Without the best home theater video card, your recently purchased Home Theater PC or HTPC is incomplete. A decent graphics card will be required for high-quality video playback or recording on your HTPC setup. With a war waging between well-known brands such as Nvidia, AMD, and MSI, finding the best video card for HTPC if you are a rookie is becoming increasingly difficult.
HTPCs currently are equipped with strong processors capable of playing HD movies and performing routine tasks. If you’re a serious gamer, graphic artist, or videographer, though, you’ll need to put a little more money into your HTPC setup.
Obviously, you’ll have to spend some money to get a good GPU for your home theater PC. When building a HTPC for gaming or watching 4K movies, you’ll need to invest in high-performance GPUs. What if, like me, you’re a budget nerd who doesn’t want to break the bank while designing a next-generation HTPC?
There are still a number of solutions available to make your goal a reality. Low-profile video graphics cards are sufficient for playing and recording games at 1080p resolution. Furthermore, the low-profile version GPUs are easier to integrate into a home theater PC’s modest proportions. This article contains some of the best home theater video card.
Does Graphics Card Matter For Watching Movies?
Does graphics card matter when you are watching a movie?
Yes, graphics cards are vital when it comes to watching movies. If you don’t have a graphics card, you won’t be able to watch movies, and your monitor or TV will be blank.
Also, depending on the resolution of the film. It’s possible that you’ll need an integrated or dedicated graphics card.
How Can I Tell Which Graphics Cards Will Fit My Case?
How can I tell which graphics cards will fit my case?
The most crucial factor to consider for graphics-card considerations (which is probably why you ended up here) is how much card clearance the PC chassis you own (or are considering buying) has available. This is usually listed under “specifications” on the chassis’ product page or in an online manual. In a pinch, you can remove the side panel and use a tape measure or ruler to make an approximate approximation.
Locate the PCI Express card expansion brackets, which are normally located at the back of the case. The video-output ports of a graphics card will be visible through the back of the chassis at this location. Measure from there to the first barrier you come across, parallel to the PCI Express slot into which you’ll insert your card. If your card doesn’t have any power connectors protruding from the tail end, that’s the maximum length it can be. If it does, you’ll have to make up for it. (These days, the connections are almost always on the card’s top edge.)
If you wish to install a high-end gaming card, make sure you have enough area for it to be mounted across two expansion slots, as almost all such cards take up at least two bracket places. Some very small PC cases may not have enough room between the PCI Express slot you’ll use for a card and the neighboring case wall, making it impossible to install a card. If you’re upgrading an existing system, at the very least, give it a once-over.
Can Your Power Supply Handle a New Video Card?
Can your power supply handle a new video card?
The power supply (PSU) cable routing is another issue to consider when creating a tiny PC. While many cards on the market have their power-pin connection ports on the top of the card (and many tiny or Mini-ITX cases are designed to suit this design), a few may choose to put the pin connector on the card’s back-facing edge instead.
If you’re already working in a restricted location and every inch of total card measurement counts, make sure that wherever your card plugs into the PSU is large enough to accommodate all the other components and pieces you’re trying to fit into a small space.
Many tiny cards, on the other hand, will not even ask for a dedicated PSU power connection in the first place. Several of the alternatives we evaluated don’t require an external power supply because they get all of their power from the PCI Express slot they’re hooked into.
Keep in mind that without an external power source, these cards are limited in terms of graphics horsepower and overclocking capability. However, if those aren’t your primary worries, you might want to take this way to avoid any cabling troubles in the first place.
Best Home Theater Video Card
1. NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super
One of the best low-cost gaming graphics cards on the market. The GTX 1660 Super isn’t the most powerful card on the market. The HTPC, on the other hand, is more than capable of playing 4K movies. It has a large amount of VRAM and fast clock rates, allowing it to quickly compute and display graphical data.
It’s a wonderful choice for rendering, photo editing, and gaming because of this. In addition, the GPU’s cooling system is faultless, preventing GPU throttling even under heavy loads.It’s a wonderful choice for rendering, photo editing, and gaming because of this. In addition, the GPU’s cooling system is faultless, preventing GPU throttling even under heavy loads.
Overall, the GTX 1660 Super is the best video card for 4K HTPC or higher resolutions. Overall, if you’re looking for a 4K HTPC or better resolution, the GTX 1660 Super is the finest video card..One of the greatest entry-level gaming graphics cards available. The GTX 1660 Super isn’t the most powerful card on the market.
The HTPC, on the other hand, is more than capable of playing 4K movies.. It has a large amount of VRAM and fast clock rates, allowing it to quickly compute and display graphical data.
It’s a wonderful choice for rendering, photo editing, and gaming because of this. In addition, the GPU’s cooling system is faultless, preventing GPU throttling even under heavy loads. Overall, for 4K HTPC or higher resolutions, the GTX 1660 Super is the finest video card.
Pros:
- Affordable
- Outstanding performance
Cons:
- Ports are limited.
2. NVIDIA GTX 1650 OC
The GTX 1650 has been overclocked. This video card is not only affordable, but it can also stream 4K video and plays movies. It’s also capable of some 3D rendering and Photoshop operations.
Games can run at low to medium settings thanks to high clock speeds, CUDA cores, and enough VRAM. In conclusion, the GTX 1650 OC is a low-cost video card capable of 4K streaming on YouTube, Netflix, and other services.
Pros:
- Affordable
- Excellent gameplay performance
Cons:
- Not recommended for 4K gaming.
3. NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti
The GTX 1050 Ti used to be one of the most popular and costly video cards on the market a few years ago. Now? With the development of newer, more powerful video cards, it has fallen out of favor. The good news is that the GTX 1050 Ti is a reasonably priced graphics card.
It will provide more than enough power for your HTPC to play 4K movies. As a result, it’s one of the most budget-friendly GPUs for 4K video. Despite the fact that the equipment is antiquated, it is still more than capable of doing this work.
Pros:
- All games are handled in Full HD.
- Power consumption is ridiculously low.
- Design that is quiet
Cons:
- Low settings are required for some games.
4. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
The RTX 3080 is perfect for 4K gamers that don’t want to make any compromises. It outperforms the RTX 2080 Ti from last generation by a wide margin while costing roughly half as much. It can remain over 60 frames per second for 4K gaming in games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, ensuring smooth gameplay in even the most demanding environments. demanding games.
Its features should also not be overlooked. This Nvidia graphics card includes the most recent ray-tracing cores for accurate gaming lighting, as well as Tensor cores for dynamic upscaling with Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). The RTX 3080 has enough power to justify a purchase, but these two extra features send it over the top.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 is the best graphics card for 4K gaming. It hits a sweet spot in the high-end market, with enough power to run the most demanding AAA games without bloating the card with RAM that most gamers will never use. To save money, simply disregard the 12GB RTX 3080.
Pros:
- Exceptional 4K gaming performance
- Ray tracing is feasible because to Nvidia’s DLSS.
- There are plenty outstanding third-party options available.
Cons:
- At the moment, it’s really pricey.
5. AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT isn’t a terrific deal, but in this day and age, when GPU options are so costly, it’s a moot point. What counts with the RX 6600 XT is that it outperforms Nvidia’s RTX 3060 by a significant margin, and it’s up to $150 cheaper on the secondhand market.
At 1080p, the RX 6600 XT outperformed the RTX 3060 by around 11 percent on an average of five gaming benchmarks. It averaged 117.6 frames per second in our tests, making it an excellent choice for 1080p gamers with a high refresh rate display. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest 1080p graphics cards available right now.
Even in a demanding game like Cyberpunk 2077, the Radeon RX 6600 XT can maintain over 60 frames per second with all sliders cranked up. Aside from ray tracing, which remains one of the more demanding gaming tasks for a graphics card. When it comes to ray tracing, the RX 6600 XT falls short of its Nvidia counterpart, but neither card is meant for it.
Pros:
- Smooth 1080p gaming
- It does not necessitate a lot of power.
- 1440p gaming capability
Cons:
- A little too costly
Conclusion
A graphics card is one of the most significant components of a computer, as it provides a large portion of the graphical horsepower that allows the system to play games and perform hard tasks like 3D modeling. It’s critical to choose the correct graphics card, as each model targets a different level of performance.