[mythtv-users] 5200 or 6200

[Jarod Wilson]

Tom Lichti wrote:
> Nick Morrott wrote:
>> On 23/01/07, Damian Surr <damian at gingermagic.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Does MythTV prefer 5200 or 6200 for any reason?
>> The 5xxx series of cards do not have the black and white OSD problems
>> that the 6xxx and 7xxx series cards have, due to a change in the way
>> chroma-keying is handled (see
>> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/XvMC#Greyscale_OSD_.28NVidia_4_.26_5.29
>> for more infor).

Be sure to note that this only applies if you're using XvMC (I don't).

>> A 5200 card with 128MB, TV-out and DVI would be my choice - many US
>> users use the 5200 for HDTV output in addition to SDTV, using the XvMC
>> support in the nVidia driver. There's no benefit in getting 256MB
>> unless you are also going to use the machine for heavy gaming.

Hell, I'm pretty sure there's no benefit from 128MB over 64MB.

>> OpenGL
>> support allows you also to use the new OpenGL-enabled menus in the
>> frontend.
> 
> I had a 5200, but moved to a 6200 because it came with a component out 
> dongle, which works much better than the setup I had before. No issues 
> with the 5200 though, just didn't have component out. I have the 5200 in 
> another frontend now.

I had an AGP 5200 in my old frontend, never had any issues with it, 
worked great. Then I got a new HDTV w/DVI inputs. My 5200 had no DVI 
output. I also switch frontend systems to an Athlon64 3500 (from an 
Athlon XP 3200), so I bought a (64MB-onboard) PCIe 6200TC w/DVI out, and 
I've now got it pushing my HDTV at 1920x1080p. With the nvidia 9746 
driver and UseEvents on, 720p playback uses 25% cpu, 1080i 30% cpu (and 
the cpufreq stays throttled back to 1GHz during 720p playback, nudges up 
just a touch for 1080i).

Dunno for sure how the 5200 system would compare anymore, since a lot 
has changed in a year-plus, but I ran about 60-75% cpu busy back then 
(one would assume it'd be more efficient w/updated drivers/mythtv, but 
even back then, it worked well enough). And again, no xvmc anywhere. So 
both are perfectly viable if you ask me. The component dongles on the 
6000-series certainly can make life easier if your HDTV only has 
component inputs though.

--jarod