Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 3650 - Good Choice?

[zer0L0gic]

So I'm building a media center and want to play back Blu-ray.

I have had ATI solutions recommended to me highly. But I haven't really used an ATI video card for any of my computer builds in years.

The card I'm considering is a Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 3650.

Seems to have all the features I should be looking for:

Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 3650 PCI-E 2.0 512MB 128-bit GDDR2, Dual Dual-link DVI, HDTV, HDCP, HDMI (by adapter)*, Fan, ATI CrossFireX, Supports PCI Express 2.0, Microsoft Windows Vista certified, Support Microsoft DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 2.0 support, CrossFireX and Avivo HD technology.

So I'm looking for some help. Should I go for an HD 3650? Or get an Nvidia card, and if I should got for a different card from ATI or NV - which is going to be best for what I need?

[grogalong]

Hey O,
I'm asking myself a similar question. I was looking at a silent nvidia 8600 or 9600 cards, but I have been reading some reviews that although they perform really well, they run pretty hot, and they draw quite a lot of power even when relatively idle.
I've been looking at this review of the ati 3850 and 3870 cards which seem pretty good.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article811-page1.html
The 3850 has a fan, but is apparently fairly quiet and draws little power.
Cheers
grog

[vlad]

What TV panel do you have?
I found that video cards with big fan actually not that bad for HTPC. I have Palit 9600 GT Sonic card and really happy with it, PQ is good and it is quiet and not hot.
http://www.palit.biz/main/vgapro.php?id=629

[krypto]

If you want to use HDMI try to get something with native HDMI.

I bought a ASUS HD3650 but could not get sound to work with the adapter and promptly sold it - did my dought

Now using a Palit HD3850 with native HDMI that works brilliantly. I have undervolted the fan, its almost silent.

[zer0L0gic]

Originally Posted by grogalong

Hey O,
I'm asking myself a similar question. I was looking at a silent nvidia 8600 or 9600 cards, but I have been reading some reviews that although they perform really well, they run pretty hot, and they draw quite a lot of power even when relatively idle.
I've been looking at this review of the ati 3850 and 3870 cards which seem pretty good.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article811-page1.html
The 3850 has a fan, but is apparently fairly quiet and draws little power.
Cheers
grog

Hey grog!

I read the review of the 3850 / 3870, I guess I'm worried if these are a bit of an overkill for a Media Center PC that won't be doing anything more intensive than Blu-ray playback?

A friend has a MC-PC with a Gigabyte 8600GT (silent pipe) and it ran perfectly but yeah I heard it does run real warm.

I heard that ATI based graphics cards have better video output to HDCP eg. Blu-ray. Is there any basis to this?!

[zer0L0gic]

Originally Posted by vlad

What TV panel do you have?
I found that video cards with big fan actually not that bad for HTPC. I have Palit 9600 GT Sonic card and really happy with it, PQ is good and it is quiet and not hot.
http://www.palit.biz/main/vgapro.php?id=629

My TV is an Samsung LCD TV. Got some pictures. So I guess I would be connecting the video through HDMI connector? But how would I do audio?

[vlad]

Originally Posted by zer0L0gic

My TV is an Samsung LCD TV. Got some pictures. So I guess I would be connecting the video through HDMI connector? But how would I do audio?

It depends on you sound options, my HTPC is connected to the AV receiver via coax cable.
If you don't have an AV receiver, then your HDMI cable will give you audio to your TV.

[DionM]

Originally Posted by zer0L0gic

My TV is an Samsung LCD TV. Got some pictures. So I guess I would be connecting the video through HDMI connector? But how would I do audio?

HDMI carries both audio and video.

I had HDMI into my LA32R81 Sammy as well, but got tired to the glitch where audio sometimes didn't come up as well. Swapped to VGA + 3.5mm stereo cable (into the socket on the back of the TV) and haven't looked back!