU will do the decoding if the software you have installed doesn't support GPU. The best software I know of for Nvidia is CoreAVC. It will offload all video decoding to the GPU and only use a few %. That being said, I can't see why the Phenom couldn't decode smoothly.

Hmm.... I've heard many people say their older Radeon cards like yours do the job just perfectly, but then I hear the technical points about how the supported hardware decoding is noticeable if you at least look at the 6450 and above compared to the 5450 and other cards that don't have all the same claimed features. I don't know if the bells and whistles of the cards in the higher AMD models really do make any difference, or if I could hope to unload all the work from the CPU to the point of leaving it for something like F@H use while the card would be playing a movie rip or bluray dsc.

It could be that I just am expecting too much from the HTPC to be able to both flawlessly output the media while also doing things like download torrents, run multiple web browser windows and have to update my email and messaging apps that are running in the background. Or maybe I'm even doing something wrong with the options for my VLC player... I just don't know the cause of my poor playback satisfaction compared to others using much less hefty setups without any issues.

Something is definitely off if you ask me. HD video is considered a light load on a modern computer. So are torrents programs, emails, browsing, etc... You should be able to do all that at once, unless your PC is totally starved on RAM.

Dunno what to tell you. It must be software, because I can do that with a dual core Athlon and a 5 years old iGPU.

I guess that I should ask if you are running your machine with a 32 or 64 bit OS and what the format is that you're playing without trouble. I just realized that from recollection, since the people I am aware of personally having HTPC's are all using re-purposed primary rigs that were outdated, they are likely not running Win 7 64-bit as their OS.

I think that just to settle it, I'm going to hook up my folding rig that has a FX-8350 and HD 6870 to serve all the same purposes for a day as the current system and see if I still run into issues. If I have even a touch of the same trouble there, obviously I can start assuming I am creating the problem myself by some means of how it's been connected or configured.

Yep, 64-bit Win7, it's the only one I had around I guess. My HTPC is purpose built on Athlon II X2 245 (2.9Ghz stock @1.2v), 2x2GB DDR2-1066, Radeon HD4200 iGPU (on 785G MB). Mostly watching H264, DivX or Xvid in .mp4, .mkv or .avi at 720p or 1080p, though I can't recall having much problems with anything else.

I hope that helps. If you still running into problems with your high power rig, it's gotta be software!

Well, all I've learned so far is that Asus gets a "F" grade for somehow deciding there was no need for a HDMI output on their 6870 cards?!

Gotta either find a DP adapter or swap my 6850 into place for an answer now.

DVI-to-HDMI adapter is the best way to go, they use to give one of 'em with each video card.