[mythtv-users] Low powered nvidia GPU

[GZ]

On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 9:54 AM, Fred Watt <fredwattmythtv at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thank you both for your thoughts, all progressive.  What I am looking for is
> a low powered kepler card.  When the slave is recording without anyone
> viewing the frontend it would lovely if the gpu idled as low as was
> possible.  Likewise when myth frontend is in use, a low draw would help with
> the efficiency of the slave.

Just to add a bit of background on the Nvidia GT 600-series cards -
note that even though they are designated  6xx, they are not all
Keplers..

The 610 is a rebadged GT 520 (Fermi architecture).  It will actually
be the card with the lowest power draw, but has some drawbacks.  Using
VDPAU, it cannot deinterlace 1080i using the advanced 2x profile,
which gives the quality.  It is generally agreed that you must step
down to a lesser deinterlacer.

The 620 is a rebadged GT 430 (Fermi). This card has higher power
consumption but can generally deinterlace 1080i using advanced 2x.
Some people in the USA (60 fps) have reported problems, but this
shouldn't be an issue for the UK (50 fps).

The 630 is a rebadged GT 440 (Fermi).  This card is a 430 with a
higher clock rate and faster memory.  Its power draw is similar to the
620, and should work fine in a frontend.

The GT 640 is the lowest end card that's actually a Kepler.  You're
going to pay a bit more money for this card.  A review at tomshardware
(http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gt-640-review,3214-10.html)
shows this card uses 20W less power than the 440 under load, but only
a 1W difference at idle.  You'll get better gaming performance, but
you won't really notice it if you're just using the system for video
playback. If having the latest card is important to you, feel free to
get it, but it will likely not result in significant power savings on
your frontend.

The GTX 650 is an interesting choice.  It's the same as the GT 640,
but the GPU is clocked slightly faster and uses faster GDDR5 memory.
It has better gaming performance (but you won't notice this unless
your frontend performs double duty).  However, according to the tests
at tomshardware
(http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-geforce-gtx-650-benchmark,3297.html)
it idles 8W lower than the GT 640, but is the same under load.  In the
US, these are running about $20-$30 more than the 640.
How much is the reduced power consumption with Kepler worth to you?
Or do you prefer Kepler to future-proof your rig?
I hope this is helpful.
-Greg