thoroughly confused :hdav card vs radeon 5xxx series?

[corElement]

I'm not really building a full fledged htpc or gaming pc, I call it the pseudo htgaming pc

ok some notes I thought id put across

The 890gx chipset withonboard hd 4290 is definitely a good gpu. I'm playing farcry 2 on it at 30fps at lowest settings however the 4290 on it has crossfire hybrid and not crossfire x so you can only crossfire it with ati cards which say "hybrid crossfire" and not "crossfire x" it can pretty much run anything you throw at it except crysis. Ofcourse for games, you cannot push it beyond 720p so someone with a 720p tv and using an 890gx chipset mobo can definitely take advantage of its onboard gaming capabilities being a dx 10.1 card.

My 890gx chipset mobo is the gigabyte 890gpA-ud3h
it is full atx and have lots of pci and pcie slots so no issues with double slot gpu.

True the 890gx chipset mobos have onboard hdmi that can bitstream... EXTREMELY god vfm..

BUT, theres noise in the audio and no advanced settings like crossover or lfe. Its very basic and the sound eve nthough its an hd892 codec, is inferior to an nforce 2 soundstorm based on AC97 codec eve nthough the ac97 is technologically far inferior.

 

[cmsajith]

If you are bitstreaming / taking the digital out and not using the M/B DAC, there will not any noise. HTPC is only a source for music / movies. The rest of the chain should be there to get the proper SQ.

I'm not really building a full fledged htpc or gaming pc, I call it the pseudo htgaming pc

ok some notes I thought id put across

The 890gx chipset withonboard hd 4290 is definitely a good gpu. I'm playing farcry 2 on it at 30fps at lowest settings however the 4290 on it has crossfire hybrid and not crossfire x so you can only crossfire it with ati cards which say "hybrid crossfire" and not "crossfire x" it can pretty much run anything you throw at it except crysis. Ofcourse for games, you cannot push it beyond 720p so someone with a 720p tv and using an 890gx chipset mobo can definitely take advantage of its onboard gaming capabilities being a dx 10.1 card.

My 890gx chipset mobo is the gigabyte 890gpA-ud3h
it is full atx and have lots of pci and pcie slots so no issues with double slot gpu.

True the 890gx chipset mobos have onboard hdmi that can bitstream... EXTREMELY god vfm..

BUT, theres noise in the audio and no advanced settings like crossover or lfe. Its very basic and the sound eve nthough its an hd892 codec, is inferior to an nforce 2 soundstorm based on AC97 codec eve nthough the ac97 is technologically far inferior.

 

[spirovious]

Thanks cmsajith & corElement for adding info.
I may exchage my E4500 & 945 MSI brd with my friend who has E7500 & asus G31 brd which can be OK if I add a ATI GC.

 

[corElement]

If you are bitstreaming / taking the digital out and not using the M/B DAC, there will not any noise. HTPC is only a source for music / movies. The rest of the chain should be there to get the proper SQ.

I'm not sure what youre trying to say.

My avr does not have hdmi, its toslink. At the moment im using the motherboard soundcard however once I get my paws on my xonar d2x from the us ill be using the digital coaxial out from that care. I also dont use a tv so my 19" monitor is gonna be linked to the 5850 via dvi when it arrives today.

The noise I was refering to is native to gigabyte.
Their manufacturing layouts are such that the audio parts end up near other heavily interfereing areas of the motherboard. Not the same case with asus I believe. But each board varies, gigabyte has a tendency to have badly placed audio on the pcb.

downloading driver and waiting for the 5850 as we speak

 

[cmsajith]

Please go through the post again. Everybody knows the onboard sound card of any M/B will have issues in audio since a PC has lot of internal drives\cards and the electric interference from those can affect the audio unless the audio circuit is properly shielded, its not specific to Gigabyte, its common for all. If you have Coaxial \ ToSlink in your AVR, why cant you use the digital out from the M/B so that the DACs from the AVR can be used. Are you buying D2X card for Coaxial out? If so, then IMHO you are wasting your money. The card is priced and praised for its internal DAC and if you are not using it, it will not make any difference than connecting the digital out of your M/B to AVR. Hope you understand.

I'm not sure what youre trying to say.

My avr does not have hdmi, its toslink. At the moment im using the motherboard soundcard however once I get my paws on my xonar d2x from the us ill be using the digital coaxial out from that care. I also dont use a tv so my 19" monitor is gonna be linked to the 5850 via dvi when it arrives today.

The noise I was refering to is native to gigabyte.
Their manufacturing layouts are such that the audio parts end up near other heavily interfereing areas of the motherboard. Not the same case with asus I believe. But each board varies, gigabyte has a tendency to have badly placed audio on the pcb.

downloading driver and waiting for the 5850 as we speak

 

[corElement]

Please go through the post again. Everybody knows the onboard sound card of any M/B will have issues in audio since a PC has lot of internal drives\cards and the electric interference from those can affect the audio unless the audio circuit is properly shielded, its not specific to Gigabyte, its common for all.

Yes, however in several reviews I've found the editors to complain about gigabyte's layout to be worse than other mobo manufacturers.

If you have Coaxial \ ToSlink in your AVR, why cant you use the digital out from the M/B so that the DACs from the AVR can be used.

I am using it..

Are you buying D2X card for Coaxial out? If so, then IMHO you are wasting your money. The card is priced and praised for its internal DAC and if you are not using it, it will not make any difference than connecting the digital out of your M/B to AVR. Hope you understand.

I think youre confusing yourself lol..

I bought the d2x because its one of the best soundcards available, and superior to the hdav even though it's hdmi. When the xonar arrives, i will disconnect my toslink from the mobo, install the card and connect the avr to the soundcard. No other reason, what reason did you think I bought it for?

 

[cmsajith]

I was confused because of your statement : "My avr does not have hdmi, its toslink. At the moment im using the motherboard soundcard however once I get my paws on my xonar d2x from the us ill be using the digital coaxial out from that care."

The above doesnt match with your previous post. Anyways, doesnt matter since you know what you are doing..

I am using it..

I think youre confusing yourself lol..

the xonar arrives, i will disconnect my toslink from the mobo, install the card and connect the avr to the soundcard.

 

[corElement]

hehe

WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO GOT MY 5850! crysis and all other games at max very high settings smooooooooth as butter baby!

 

[cmsajith]

congrats, enjoy.. Need a detailed review...

Just now i noticed your signature that you are a game tester...the valid reason for this card

 

[sam9s]

hehe

WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO GOT MY 5850! crysis and all other games at max very high settings smooooooooth as butter baby!

Crysis 1 very high setting, full AA and AF ..... are you sure its butter smooth......assuming you are playing at a meak 1440x990 resolution....

I too have HD 5850 BTW

 

[spirovious]

Well,I have compared my D2X with onbrd realtek.
I found noice on realtek was very low,but details missing.

 

[corElement]

yeah, everything maxed out and turned on @ 1440x900. So awesome.

 

[sam9s]

yeah, everything maxed out and turned on @ 1440x900. So awesome.

mmm. I tried on 1980x1080 47" LCD full AA and AF and it was not "butter" smooth though playable. Its the resolution, at 1980x1200, the fps drop is even more prominently......

BTW congratts, 5850 is one hell of a card...........no game (except crysis 1) goes below 40fps with every thing maxed out @ 1920x1080 ....... gaming pleasure and butter smooth....

 

[venkatcr]

Man, you guys are already playing with products I have been salivating about. congratulations guys. Today, I am going to the local hardware market and see what is available. I am in Dubai, BTW.

Cheers

 

[corElement]

get me some saudi food will ya

also. i cant afford lcd tv =( but tbh i cant notice the diff between 2x and 16x aa so ive lowered my thing to 2x aa, even more fps ! wooo

 

[spirovious]

SAPPHIRE HD 5450 for $52.14

SAPPHIRE 100291L - RADEON HD 5450 - 512 MB DDR2 HDMI/DV - eBay (item 120580553704 end time Jul-07-10 19:33:56 PDT)

a review-
Sapphire Radeon HD 5450 512MB DDR3 Review - Page 15

Still its said Hd 56series is the one which is best entry level GC for HTPC as 5450 has some lows.Is it true?

 

[sam9s]

also. i cant afford lcd tv =( but tbh i cant notice the diff between 2x and 16x aa so ive lowered my thing to 2x aa, even more fps ! wooo

Maybe not on 19" screen, but on a 24" and definately on 47", the difference is clearly visible. Also some games really shine with AA and AF, some dont, like Farcry 1 did wonders with full AA and HDR enabled. Crysis Warhead also showed good improvement with full AA.

 

[Imrahn]

If only u had an HDMI receiver,corelement......would LOVE to get a review on the D2X vs 5850 audio outputs.

 

[corElement]

What do you mean?

Even if I had an hdmi avr, the audio when I play blu rays would be routed from the soundcard to the 5850 only..

are you asking what you think it would have sounded with the d2x routing it through its own coaxial vs routing through the 5850 hdmi out?

 

[spirovious]

again, is HD 5450 enough for Bluray playback?proper hardware acceleration?