Which Cheapo Vid Card for HTPC??

[Detale]

I just can't make up my mind and I need to know if it's worth it to spend the extra $30 or not.

I only need this card for my HTPC to play Hi-Def movies on my 42" LCD TV through the HDMI ( adapter ) and I can't decide if I should spend a few extra bucks. Suggestions anyone??

HIS Hightech H240PRF256N-R Radeon HD 2400PRO 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 $34.99



HIS Hightech H260PRF256EDDN-R Radeon HD 2600PRO 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 $49.99




HIS Hightech H260XTF256DDN-R Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 $74.99



All of these ATM come with the HDMI adapter and the money isn't the issue really I just want the best deal for the money and know it will work and play all my 1080p downloads on my TV with no skipping or trouble. I know shit about ATI cards as I myself an a Nvidia man but the ATI HD series allows audio through the HDMI cable ( thanks SingaBoiy ) and I can't freaking pick one HELP PLEASE!!!

[SingaBoiy]

Started to post earlier but my internet connection went down :p

Anyways, I dont think ive tried to play 1080p content. But as long as your system is decent (dual-core) i would think it would be fine. My 2400 plays every else flawlessly. I could of sworn I saw a post on HardOCP in the deals forum for a 3650 for $100. Think just yesterday and today @ Fry's.

I would check tomshardware and see what they say about the HD cards

[pifpaf]

hd 2400pro.

[Detale]

Why would you say that? Any particular reason or simply price?

[SingaBoiy]

Oooo... just remembered that one of the resolution outputs is 1080p (through the ATI software). So it can display 1080p for sure. Here are the specs on the ATI site

        * Digital Displays (Connected by DVI)
              o All Resolutions up to 2560x1600

[Detale]

Yeah but dude they all will put out 1080p, even my current X1650 radeon card can get the resolution up that high it just cant handle the movies

[SingaBoiy]

Yeah but dude they all will put out 1080p, even my current X1650 radeon card can get the resolution up that high it just cant handle the movies

What current processor do you have? Ill grab a 1080p sample and see how it turns out


EDIT: Well it plays the Star Wars Ep I-III and Matrix Revolutions samples smoothly (high actions scenes). Takes a few seconds to start. For some reason the Indiana Jones ROTLA doesnt play too good. Prob a codec issue though. Im playing with VLC, no codecs or anything installed (anything that helps run HD content that is). So you can rest assure that the 2400Pro should be good enough.

My system:
AMD Phenom 9500
2x 1GB DDR2 800 (4-4-4-12)
Raptor 150
HIS HD 2400PRO

[Detale]

Thanks for the help SB. Well I actually I have in the the E8400 Wolfdale 3 Ghz, a great CPU kind of a waste but I didn't want to run into any heat issues in this crappy case. The HTPC was a side project at the time so I went cheap because I was putting money into my main rig, so here is goes the "Little Guy"


And I have a crappy cheapo MoBo as this was my first attempt in HTPC I will prob get a new one soon as well any recomendation here would be cool too.

ECS G31T-M Motherboard - Quad Core Support, Intel G31


And some decent Crucial Balistix 1066 ram (even though the bus on the MoBo is only 800 but I had it laying around)

and as I mentioned my current Vid card is

HIS Hightech H165PRF512N-R Radeon X1650PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2






Also are the newer versions better than the old because I can find 2400, 2600 and the 3450 64 bit 256MB ram for around the same price should I go with the 3450 because it's newer?? here are the three
ASUS EAH3450/HTP/256M Radeon HD 3450 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 34.99 + $10 rebate so cheapest @ $29.99

HIS Hightech H240PRF256N-R Radeon HD 2400PRO 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 $34.99
HIS Hightech H260PRF256EDDN-R Radeon HD 2600PRO 256MB 64-bit GDDR2
$49.99 + $10 rebate so $39.99

I guess I want to get the 3450 as it would be newer and assumably better but I am leary because it is the cheapest of the bunch