Card recommendation?

[Frank616]

I'm going to buy a used desktop box this week, and need a recommendation on an NVIDIA graphics card that will feed digital video and digital audio to my Insignia NS-L42Q-10A flatscreen TV through an HDMI port.

From the flatscreen, I connect my older stereo amplifier through an s/pdif port on the flatscreen to an external DAC. I have confirmed that the audio from flatscreen does indeed get passed through the s/pdif port to the stereo.

I don't need much of a card. It just has to drive the 1920 x 1080 flatscreen at native resolution, and provide digital stereo sound. I'm not a gamer. The card must drive the flatscreen through the HDMI port.

IIUC, pretty much any of the recent NVIDIA cards will do this. However, if some work better than others, then I'd like to know. I'm running Kubuntu 11.10.

So, recommendations, anyone?

Thanks.

Frank.

[Gusar]

If you're not a gamer, the lowest of the low-end will do. Which means GT520

[jcornwall]

I have a GT 430 driving a 1080 HDMI display with XBMC and it works great.

It copes fine with realtime (ripped) blu-ray playback and deinterlacing. Audio over HDMI worked with a bit of XBMC settings tweaking.

[Frank616]

Gusar:

I'm looking at a GT-520 silent model as this machine sits in the living room. I think it will even work in this old Dell Optiplex GX-620 which has one pci-e slot in it.

I can expect hassle-free digital audio over HDMI with this card using Kubuntu 11.10?

Thanks.

JCornwall:

I've been out of this for too many years.... What is XBMC and what is it used for? I checked Wikipedia, but I still don't fully understand. Is this some sort of program, or hardware that allows the use of a remote to control the computer?

Thanks.

Frank.

[Gusar]

Originally Posted by Frank616

Gusar:

I'm looking at a GT-520 silent model as this machine sits in the living room. I think it will even work in this old Dell Optiplex GX-620 which has one pci-e slot in it.

Make sure there's enough room in the case for the card's large cooler. Otherwise, good choice.

Originally Posted by Frank616

I can expect hassle-free digital audio over HDMI with this card using Kubuntu 11.10?

I have never actually used HDMI audio, but if I check all soundcards, Nvidia HDMI is listed among them, so I assume it works. (I have a GTS450, but that shouldn't make a difference, the same nvidia driver is used)

Originally Posted by Frank616

I've been out of this for too many years.... What is XBMC and what is it used for? I checked Wikipedia, but I still don't fully understand. Is this some sort of program, or hardware that allows the use of a remote to control the computer?

It's a software multimedia center. So in essence, it's a program.

[Frank616]

Gusar:

Make sure there's enough room in the case for the card's large cooler. Otherwise, good choice.

I have an MSI NX8400GS - TD512EH in there now. I had to cut about 1" of the cooling fin off the back of the card to clear the fan housing on the CPU cooling fan, but it didn't affect the card.

OK, so I'm off to buy the GT-520 card. Here's hoping....

Thanks for your help.

Frank.

[Frank616]

OK, plugged in the card, took out the old sound card, installed a new 1 TB drive and a new CD-ROM, and installed Kubuntu 11.10 with the option to download updates during the installation, and to install third party sofware. Connected the HDMI cable to the card, and let 'er rip! Machine came up in Kubuntu 11.10 at 1920 x 1080 AND with digital sound working!! I had to do NOTHING other than let the installer do its thing.

I'm happy!

NVIDIA should really be congratulated for the effort they put forth to support Linux on their cards. I don't buy anything else anymore, and this is probably the fourth NVIDIA card I've bought this past couple of years.

Frank.

[jcornwall]

Originally Posted by Frank616

I've been out of this for too many years.... What is XBMC and what is it used for? I checked Wikipedia, but I still don't fully understand. Is this some sort of program, or hardware that allows the use of a remote to control the computer?

You might have guessed as much from the website, but it's an application (effectively one that replaces the KDE desktop, although you can run it on top) which presents a TV-like interface to your music, videos, streaming websites, etc.

Can hook up a remote control and control the whole thing from your sofa. I rip DVDs and Blu-Rays onto a hard disk and XBMC presents them as a list with IMDB information, so I can see my whole collection and watch anything without messing with discs. It's well worth the effort.