Technical question about nvidia graphics cards

judderod · Post by **judderod** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 11:54 am

Can't seem to find a straight answer to this anywhere online so I thought I'd throw it out to the techs on here...

Does anyone know what the cheapest/most basic/oldest nvidia card is that can handle 5.1/7.1 uncompressed LPCM over HDMI?

I don't need anything fancy as I don't play games on my PC, and my trusty old Geforce 8400 GS handles 1080p just fine. I don't need 3D just yet either. Also don't need the latest TrueHD or DTS HD cards - LPCM is just fine.

I know the first chip they did that supports it was the 8200 series but they're onboard and I don't fancy changing my motherboard.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2622/3 seems to shed a bit of light on the subject.

Post by **indigolemon** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:10 pm

Does it have to be nVidia? You'll get an AMD card that'll do it brand new for ~£30.

http://www.ebuyer.com/199420-sapphire-h ... 166-02-20r

judderod · Post by **judderod** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:30 pm

That looks like a great card for the money. Thanks!

Only thing is reliability with ATi cards... I've never owned one but several friends and family have and some of them have died after a few years while my nvidia's just kept going, even when overclocked to the tits!

Post by **indigolemon** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:33 pm

judderod wrote:That looks like a great card for the money. Thanks!

Only thing is reliability with ATi cards... I've never owned one but several friends and family have and some of them have died after a few years while my nvidia's just kept going, even when overclocked to the tits!

Strange, I've never had any bother with AMD (ATi) kit myself man - my card in my main pc is Ancient and has been perfect so far. It's passively cooled too!

Post by **Gayno** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:35 pm

You'll have to forgive the 'lemon, he has somewhat of a fetish when it come to AMD/ATI!!

(Just don't mention Intel around him, he may explode!)

judderod · Post by **judderod** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:39 pm

Didn't ATi used to be owned by someone else? I've had great results and reliability with AMD kit over the years. Maybe ATi got better?

What do you think of this one - http://www.ebuyer.com/199429-sapphire-h ... 166-01-20r

Even cheaper - half the ram but looks the same otherwise.

Gayno wrote:You'll have to forgive the 'lemon, he has somewhat of a fetish when it come to AMD/ATI!!

I was an AMD activist for years until Intel finally made another chip worth overclocking (Q6600) since what was it the Celeron or something!

Duo · Post by **Duo** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:43 pm

I'll be honest I've never had any issues either, back in the day the AMD cpu's used to cook themselves if a fan-sink failed but after that they were rock solid, my first graphics card was a second hand ATi Rage 128, worked faultlessley until I finally sold it a good few years on. Personally I like the new nVidia's and they support some cool tech that some games use but tbh I doubt any modern AMD card would be behind an nVidia, they all seem to be about level

Post by **Merlin** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:55 pm

I wouldnt worry about reliability of AMD cards especially at that price.

Since the OP is sorted let NVidia Vs AMD commence!!

The only time I have ever bought a Radeon (a 9800 Pro back in 2002 or something) and it blew up on me, but it was a common problem with those cards (too much heat and not enough cooling). I have only ever owned one AMD CPU but that was ok

Post by **Merlin** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:07 pm

Duo wrote:I'll be honest I've never had any issues either, back in the day the AMD cpu's used to cook themselves if a fan-sink failed

Or burst into flames

[youtube]BSGcnRanYMM[/youtube]

JayJay · Post by **JayJay** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:26 pm

^ fooking hell! Didn't realise they were that bad. I've just swapped in a Pentium D in place of a P4 (just a spare PC, just pissing about), WOW does the D run hot. It wouldn't actually boot the first few times, but I think the thermal grease I was using wasn't any good (took the heatsink/fan off and it was all patchy).

And yes, Indigo is a real AMD/ATI lover