Best old/inexpensive HTPC AGP video card

[Necrosis]

I've been looking online at different reviews and benchmarks and still can't really get my head around how some of these video cards compare. I'm converting an old P4 HT system into an HTPC and my requirements are only for good 1080i (won't need 1080p decoding of blu ray).

Because I'm limited by my power supply (220w), I was considering either an old AGP x1300 or x1650 or 6600gt. I also considered at one point even older cards, like the radeon 9800 pro, but it seems newer is better. From reviews, it looks like the 6600gt performs a little bit better than the X1300, but I think it's also one generation older. Would that negatively impact it's performance at mpeg2 decoding? I also read that nvidia agp cards don't have advanced deinterlacing features in Xp, whereas ATI cards do. How about the x1650?

Any help is appreciated.

Basically:
AGP X1300 512mb vs 6600gt 128mb vs X1650 512mb vs older card (9800 128mb)
Limited by 220w PSU
Main concern is 1080i OTA HDTV (may play something like starcraft 2 on it but nothing else in 3D)

Thanks!

[saltyvinegar]

My 6600TD handles 1080 well.

[Deimos]

From the ones listed, I would pick the X1650 512mb.

Old P4 with X1300 will certainly not play Startcraft 2 - unless you're thinking of a screensaver.

For 1080i video, you often need MORE processing, to actually deinterlace it. But, all this depends on what type of formats are being used. H264, regardless of 1080 or 720, will definetly need something beefier than low end P4 if using CPU decoding.

But, on the other hand, with pure hardware acceleration from AGP HD 3650, AGP HD 3850 (or newest HD4650 if you can find it), it "should" work.
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=35436&vpn=AH3650%20SILENT%2FHTDI%2F512M&manufacture=ASUS
($84, handles HDMI, and passive cooling.. uses max 30-40W)

But, then the problem is what happens if you're playing HD WMV? Or DiVX? Or Flash? Each format accelerated to different extent.

Best to try playing a handfull of clips and see which ones are causing pausing/stuttering and then see if they even can be video accelerated.

In the end it might be better idea to buy whole new PCIE system (CPU+Mobo, maybe RAM), as it might even be cheaper and better in long run than inflated prices of AGP cards.

[Necrosis]

Thanks for the replies. Right now I'm trying to buy the lowest end card possible to make OTA HDTV possible. Really just using it as a PVR, not blu ray playback or anything like that. When I need that type of system, I will just build one based on the ION or go with a 780G + AM2 setup rather than dump money into an AGP card.

OTA HDTV to my understanding in north america is just mpeg2. Still, I do understand interlacing will be the issue. Do you think an X1300 would do for that kind of task? I'm a little worried something like an X1650 or 6600 or 7600 will overload my PSU and at the end of the day, might not help all that much since they're still old tech (ie don't have full hardware acceleration).

On another note, does starcraft 2 really have such high requirements? I was able to play other 3d engine based RTS games on a Pentium M 1.1 ULV + GMA915 integrated graphics. It wasn't the smoothest but still ran. I definitely thought a P4 over 3ghz with a fairly decent video card (even an X1300) would handle it?

[terrybear]

you'll want a radeon hd 4650 agp videocard, they go for around $100.

[luthair]

OTA HDTV to my understanding in north america is just mpeg2. Still, I do understand interlacing will be the issue. Do you think an X1300 would do for that kind of task? I'm a little worried something like an X1650 or 6600 or 7600 will overload my PSU and at the end of the day, might not help all that much since they're still old tech (ie don't have full hardware acceleration).

The format will depend on your TV Tuner and at 1080 its likely that a p4 will struggle. As far as I'm aware video cards generally only did motion compensation for mpeg2.

On another note, does starcraft 2 really have such high requirements? I was able to play other 3d engine based RTS games on a Pentium M 1.1 ULV + GMA915 integrated graphics. It wasn't the smoothest but still ran. I definitely thought a P4 over 3ghz with a fairly decent video card (even an X1300) would handle it?

In general games have progressively higher requirements so Starcraft 2 will invariably require a lot more from your system.

[Necrosis]

Thanks for all the replies.

The format will depend on your TV Tuner and at 1080 its likely that a p4 will struggle. As far as I'm aware video cards generally only did motion compensation for mpeg2.

My understanding is that all OTA HDTV ATSC broadcasts are Mpeg-2, since it's a standard. I agree that the P4 alone would likely struggle, especially with deinterlacing.

With respect to the suggestions to go with the Radeon HD series (I was going to originally but don't like how overpriced they are vs PCI-e) - is there really much of an advantage of the HD line for Mpeg-2 HDTV? I know they do an incredible job with hardware acceleration of H.264 decoding for 1080p bluray playback. Since I'm just looking at 1080i Mpeg-2, would this card make a huge difference from the generation before, i.e. X1300 or X1600 cards? I guess really all I need is Mpeg-2 acceleration and advanced deinterlacing features.

[prvt10]

You'll want UVD, which is implemented on Radeon 2xxx and up.

Unlike video acceleration blocks in previous generation GPUs, which demanded considerable host-CPU involvement, UVD offloads almost the entire video-decoder process for MPEG-2, VC-1, and H.264. For example, neither ATI Radeon R520 series' ATI Avivo nor NVidia Geforce 7 series' PureVideo assist front-end bitstream/entropy decompression in VC-1 and H.264 - the host CPU performs this work.[1] In addition to handling VLC/CAVLC/CABAC, frequency transform, pixel prediction and inloop deblocking, UVD also contains an advanced video post-processing block. Post-processing includes denoising, de-interlacing, and scaling/resizing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVD

[Deimos]

Get the HD3650 AGP. There problem solved.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/msi-hd3650/rhd3650_power.gif

power consumption of other cards (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/video-card-power-consumption-chart-16.png)

Power consumption is non issue since only 40W.

EDIT: FYI not sure but dont think there's full MPEG2 acceleration since CPU utilization is higher than Bluray H264 (which also required additional decryption).
SEE HERE FOR 1080i MPEG CPU UTLIZATION (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/media-playback_8.html#sect0)