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Hey everyone!
My sister just got a new Mac and I was trying to decide what to do with her older computer. My sister has an old AMD Quad Core Phenom 1 9550. This chip has a 2471 Passmark on CPU benchmark.com. The machine has 2GB DDR2 and is running Windows 7 32 bit. Im pretty sure the board has a PCIE 16x slot.
My question is:
If I got a video card (any reccomendations), could it play 1080p over a gigabit network connected to a 32 inch tv with HDMI?
What software should I use, Windows, Ubuntu or OpenElec?
Thanks for the help!
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Also, I remember a year or two back when dealing with Ubuntu there was problems getting ATI video cards to work properly. Is that still the case?
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Just put an Nvidia GT610 in it and you're good to go no matter the OS.
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ertman
Senior Member
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I agree with dougie. And you have more than enough power to run your choice of OS.
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Would I be able to push 1080p on Ubuntu with an AMD 6570, how do the drivers work?
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Yes, but you would not get HD audio bitstreaming (DTS-MA/Dolby True-HD) because the driver does not support it.
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That would only make a difference if I had a sound system right? I don't plan on buying speakers but I'm sure the files I'm playing are in all different types of formats.
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nickr
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For heavens sake you ask for advice, you get told nvidia. You then start banging on about amd.
For the 3rd or 4th time the answer is nvidia.
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
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ertman
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AMD will likely work fine for the OP, but in terms of the compatibility with the operating system, they would be best to stay with Windows. The Linux support for AMD isn't as good as nvidia.
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Thanks for all the advice. I will be going with an Nvidia. I just wanted to know the technical reasons why it was the better choice. Blindly following advice generally doesn't teach you much and I wanted to learn more about the graphic cards. Thanks again.
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Thanks Nickr for all the help. I was looking through some of my older hardware and I actually found an NVIDA 8400 GT with an HDMI output. I'm going to see how it works. Really excited that I didn't have to buy anything. What a pleasant surprise!
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nickr
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I had one of those until the fan blew up. It has VDPAU support, should be sweet!
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
