PC Graphics

[tomlando]

I need a video card recomendations for my HTPC. It is currently using a Panasonic 65' 1080 Plasma for a monitor and it is not used for gaming, Just recorded video, tv, movies and streaming. I will be upgrading to 4K TV soon.

My system details are:

Processor:      A-10 7850K 95W 3.7Ghz

Motherboard:    Asus A78M-E

PSU:  Corsair 500W 80 Plus Bronze

RAM:  2x8g Hyper X Fury DDR3 1866 CL10

Operating System is Windows 7 Ultimate and I use Windows Media Center

When I upgraded to the newest Radeon  Adrenalin 19.1.1 driver for processors my system has a unsteady video. It seemed like the driver was too much for my current system

So I have ordered the memory listed and would appreciate any help to select a graphics card with 4K upscaling.

Thank you.

[ajlueke · Accepted solution]

For your purposes, something like the RX 550 will be just fine.  With the limited amount of work you're doing, upgrading to an AM4 mini-itx board and an Athlon 200GE will give you similar performance to the A10-7850K with a more future proof feature set.  You'd need DDR4 RAM for that as opposed tot he DDR3 you just ordered, but it's something to consider.

[tomlando]

Thank you for your response , Ajlueke. The reason I just wanted to upgrade my current system is because I wanted to maintain my Windows 7 W/ Media Center. I am not sure how much longer I will be able to use this system after MS stops support on W7.

[ajlueke]

What is the reason you are sticking it out with Media Center?  Using an Infinitv 4 tuner or something similar?

[tomlando]

Well, I guess it's habit. I have been using WMC for over 10 years and it has been very reliable. I have checked out other programs but none were as good for what I need...especially closed captions. I currently am using 2 PCI dual tuner cards from Hauppauge, but I am going to a network linked 4 tuner from SiliconDust to make room for the video card.

[ajlueke]

I used Media Center with an Infinitv 4/My movies setup about 10 years ago.  After the feature was excluded from Windows 10, I ultimately migrated away from Media Center and ultimately cable TV altogether.  I currently use a combo of streaming services, and Kodi.  Most TV/movies I like I wind up buying on disc, and them ripping them 1:1 as .mkvs.  I can then play those back with Kodi, and stream them to any other PC in the house.

That does necessitate having a decent server setup to store the large Blu-ray/4K rips, but overall I'm really happy with it.

[tomlando]

You are much more ambitious than I. I will just ride the WMC train until it doesn't run anymore. No cable TV here either as I get great reception with an antenna. I usually don't have much trouble with it. I've been reading that several others have had an issue with driver 19.1.1 and the latest 19.2.3 I just tried to download on a different PC failed with a 1603 error code. It seems like some complicated solutions listed to try so I will keep the old driver on that for a while....until I feel like getting into it

I have decided to get this card:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y5WGXX3/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was only $30-35 more than a 550 and it is 256 bit. Now I am concerned that I may have a problem with the drivers and some mentioned it may be a windows 7 issue. I guess I will find out this weekend.