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Best Htpc Video Card

HTPC systems are usually put together using low power and low noise components, just fast enough to play multimedia files. 3D games are not a priority when you're building a Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC).

Today there are many such video cards available on the market, as for some reason even 6 generations old models can be found in some retail stores.

Best Htpc Video Card (Source: foxconnchannel.com)

The nVidia Geforce 8400 low profile video card is one of the oldest models available, but it still offers some DirectX 10 compatibility and hardware acceleration for most video CODECs. In fact 6 generation of nVidia video cards have been launched since the Geforce 8400 models: Geforce 9xxx, 1xx, 2xx, 3xx, 4xx and 5xx.

A much better video card choice would be the ATI Radeon 5450 model with the same $35 price tag. This video card is just 1 generation old and fully supports DirectX 11. Its downside is that it doesn't really feature the Eyefinity technology, as it can drive only two displays at once, even though it has three output ports. Naturally it is also a bit slow when compared to a Radeon 5550 for example, which has 320 stream processors instead of just 80.

Best Htpc Video Card (Source: blogcdn.com)

Unfortunately the cheapest video card model from the latest AMD Radeon generation is a bit too expensive and also a delivers an unexpected performance with its 160 stream processors. The AMD Radeon 6450 video card cost about $50, but it is the best option for small and low-power HTPS systems based on AMD's E-350 dual core processor for example. Coupled with an APU this video card can be used in Hybrid Crossfire or Dual Graphics mode, which switches off the video card when the graphics workload can be done by the integrated graphics processor. On an Intel system you do not have that option, as they have Intel integrated graphics processors that are not too compatible with AMDs products. Intel processors work best with nVidia video cards when it comes to efficiency.

Best Htpc Video Card (Source: techtastes.com)

nVidia's Geforce GT 520 video card (seen in the picture above) is a weird piece of hardware, as it requires active cooling and it's able to achieve different performance levels in different tasks. In some 3D games it behaves as a very low end video card, while some applications may find it as good as a mid range video card. The nVidia Geforce GT 520 video card usually comes with all three output port options (VGA, HDMI, DVI) for $50 and is also a good option for a HTPC, even though its active cooling makes significantly more noise than an ATI/AMD video card.