live4ever Wrote:Here's a great writeup comparing the two:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4380/discr...s-shootout
When usage is geared to HTPC - take this review, and all others I've ever read, with a HUGE grain of salt.
These guys always compare feature for feature... which is fine, but RARELY useful in the real world.
What they don't tell you is ... most of what they talk about (review) does not matter in most cases. Most people should not be using most of those features anyway.
If you have decent source material resolution (720p, 1080i, 1080p) of decent quality (most cable, sat, OTA, downloads, etc) then you should not be using most of the post processing features. The ONLY feature you should using is deinterlacing if you source material is interlaced (like 1080i OTA) AND when your TV will not natively display the signal well or you just simply want to gain a bit better picture by deinterlacing.
I have used many NVidia and ATI cards from several generations with HTPC, I no longer waste money on expensive cards - they provide ZERO benefit to HTPC. I have recently run ATI 4350, 5450, 6450, 6670 and on my 65" 1080P TV there is no difference. NVidia is almost as good quality wise, but I prefer ATI for a few reasons - I like the Vector Adaptive deinterlacing a lot (in general I think ATI has better deinterlacing) and ATI chips run a lot cooler.
I currently use an MSI 6450 in my HTPC only because I got it free. I have the 5450 now in my desktop.
Heck, if someone wants my 4350 I'll sell it for $10 plus shipping.
