Decent low profile PCIe card with HDMI?

[bizzybody]

Having had good results playing H.265 720p on a friend's creaky old Socket 939 box with XP, 2gig DDR1 and a 512 meg 8800 GT - after installing Strongene OpenCL and LAV (and even better playback after swapping in a dual core Athlon x64 CPU), I want to put together a somewhat better system for myself.

I have a Dell Optiplex 760 low profile desktop. It has a 3.0Ghz E8400 Core 2 Duo and 4 gig PC2 5300.

The only piece I need for the Dell is a low profile PCIe x16 card with HDMI, with performance at least as good as the 8800 GT, with OpenCL support. I have done some searching but so far it looks as if the low profile cards are all stuck with the low end of <choose a GPU family> with many of them that are newer designs benchmarking no better or even worse than the old full height 8800 GT cards.

Also in the Dell's favor is it's already black. I had to paint the Compaq Evo it will replace.

[usually_quiet]

Low-profile video cards are constrained by their form factor and the limitations of the systems where they are used. They are installed in systems with small cases, with poor airflow, and relatively low wattage power supplies, plus there is no room to install large cooling fans on the card. They need to have low-end, low power GPUs to avoid over-heating and to prevent over-taxing the PSU.

That is why you won't find a GPU on a recent low-profile video card which is more powerful than an AMD Radeon R7 250, AMD Radeon HD 7750, or NVIDIA GeForce GT 740.

[Kerry56]

I believe the 750ti is the most powerful low profile video card available. Found here at Amazon.

You'll need a reasonably good power supply for it.

[usually_quiet]

I believe the 750ti is the most powerful low profile video card available. Found here at Amazon.

You'll need a reasonably good power supply for it.

It could work for some people, but the description doesn't say if there is a low-profile bracket available for this card. Also notice that it takes up two expansion slots, plus a bit more because of the height of the fan. See http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5160#ov

[Edit]There is a low-profile bracket shown in one of the pictures at newegg's page for this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125680

MSI made something similar with dual fans http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-Graphics-Cards-N750TI-2GD5TLP/dp/B00SOXMPJY

It is still bulky and it apparently does not include a low profile bracket.

[Rogeroo]

An HD 6450 is probably the best for your setup. It has a fan which you will need in the small box and the current draw is very low. They are usually found for $10 on sale.

[usually_quiet]

I agree that an older, cheaper, video card with 1GB of memory would be a better fit with a CPU and motherboard chip set released seven years ago.

[isapc]

Have a look at some of the Quadro's.
http://www.amazon.com/Quadro-2000-PCIe-x16-GDDR5/dp/B004LCLSJU/ref=sr_1_15?s=pc&ie=UTF...n%3A6147188011

[usually_quiet]

I looked at some pictures of the Dell Optiplex 760 low profile desktop system. It looks like this model has a BTX-type motherboard, which means both the 750ti low-profile video cards are unlikely to fit.They are just too bulky.

[bizzybody]

An HD 6450 is probably the best for your setup. It has a fan which you will need in the small box and the current draw is very low. They are usually found for $10 on sale.

Where Can I find one? Amazon has a fanless one for $39.99 http://www.amazon.com/Asus-Radeon-Silence-Profile-PCI-Express/dp/B004X8EO6Q/

I've been looking at those cheap Android TV boxes. If I'm going to have to spend over $50 on a video card to use this old Dell 760 as an HTPC I'll just get one of those Android boxes and plug in my Logitech K400.

Then there's the question of H.265, or should a 3.0 Ghz core 2 Duo have enough grunt on its own for that?

My desktop is a Socket AM2+ with an AM3 Phenom II 555 X2 and a 9800 GT. It played 1280x720 H.265 acceptably before I installed Strongene OpenCL and LAV. (I should try a 1080p test video to see if that'll strangle it with the CUVID.)

On my friend's old Socket 939 Athlon, the dual core CPU was periodically peaking at 55%, most of the time hovering around 40% playing 1280x720. Any other codec barely budges the meter. Did not test the dual core without Strongene OpenCL and LAV with nVidia CUVID hardware acceleration selected and HEVC box checked. He's just happy it works and plays without any lagging or audio synch issues.

The older CPU, first generation Socket 939 single core would peg 100% during fight scenes with lots of fast motion or in low motion scenes with a lot of detail.

[usually_quiet]

$10 is too low for a new Radeon HD 6450 (unless there is a huge rebate). You might find a used one on ebay for $20-$25. http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Radeon-HD-6450-DDR3-SDRAM-DVI-Output-DirectX11-Win-7-Compa...item2a597d94d9

There is a version of the Radeon HD 6450 with a fan on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Profile-PCI-Express-R6450-MD1GD3-LP/dp/B004X6ABTM/ref=sr_1_1...ds=msi+HD+6450