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+---- Thread: Buying a graphics card, need advice. (/showthread.php?tid=36252)
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Buying a graphics card, need advice. - goku31640 - 2008-08-23
I have been using XBMC for Windows for a month now, and its pretty stable, except for an error here and there, but my computer jitters a bit when playing High Def video. I have been using the onboard video from my intel motherboard and it works very well, but not for High Def.
I know a lot about computers, but not much about graphics cards. I know it should support OpenGL 2.0, but I have no idea what that is.
Well I narrowed it down to these two, but if you guys know of other cheaper ones that work as well, please I would like to know.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130317
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318
This is what I have on my computer:
2GB Ram
Intel Core2Quad Q6600
Intel G33FB motherboard
500Watt power supply
HD Tuner
2x500 GB Harddrives
1 dvd burner
Also, with all the stuff I have in my computer right now, will I have to upgrade the power supply to power the new graphics card?
FYI I dont plan on playing any games with it, this is only so I can play 1080p Videos without any problems.
Thanks in advance.
- goku31640 - 2008-08-23
Sorry, I forgot to add that I am running Vista Ultimate 64 Bit
- obergeru - 2008-08-23
Your onboard videocard already support openGL 2.0.
If you want to boost your graphic performance you should look at a passive cooled Nvidia 9500GT card.
- marlboroman1 - 2008-08-23
ether of those card would be massive overkill for xbmc. I would looking for the lowest grade for the price cheapest 8 series nvidia card available the 8400 or 8500 perhaps.
your processor may be the real culprit as quad core is not supported well by ffmpeg at the moment, but improvements are in the works. You may be as well to hang out for them before investing in new hardware
- fanclub - 2008-08-23
a few months back i put together a dedicated htpc and i chose a geforce 8500 merely for a dvi output slot... it was $50 at the time, i'm sure its cheaper now if you can still find one... perhaps ebay?
that said, xbmc is all cpu-based though - the video card (or onboard in your case) is merely a means to display the content. so as marlboroman said the cpu is probably the bottleneck.
if its possible with your setup perhaps try some overclocking?
- goku31640 - 2008-08-23
but the problem is not only xbmc, 1080p video kind of sucks outside of xbmc as well.
Its wierd but the audio is perfect, and the video itself doesnt skip or get out of sync or anything like that, its just that it sometimes has like a stutter as though the video is refreshing, like a dropped frame or something, but my cpu never goes past 15%, and so I thought that it might have been that I need a graphics card.
If it wont help, then I guess ill just pass on the card. Theres no need to spend $150+ if I dont need it.
Any suggestions on improving video quality?
- User 34470 - 2008-08-24
if u are not gaming a 8600gt or even a 8500gt are cheap way to go.
- User 34470 - 2008-08-24
i bought a brandnew 8500gt on ebay for 25 bux.Check out ebay
- Livin - 2008-08-24
if you are only using it for HD video, get a card with HDMI.
- fanclub - 2008-08-24
goku31640 Wrote:but the problem is not only xbmc, 1080p video kind of sucks outside of xbmc as well.
Its wierd but the audio is perfect, and the video itself doesnt skip or get out of sync or anything like that, its just that it sometimes has like a stutter as though the video is refreshing, like a dropped frame or something, but my cpu never goes past 15%, and so I thought that it might have been that I need a graphics card.
If it wont help, then I guess ill just pass on the card. Theres no need to spend $150+ if I dont need it.
Any suggestions on improving video quality?
using coreavc or ffdshow ? coreavc uses multiple cores automagically but ffdshow needs to be told how many to use.
you can do that in ffdshow video decoder config -> decoder options -> number of decoding threads
in your case you'd set that to 4 as you have a quad core cpu... dual core would set to 2, etc etc
- The-Boxhead - 2008-08-24
xbmc do not utilize any third party decoders on windows.
xbmc uses it's own internal ffmpeg open source decoder for playback.
So it doesent matter what you do with ffdshow.
read this thread for more info:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=34138
So as earlier stated xbmc is mostly cpu bound for now.
- fanclub - 2008-08-24
The-Boxhead Wrote:xbmc do not utilize any third party decoders on windows.
xbmc uses it's own internal ffmpeg open source decoder for playback.
So it doesent matter what you do with ffdshow.
read this thread for more info:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=34138
So as earlier stated xbmc is mostly cpu bound for now.
yup i realise that... pretty sure the original poster does too
but he did say that he was having trouble with 1080p outside of xbmc too, which is why i posted the advice
- goku31640 - 2008-08-24
fanclub Wrote:using coreavc or ffdshow ? coreavc uses multiple cores automagically but ffdshow needs to be told how many to use.
you can do that in ffdshow video decoder config -> decoder options -> number of decoding threads
in your case you'd set that to 4 as you have a quad core cpu... dual core would set to 2, etc etc
I just checked, and its already set to 4.
fanclub Wrote:yup i realise that... pretty sure the original poster does too
but he did say that he was having trouble with 1080p outside of xbmc too, which is why i posted the advice
Yeah I do realize that. Im going to record my screen with a camcorder so you guys have a better idea of whats happening, maybe someone can help me after they see the problem.
- Hasselstrom - 2008-08-25
Maybe it's not a performance problem but rather a "1080p/24hz material on a 50/60hz screen" effect a.k.a. the 3:2 pulldown judder that you are experienceing?
- goku31640 - 2008-08-25
that makes more sense, becuase like i said, it doesnt skip or go out of sync, but just like you you said "jutter".
Is there anyway to stop that?