Choosing a HTPC Graphics Card
Choosing a graphics card, this will all depend on your personal needs of your HTPC, will you be playing games, maybe even the latest games or most likely you need HD playback?
If you want to play HD content look for a HTCP logo for your shortlist. If you think you may some day upgrade to HD content this may be your chance to be ahead of yourself.
However if you only want to playback SD (standard definition)content you can use almost any low level graphics card.
If you are planning to use your machine for a HD TV then ATI is the way to, however if you wish to run using a linux operating system then Nvidea is defiantly your choice of poison. Everyone has mixed views about what cards they like but this is a fairly commonly shared opinion.
The second most important factor after performance is Noise and Size, you may decide to plunge for a fanless card with a massive heatsink but this will not always fit inside of your case choice.
I don’t need a Graphics Card
Most motherboards come this an On-Board graphics processor, most are not worth touching for HTPC unless you are not after HD playback, however some of them are worth using, especially if you plan to play HD as mentioned above. The are a few HDCP HDMI motherboards around, the AMD 780G chipset has ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics built on(for more info click here).
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Gaming GPU
At the time of posting if you are interested in gaming, try the ATI 4850, this is a single slot high performance gaming card. However it does produce allot of heat so a good airflow through your case is a requirement rather than idyllic. This card can also use the supplied DVI-HDMI adapter to attach to your HD screen and also transfer audio over the HDMI.There are many third party heatsinks available like the Thermalright T-Rad2 VGA Cooler
HDCP GPU
While there are many HDCP graphics cards around I would recommend the following as best bang for buck:
8600gts passive
-This can be found at about £70(uk) which is a steal for a mid powered HDCP capable GPU, and of course because it is passive it features the ever more important silence.
ATI 3850
-Found for around £50-£60(uk). Another loved card by HTPC builders due to low power consumption compared to other cards. This card also claims (confirmed by reviews) to be brilliant at playing that beautiful HD content.
I hope this has helped for some people currently deciding on what to buy for their HTPC.
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