[Atamido]

Radeon 5450
Geforce 210

XBMC is going to be running under Windows 7, so general performance rendering windows with the full Aero interface will be importance. I might be playing a few games, but nothing too serious. The most important thing will be the offloading to the GPU for 1080p video.

According to this Wikipedia article, the Radeon 5450 supports DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.0, uses less power, and is more powerful. It's also newer and comes in a fanless version.

According to this Wikipedia article, the Geforce 210 supports DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.2. But it's really cheap.

Will the Radeon make any difference, or should I just go with the cheap option?

[skaymakca]

I might be buying a discrete card for my Nvidia 9400 chipset mobo.

I've personally had good luck with nvidias and will be sticking with nvidia. On some review site it seems the GT220 version of the nvidia cards seem have better image quality than the 210s (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/d...220_7.html). I'll be trying out this card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

[Thasaidon]

I'm trying to make the same choice between the ATI HD 5450 and the Geforce GT220.
I read on several fora people prefer the Geforce over ATI, because ATI is prone to driver problems and other quirks. Or so they say.

I'll be using the card in my HTPC, so fan-less is a must for me.

So which should it be and does anyone have any experiance with either card?
Or does anyone else have another option instead of the above mentioned cards?

[Atamido]

I think if you need fanless, the Radeon 5450 is going to be your best/only option for a recent card.

[Thasaidon]

Thanx for your input, but I made my choice.
The Geforce GT220.
http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=co...13&lang=en

As it turned out, a colleague of mine has a similar system setup and he's been using this card. He's very happy about it.

So we'll see.