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S3 crams DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI onto $70 Chrome 540 GTX

by Darren Murph posted Feb 16th 2009 at 3:31AM


While the future seems bright for DisplayPort, it's still tough to find a GPU out there with a DisplayPort socket -- and the search becomes increasingly difficult when hunting one down that's affordable. Enter S3, who is expanding its Chrome 500 series with the Chrome 540 GTX. Hailed as the "world's most connected high-def card," this PCI Express card boasts 256MB of GDDR3 memory, compatibility with DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.0, support for Blu-ray playback and a trifecta of interfaces: DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort. The best part? It comes bundled with WinDVD 8 for BD playback and can be procured today for the low, low price of $69.95.

Ask Engadget HD: What's the best graphics card for my HTPC?

by Darren Murph posted Sep 10th 2008 at 12:00PM Featured Story


So, you've decided to build yourself an HTPC, huh? Splendid! Now, what GPU are you going to toss in there? That's the gist of Marcus' question:

"I'm looking to assemble a living room PC to play back Blu-ray Discs, internet video, streamed HD clips, etc. I'm stuck when it comes to selecting a graphics card powerful enough to handle all of that. I haven't decided whether or not to get a full-sized tower or just a mini-tower, so I'd appreciate suggestions for both setups. Cheaper is better, but I'll pay to make sure all playback is buttery smooth."

So, dearest readers, what's the GPU to get these days for handling multimedia content? Is ATI's new All-in-Wonder HD worth a look? Drop your advice in comments below.

Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.

Asus rolls out HDMI-enabled EAX1600PRO / EN7600GT graphics cards

by Darren Murph posted Mar 13th 2007 at 11:02PM


Asus is no stranger to kicking out curious motherboards and other peripherals that we geeks just can't help but love, and following up on its undertaking of auxiliary displays and the AquaTank PCI card is a couple of swank new video cards that tout an HDCP-friendly HDMI port. The half-height ATI Radeon X1600 EAX1600PRO was apparently crafted with the common HTPC builder in mind, as its diminutive size lends itself to becoming a perfect fit for those tight spaces within AV-like media center PC cases. But before you gamers get too excited, you should probably know that in-game performance is likely to be less than stellar, but HotHardware did note that its model wasn't shy when overclocked. Interestingly, this HTPC-centric card comes bundled sans a true HDMI-to-HDMI cable, which leaves us all a bit miffed considering the niche it's trying to appease. The EN7600GT ups the ante by delivering the frame rate luxuries as only an NVIDIA GeForce 7600 can, but its full-height design will definitely cause problems in slimmer enclosures. Other extras found on this device are its SLI-capabilities, DVI / S-video outputs, and optical audio jack, but considering it packs just 256MB of GDDR3 RAM, the hardcore gamers in the crowd are still not likely to find themselves impressed. Still, with the EAX1600PRO ringing up at just around a cool hundred, and the more powerful EN7600GT asking just about twice that, these here cards look to be solid options if you're just getting around to creating your own HTPC.

[Via Slashdot]




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