New build for next year, basic info wanted.

[Max_87]

Originally Posted by 1031982

Hey, if I need to get a 3GHz minimal, that's fine. Info on other sights don't help as they are talking about the minimal with nothing else running, even in the background.
As of now, most of the HD stuff I want to watch is WMV HD. So I pump the CPU a little. The less money I need to spend the better unfortentally. I would LOVE to get a quad core and not worry about anything preformance wise, but I can't aford that.

You can expect me to list that parts I will be looking at.
IE, this video card : An ATI HD 3450.
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100234VGAL Radeon HD 3450 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

I was referring to H.264 full HD videos. If it's WMV, you don't need to worry anything. Even "lowly" processors such as A64 X2 or E1200 can play it easily.

Originally Posted by karhoe

Even with 3450, you'll be fine watching x264 rips at 1080

Hang on a minute, 3450 supports mpeg 4 decoding anot?

It does but like I said, you need to have the right video format, right decoding software in order to make it work. It won't just magically decodes your x264 videos after you installed it into your PC. It really depends on what kind of video format do you mostly watch, for me it is useless because most of my videos are h.264 encoded and in .mkv format, and it is not supported by the decoding software.

Thanks to the misleading ATI/NVIDIA PR, a lot of people believed that their cards can accelerate H.264 playback with codec packs such as k-lite/CCCP installed

[lee_what2004]

Originally Posted by Max_87

I was referring to H.264 full HD videos. If it's WMV, you don't need to worry anything. Even "lowly" processors such as A64 X2 or E1200 can play it easily.



It does but like I said, you need to have the right video format, right decoding software in order to make it work. It won't just magically decodes your x264 videos after you installed it into your PC. It really depends on what kind of video format do you mostly watch, for me it is useless because most of my videos are h.264 encoded and in .mkv format, and it is not supported by the decoding software.

Thanks to the misleading ATI/NVIDIA PR, a lot of people believed that their cards can accelerate H.264 playback with codec packs such as k-lite/CCCP installed

so those h.264 encoded and .mkv will be processed by cpu no matter what?

[Max_87]

Originally Posted by lee_what2004

so those h.264 encoded and .mkv will be processed by cpu no matter what?

Yup, until it is supported by the ATI/NVIDIA's decoding software.

[lee_what2004]

what about Nvidia Purevideo ?

[Max_87]

Yup, until it is supported by the ATI/NVIDIA's decoding software.

[lee_what2004]

Ah I understand, after reading Purevideo SD/HD Guide - [H]ard|Forum

After purevideo came purevideo hd, able to decode both VC-1 and H.264 (hi-definition dvd and movie file encoding types with .mp4 or .mov [apple] extensions or .wmv [windows]) in hardware, and it comes with the nvidia drivers instead of a separate install. The catch, however, is that you need to purchase an external decoder bundled with either nero showtime, WinDVD, or PowerDVD.

guess you're right

[1031982]

Well then Max, what's the CHEAPEST Video card and CPU rating I could get for H.264 HD decoding?
Yes, most will be WMV HD, but I occasionally have used H.264. If possible, I will just get it with the system instead of an upgrade.
Also, for this does it matter if I have an ATI or NVidia based GPU? I am going into the quality of the playback with this, as I know sometimes a GPU can render the video differently depending on the design.

[Chai]

If you want proper HD decoding, get a good C2D like E8400 or faster, ignore the graphics card unless you want gaming.

[Max_87]

Originally Posted by 1031982

Well then Max, what's the CHEAPEST Video card and CPU rating I could get for H.264 HD decoding?
Yes, most will be WMV HD, but I occasionally have used H.264. If possible, I will just get it with the system instead of an upgrade.
Also, for this does it matter if I have an ATI or NVidia based GPU? I am going into the quality of the playback with this, as I know sometimes a GPU can render the video differently depending on the design.

All the newer generation graphics card supports H.264 decoding, even down to the lowest end card. But like Chai said, it's still the best to get a proper CPU for playing full HD H.264 videos, because the decoding software (for ATI/NVIDIA cards) only supports a very limited number of video formats. Not to mention you even need to pay for the decoding software (both ATI/NVIDIA)

As for playback quality, I have no idea if the ATI/NVIDIA's decoding software actually changes/enhance the video image or not. I do not know which one is better even if it does that.

[Chai]

I think PureVideo is free now, but you still need to use PowerDVD etc.