2600Pro to replace an 8500GT?

[sabre]

Hi all, my 8500GT overheated, so looking to replace but trying to be very thrifty with it. Was wondering if anyone has any thoughts about this one

ASUS EAH2600PRO/HTDI/256M Radeon HD 2600PRO 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121087

to replace my 8500GT. Would I lose much performance, or are they about equal. Any concern with 256MB while 8500GT has 512MB. Would only be using this for Sage (HD), no gaming. Or if anyone has any other low cost options would love to hear.

Thanks

[sabre]

Ok, after reading around, seems for video decoding memory does not much matter, so will go with a 256MB. And for HD video the 2600pro should be very good, assuming the correct drivers (seeing i may have to do some tweaks). Thus, seems like good bang for the buck will go this way.

[eopian]

I have the 2600PRO agp, and I would recommend it. It was a bit of a bugger to setup, but once you get all of the correct drivers in place (and perform all of the registry tweaks) its a great card.

[sabre]

ok, got the card and put it in after cleaning up the NV drivers. I am very impressed. Works nice, and just so happens new 8.6 drivers out today for ATI. I will have to tinker with it. I am still using NV purevideo decoders, but works just like the 8500GT. CPU on HD in the 15-20% range.

I thought Avivo codec came w/ the ATI drivers, but I do not see any new drivers. I hope to get to use PowerDVD drivers when i get some time - read those are the best with ATI.

On this card, while box says 256MB, everest and Catalyst show it as 500MB.

Also, big fan and heatsink on it, but quiet. Just what i wanted after burning out the 8500GT

Almost forgot, in everest, it does not give a temperature reading as the8500GT did. I would like to track that - do the ATI have a sensor on them?

[autoboy]

Avivo codec comes with the driver CD in the avivo folder. You have to manually install it. It is an older version of the PowerDVD codec. It works about the same as the NV decoder IMO but comes free with your card

[wado1971]

2cent - I just upgraded to a Sapphire HD2600Pro AGP-512MB on my P4-2.8 (SageTV Client) and it's playing back the HD-PVR streams very nicely with only 2-8% Cpu usage. Updated ATI drivers, CatalystCC, & PowerDVD8 was needed.

[eopian]

Originally Posted by wado1971

2cent - I just upgraded to a Sapphire HD2600Pro AGP-512MB on my P4-2.8 (SageTV Client) and it's playing back the HD-PVR streams very nicely with only 2-8% Cpu usage. Updated ATI drivers, CatalystCC, & PowerDVD8 was needed.

Waldo, how did you get acceleration in Sage? I can get it to work great outside of sage, but trying to play h.264 inside of sage doesn't seem to be working for me.

[wado1971]

Originally Posted by eopian

Wado, how did you get acceleration in Sage?

Just stumbling on the right combination &/or install sequence I guess. I'm not too up on decoders/renderers so I'll just list my sagetv settings. Hope it helps.

Video Renderer: Overlay (VMR9 kills me)
MPEG2 Video Decoder Filter: ArcSoft Video Dec.
Audio Renderer: Default (Sgraph lists a DirectSound Device & choosing my sound card works also. Using Cyberlink does not work)
MPEG2@ Audio Decoder Filter: ArcSoft Audio Decoder HD (PDVD8 & AC3 filter also work fine)

I installed 1)arcsoft 2) ATI drivers (from disc) 3)Cyberlink PowerDVD8.... and it did NOT work. 100% cpu usage.
I then uninstalled the ATI drivers from disc and found a newer version on the Sapphire site. Only the Pci-e is listed on the 2600pro driver link but on the bottom is an "archived drivers" link which lists agp only drivers. http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/support/drivers.php I used the drivers dated Jan24,08. Cpu usage is 2-8% so I think I'm hardware accelerated.

There are also some hotfixed for the agp card listed on there but I didn't need to go that far. Also no need for regtweaks here - but I was prepared to go there.

[sabre]

I installed PowerDVD8, and looks really good. Same here that i have no luck with VMR9 (well I do, but pretty studders so often). I have had the best success with setting video renderer to default (same for audio). Set 3D on, and the CPU with HD (not h.264) was under the 10% mark. For catalyst, at one point I thought I was a setting for hw acceleration and it was checked, but i can no longer find it.