Dual HDMI Question

[jamesweber]

I am building a PC and I need some help choosing a graphics card. I used to be quite up-to-date with this kind of thing, but a few years have slipped and now I am out of touch :/

My main requirements are:
- Medium-to-high end. Would like to play some new games, but not my main objective.
- Needs to have 2 HDMI outputs.
- PCI-E.

I have an LCD TV that I would like to output from the PC to HDMI (therefore get audio too), and I also have a monitor that can take HDMI. Therefore I want to output to both from the same card without constantly pulling out and changing the cable every time I want to switch. I have read that DVI and HDMI are the same, but can you get audio through DVI?

I have found this card, but I don't know if it will meet the HDMI objectives: http://www.asus.de/product.aspx?P_ID=2bgXQ8xJkV4odiKM&templete=2. Could someone please advise? If I can achieve these objectives by using 2x DVI-HDMI adapters that will be fine (please advise about audio!...just for one - the TV output). Or at least one HDMI adapter to the TV and use a DVI to the monitor.

Is DVI on this card the same quality as one that would be output on HDMI (1080p)?

If you could suggest any other models, it would be appreciated.

Thanks very much for any help.

James.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Cards pass Audio over DVI via the extra pins which are assigned for data (like EDID info etc) and they then convert them to audio on the HDMI by aligning with the proper pins on the HDMI cable.

AS long as you only want Audio over one then you're fine.

Both ATi and nVidia have solutions.

What level of games do you want to play?

The card you've picked is solid, but a bit overkill if you don't game and consumes alot of power.

My suggestion would be get a cheap HD5670 if you are a very casual gamer, that way you get 'good enough' gaming performance with some sliders toned down to the left, and then you get the full video/audio support.

For a little more power something like an HD5750 or 5770 would fine with the HD5770 being near the same level of performance as the one you picked, but with more features and use about half the power.

From your ASUS site, here are some links for the HD5750 & 5770;

http://www.asus.de/product.aspx?P_ID=V02caADLqsFHytAd&templete=2
http://www.asus.de/product.aspx?P_ID=48Fdihmj8luGFa8u&templete=2

or even the HD4770;
http://www.asus.de/product.aspx?P_ID=DkruZddkdVVGZINJ&templete=2

here's the HD5670 from another location;
http://www.hisdigital.com/us/product2-504.shtml

Check review online if you want to compare performance. But for features, those are the best solutions, and all will support dual HDMI, but only audio out of one primary.

 

[jamesweber]

Thanks very much for the reply

Since writing the post, I have found this one, and you even suggested it. Any thoughts?: http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?psn=0001&pid=296

With this card I will plan to do this:
DVI to monitor
HDMI to TV (will get audio transmitted too)

Seems good price too, in Germany I can get it for ~150€.

Regarding the level of games, not intense, but I don't want to be limited. Maybe Left for Dead, and some regular stuff like Counterstrike etc.

Cheers,
James.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yep, that would be a good choice, and for playing modern games at 1080P it will do a solid job with pretty much everything out there are high settings (maybe not max in some games like Crysis, but high) and should allow high settings for most new games over the next year too.