Silent_Buddha
Legend
To be fair, software VC-1 decoding is a lot less demanding of CPU resources than than software h.264 decoding. But I agree it's an odd omission. HTPC users who employ a passively cooled RV630 or RV610 card will probably be able to scale back their CPU speed to the point where that can be passively cooled as well. Combine that with a fanless PSU and some quiet 120mm case fans and damped hard-drive mountings, and you should have an impressively low noise-floor.
That's what I'm hoping for and that's exactly the setup I have for my HTPC/File server/p2p machine/part time LAN gaming machine.
Everything is passively cooled with a single 120mm case fan providing some airflow in the case. It'd be nice if I could go fanless as even with a 20 db fan (Scythe S-Flex), I can hear it from across the room if I'm not watching a movie or listening to music. I'm considering sticking their 8.7 db fan in there but not sure it'll provide enough case airflow to keep everything relatively cool while running torrents. One of the drawbacks of living in an area with absolutely no ambient noise other than the occasional bird and the bubbling stream outside the house.
I downclock and downvolt the CPU when I don't have company over for LAN gaming.
I almost bought a passively cooled 8600 after reviews due to it's impressive Video Decode of mpeg 2 and h.264. However, VC-1 is a concern as this machine will in the future also be expected to play either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.
Right now VC-1 decode and HDMI with audio are the two big selling points for HD 2600 XT compared to the 8600. However, if it doesn't live up to expectations, I'm not sure what I'll be doing with regards to the HTPC.
Regards,
SB
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