[Coogan]

I'm looking to get an nVidia card for my Linux HTPC system which is currently using the Intel integrated graphics (i3-530 CPU). The performance has been fine except for a few minor things. Running thru these forums, I've seen a lot of mention of the GT 220 as the best balance of features, performance, and price.

So, my questions:

1. My HTPC is connected to my 47" 1080p television via HDMI, and I get a lot of "flicker" on it. It's not noticeable when watching videos, but it is when browsing around the interface. Lines jitter up and down a few pixels. Depending on the skin I use, it can be either a minor annoyance, or a significant issue of readability. I don't know enough about X, or Intel driver support in Linux, so I've chalked it up to a problem with the latter. I'm hoping going with nVidia hardware and drivers will fix it. Does anybody else have any suggestions on what I can check? I'd really like to eliminate this little hiccup. This jitter is present in both XBMC and the Gnome desktop.

and

2. Does the amount of RAM on the video card make any difference as far as performance impact in XBMC?

Coog

[poofyhairguy]

This jitter is present in both XBMC and the Gnome desktop.

Sounds like a vsync problem. Nvidia GPUs have working vsync, among other things (color correction, sharpening, future divx decoding).

2. Does the amount of RAM on the video card make any difference as far as performance impact in XBMC?

Get at least 512mb. 256mb cards struggle. Past 512mb any size is good- a 2GB card has no advantages...

[Coogan]

Thanks for the reply, poofyhairguy.

Two quick followups:

How painless will upgrading to the nVidia card be? Will it be as easy as installing the card, downloading and installing the drivers, and away we go? Or will I need to futz around with the X config or whatnot?
And do the nVidias support audio over HDMI?

Coogan

[poofyhairguy]

How painless will upgrading to the nVidia card be? Will it be as easy as installing the card, downloading and installing the drivers, and away we go? Or will I need to futz around with the X config or whatnot?

Yeah, you have to tell x that you are using the Nvidia driver:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW...19_drivers

And do the nVidias support audio over HDMI?

Nvidia cards GT2xx and greater have audio built in for perfect sound over HDMI.

[Hannes The Hun]

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW...19_drivers

poofy, is there a reason why you give him the (complicated) instructions for the appleTV? just asking because I prefer the quick&dirty way via x-swat much more
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=XBMCbuntu#Me...repository

[poofyhairguy]

Ooops!! My bad! Good catch Hannes!

[Coogan]

Ok, finally got the card in (Zotac ZT-20201-10L) and installed. Followed the instructions in the link above, got the graphics working. The flickering seems to have disappeared. Huzzah!

However, for the life of me, can't get the audio to work. I had it working fine with the onboard HDMI (although I did a kernel update the other day; didn't know that'd break Alsa) after running the Alsa Update Script. Now, nothing works. I tried the instructions in this link but nothing's worked. I've tried so many configurations and whatnot from various Google searches I'm afraid I've got mismatched settings all over the place.

I need some help!

[Coogan]

Well, decided to go with my fallback plan and buy a dedicated nettop box (Zotac ZBOX HD-ID11-U) and just run Win7 on it, and send the nvidia card back to Newegg. My current Linux system is fairly small and since I do some heavy processing on it, heat buildup can become an issue. The idle temp with the card was about 15 C hotter than without the card, and if I put it under load I figured it would get closer to my preferred temperature tolerance than I wanted. Also, the issues with my remote would be resolved by going with a Windows system.

So in the end, I spend a little more money, learn a few more things, and end up with what I should have done in the first place

Thanks for the assistance, though.