Recommended Video Card for VMR9 Rendering

[greggerm]

On my Athlon 2100+ w/ 1GB ram HTPC I am currently using a Radeon 9800, but the system gets tearing and general malaise when attempting to run with VMR9 rendering, and as such I am essentially limited to Overlay.

This is all well and good, but I'd like to buy into a new card to get the pretty transparent GUIs and whatnots. (and to move the Radeon to another project I am starting).

Goal: Effective VMR9 rendering on my computer WITHOUT breaking the bank.

nVidia 6600 based? That seems to be the more popular recommendation these days.

Your opinions are valued!
-Greg

[korben_dallas]

Not sure if this helps, but I'm running a 9800 Pro just fine. I really don't know much about AMD, but a 2100 (at 1.8GHz ?) sounds like it might be a bit underpowered for VMR9.

Are you already running the Nvidia PureVideo codec? It runs fantastic with my 9800 Pro.

[blade]

Make sure you're using FSE and a good decoder. I like the nvidia one myself. If you're already using the nvidia decoder, make sure you're not using Post Processing.

If you still want a new card then I would recommend the 6600. I've never used any of the ATI cards, but I've been very happy with the quality from my 6600GT.

[m0ng00se30]

I'm running a 9800 Pro with VMR9 without problems as well. I've used Hauppauge, and NVidia encoders without issue.

I am running a 3.0 P4... and maybe thats the difference??

--Mike

[greggerm]

Well, taking all of your advice, I haven't bought anything yet.

I went back and played around with my settings, and discovered that while I thought I was using the nVidia decoders, it was set to the Sage default decoders. (ick)

As soon as I configged for the nVidia ones, not only did my Overlay picture quality improve significantly, but I was actually able to use VMR9 with little to no tearing whatsoever.

I get the duh award today.

On a sidenote - I also tried configuring Zoomplayer to use VMR9 when playing back my MP4-AVC files (through ffdshow & haali) - stutter city! Due to the insane CPU load that decoding AVC's puts on the computer, VMR9 doesn't have enough room to work. Even in full screen exclusive/windowless mode. Ick!

THANKS for the tips though - I will be outfitting for a remote Sage client soon so I'll get a nice new one for my primary and flip the 9800 out to the new secondary client when the time comes.

-Greg

[dagar]

Yeah, I'm running a 9700 Pro with a 2.2ghz (2500 AXP-M OC'd) and it's just fine. Was fine at stock speeds as well (1.8ghz I think ... don't remember ). I have heard from several 9600XT users that it was insufficient; they experienced tearing -- YMMV. More details I would suggest a STF query.

[steingra]

Originally Posted by dagar

Yeah, I'm running a 9700 Pro with a 2.2ghz (2500 AXP-M OC'd) and it's just fine. Was fine at stock speeds as well (1.8ghz I think ... don't remember ). I have heard from several 9600XT users that it was insufficient; they experienced tearing -- YMMV. More details I would suggest a STF query.

What did you mean "was insufficient"? did you mean the 9600XT couldnt cut the mustard or what?

[steingra]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

Not sure if this helps, but I'm running a 9800 Pro just fine. I really don't know much about AMD, but a 2100 (at 1.8GHz ?) sounds like it might be a bit underpowered for VMR9.

Are you already running the Nvidia PureVideo codec? It runs fantastic with my 9800 Pro.

Would you mind explaining the steps to get it working on your 9800 Pro? Thanks!