Cheap HTPC card for 2K or 4K

[Out Of Bubblegum]

Upgraded to a 2K monitor. My old PC that I use as an HTPC has a 560Ti card. That card just won't cut it now. Gee, The 560Ti is only 10 years old. Not even a tween. How often do I gotta upgrade this stuff? :)

What is the cheapest card I can get to play videos and BluRay disks and do a good job to upscale to 2560X1440 or to 3440x1440?

What if I want to spend a little more to be able to support 4K? To be able to upscale videos and BluRay to 4K. And to be able to play true 4K videos and the new 4K BluRay disks.

I do not need any gaming ability.

I probably should wait a few months for the next gen cards to come out. That may drop the prices on the older cards. Or it may have no effect on the ones I want.

[ericcui1]

Pretty much any modern CPU with integrated graphics.

[Out Of Bubblegum]

That's a thought. But I am not looking to upgrade my MB, CPU and memory. They kinda all go together. I am pretty sure my MB does not support integrated graphics.

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

why not list your current htpc specs?

[Washell]

I would have thought the 560ti can play 4k media just fine. It's not exactly a demanding task. A bluray player certainly doesn't have a hefty graphics card.

If you're running into playback issues, I'd suspect software over hardware.

[emoticorpse]

Цитата допису Washell:

I would have thought the 560ti can play 4k media just fine. It's not exactly a demanding task. A bluray player certainly doesn't have a hefty graphics card.

If you're running into playback issues, I'd suspect software over hardware.

I agree with this. Check your software.

[Out Of Bubblegum]

I do kinda think that a driver update could fix it. But that ain't gonna happen. The 560 is abandoned. But, the output is not HDMI 2.0. Nothing will fix that. The output would be limited to 30Hz anyway.

[emoticorpse]

Цитата допису Out Of Bubblegum:

I do kinda think that a driver update could fix it. But that ain't gonna happen. The 560 is abandoned. But, the output is not HDMI 2.0. Nothing will fix that. The output would be limited to 30Hz anyway.

What are you using to playback the video?

[Out Of Bubblegum]

I found an article that shows how to set up a custom resolution for 2K in the control panel. Set 2560x1440 and timing to CVT-RB. I left it set at 60HZ. It is working. I have not tested videos too much yet. It looks like a little flicker like it is 30Hz and not really 60Hz. I don't know how to test that to confirm.

I use PotPlayer or VLC player for most videos. I forget the name of my BluRay disk player.

[emoticorpse]

Цитата допису Out Of Bubblegum:

I found an article that shows how to set up a custom resolution for 2K in the control panel. Set 2560x1440 and timing to CVT-RB. I left it set at 60HZ. It is working. I have not tested videos too much yet. It looks like a little flicker like it is 30Hz and not really 60Hz. I don't know how to test that to confirm.

I use PotPlayer or VLC player for most videos. I forget the name of my BluRay disk player.

Well, I suggest installing k-lite codec pack and setting madvr as the renderer for all your videos. but since it won't play back encrypted discs, your much more limited on options. I suppose you could try Laewoo if you haven't already tried that.

[Out Of Bubblegum]

According to the madVR website, PotPlayer already uses it. I do think I see a better video quality with PotPlayer over VLC.

[_I_]

intel uhd igpus or ryzen apus
or gt1030 or better can do 4k

[Bad 💀 Motha]

I had a gtx 570 and 580 before. Much too weak for 4K Bluray or H264/H265 MKV files in VLC. And that was coupled with FX-8350 and I7-4790K. For those it was better to just rip 4K Bluray to 1080p MKV to save file size and to ensure pretty much any gpu could play it smooth enough, even via a cheap laptop or phone, streaming the file from the main PC or Home NAS via WIFi. And then on my living room HTPC it looked just fine to play that ripped 1080p file on a 4K monitor or TV.

Modern iGPU such as what's on board Intel 8th gen i5 or better, or a Ryzen 2400G/3400G can handle those just fine though.

What's the full specs of your HTPC?

If it's something like a 3rd or 4th gen Intel i5 or better, that should be fine. Just need to update to whatever is the latest bios and then use a modern gpu. On the cheap look at RX 460 or 560. But I always prefer to use Nvidia as they tend to do encoding and decoding better anyways, so for that maybe a gtx 1650 Super, which are quite cheap now.