[mythtv-users] Replacing half height NVidia GT430

[lists.md301]

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 10:44 AM, Gerald Brandt - Majentis <gbr at majentis.com
> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have a small case Acer with an NVidia 9400.  I can only fit half height
> cards in it, so I got an NVidia GT430, with a fan.  It turns out the fan is
> WAY too loud.
>
> Does anybody know where I can get a 1/2 height NVidia card that will do
> VDPAU High Quality?  Fanless? (North America)
>

I can't say for sure that this does not exist, but I doubt that one does.
When I bought my fanless full height GT430 (Zotac) almost exactly a year
ago, there were only a couple (at most).  I presume that heat sink size
required to go fanless is physically impossible in the half height form
factor.  I don't believe nVidia has attempted any die shrink/power
reduction on the GT430, as they've moved on.  If I understand the lineup,
the best hope might be if someone makes a discrete card out of the GT640M
chipset, targeted for laptops and perhaps more power efficient.  It's still
pretty new so I don't think any special variations have hit the market yet.

If I've understood all the threads here on nVidia chipsets capable of VPDAU
HQ, the only possible way to improve the GT430 thermal profile is to
undervolt/underclock it, which puts performance at risk for HQ.  There's
been some guidance here on this list on how to disable power saving
features to ensure the GT430 performance doesn't slip below the minimum
threshold.  It's that close to the edge.  Personally, for me, I've never
seen any of artifacts that some people have (once I properly set up my
LED-TV's interlace processing).

BTW, check out mail archive threads about this:  GT5xx doesn't cut it for
VDPAU HQ (Advanced 2X).
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