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[Wull]

I am looking to upgrade my GTS450 GPU. The next card I buy I want to be capable of all Madvr can throw at it. So I was wandering which card I should be looking for? 

Thanks

[kstuart]

From what is being discussed in the MadVR thread, that would be the new graphics cards that should be released in a few weeks.

MadVR keeps adding new features and capabilities that need the capabilities of the most recent cards.  A good example is the new NNED scaling, which reportedly looks great, but is also testing card capabilities.

When you add using OpenCL Error Diffusion instead of Random Dithering, and in some cases high quality deinterlacing, it is hard to find cards with enough oomph.

Another factor is quiet operation - something which matters for Home Theater use, and less so for Gaming.

So, you have cutting edge graphics card for gaming with multiple noisy fans and which take up multiple full height slots -  that might not be the right thing for a small, low profile home theater PC case.

[Wull]

From what is being discussed in the MadVR thread, that would be the new graphics cards that should be released in a few weeks.

MadVR keeps adding new features and capabilities that need the capabilities of the most recent cards.  A good example is the new NNED scaling, which reportedly looks great, but is also testing card capabilities.

When you add using OpenCL Error Diffusion instead of Random Dithering, and in some cases high quality deinterlacing, it is hard to find cards with enough oomph.

Another factor is quiet operation - something which matters for Home Theater use, and less so for Gaming.

So, you have cutting edge graphics card for gaming with multiple noisy fans and which take up multiple full height slots -  that might not be the right thing for a small, low profile home theater PC case.

Cheers kstuart.

Sounds interesting...I will hold on for now then.

Fan noise isn't really a problem for me, my HTPC's is in another room. Size will be awkward, it may mean looking at a bigger case?

My friends just picked up an AMD A10 7850K, so far from what he has said his had good results with this. I wander if this is the way to go?

[kstuart]

The madVR thread can be found at:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=146228

but of course go towards the end... there has been some discussion of recent cards vs madVR requirements.

[Wull]

Thanks 

[6233638]

My friends just picked up an AMD A10 7850K, so far from what he has said his had good results with this. I wander if this is the way to go?

This will not be nearly fast enough if you want to use everything madVR has to offer.
 
The new NNEDI3 image doubling/quadrupling is very demanding when used with HD content. (though I would say SD benefits from it a lot more than HD)
 
The new dithering reduces image noise quite a bit, but also requires more GPU power.
 
 
Right now AMD cards are faster than Nvidia for these two features, as they use OpenCL/DirectCompute, but who knows what will happen in the future.
To use everything, you need a high-end gaming card. My GTX 570 can only enable NNEDI3 image doubling with SD content for example, it's too slow to use it when upscaling HD video.

[Wull]

This will not be nearly fast enough if you want to use everything madVR has to offer.
 
The new NNEDI3 image doubling/quadrupling is very demanding when used with HD content. (though I would say SD benefits from it a lot more than HD)
 
The new dithering reduces image noise quite a bit, but also requires more GPU power.
 
 
Right now AMD cards are faster than Nvidia for these two features, as they use OpenCL/DirectCompute, but who knows what will happen in the future.
To use everything, you need a high-end gaming card. My GTX 570 can only enable NNEDI3 image doubling with SD content for example, it's too slow to use it when upscaling HD video.

Thanks.

So if only watching blurays, the GPU doesn't need to be as powerful?

[kstuart]

Thanks.

So if only watching blurays, the GPU doesn't need to be as powerful?

If you are watching blurays on a 1080p HDTV, then yes, because you are not using luma upscaling in madVR.

And the fps is usually roughly 24fps, so there is more time between frames for the GPU to work.

There is still the question of how GPU-intensive a chroma scaler you can use, and whether or not you can use Error Diffusion instead of Random Dithering.

[rec head]

Whenever I start researching graphics cards for the HTPC I just end up with more questions and don't bother.

[Wull]

Whenever I start researching graphics cards for the HTPC I just end up with more questions and don't bother.

Very true. .... It sure is a minefield !!

[kstuart]

Whenever I start researching graphics cards for the HTPC I just end up with more questions and don't bother.

I've found that getting top level playback of either video or audio is very time consuming and involves lots of different variables.   Generally, you have to want to spend some time on it as a hobby.

Or, if someone is super-wealthy, then they hire professional Home Theater guys to setup a system in their house for $$$$...

[6233638]

Well, it's difficult to recommend video cards for madVR, because optimizations may change what certain cards are capable of, and newer features may require more powerful hardware.
 
A lot of people using lower-end graphics cards also have lower-end CPUs to go with them, so that may affect the results.
 
If you only want to view 1080p24 content on a 1080p display at 24Hz, that's actually not very demanding, as you're mainly only performing chroma upscaling and YCbCr → RGB conversion steps.
A lower-end card may be just fine if that's all you're watching.
 
If you want to upscale 720p60 video to 1080p60, or if you have a 4K display, then things get a lot more complicated/demanding. Same goes for interlaced vs progressive.
 
The new build of madVR (not yet implemented in MC19) introduces "profiles" so you can use different scaling settings for SD>HD conversion than you are using for 1080p content for example, which is very good for lower-end hardware.
 
 
But this build also introduces new feature such as NNEDI3 image doubling/quadrupling, which can significantly improve the quality of low resolution sources - but it requires a lot of performance.
 
Who knows what the future of madVR will be. It really seems that you are unlikely to ever have too much performance.
 
 
It's when you start trying to use the advanced features on passively cooled or low profile graphics cards that you start running into trouble.
But if you customize the settings and are willing to sacrifice image quality, you should at least be able to get madVR running on just about any fairly recent card, even if it's a lower-end part.

[bulldogger]

I am considering this card for future 4k and madVR http://www.visiontekproducts.com/index.php/component/virtuemart/graphics-cards/visiontek-cryovenom-liquidcooled-series-r9-290-detail?Itemid=0  This was helpful and kind of straight forward about 4k requirements which you did not mention but I'm just throwing that in as something some might want to use with madVr as 4k processing will present challenges.  http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/4K-Monitor-Requirements-and-Usage-492/   . Expensive and a hassle with water cooling but it is the quietest, most powerful and cheapest solution I could find to cover just about anything I would do in the next couple of years.

[InflatableMouse]

The new maxwell based cards 750 and 750 Ti versions might be good candidates for smaller low power HTPC's. They are not passive, but from what I've read their fans are barely audible under load conditions. They don't require an extra 6 or 8-pins PCI-E power connections and currently offer (by far!) the best performance per watt.

[connersw]

True, and fairly reasonably priced too.  But I think they are behind the power curve.  Fine for madVR as it is currently implemented in MC, but when it gets upgraded to add NNEDI3, I don't think they will cut it.

[InflatableMouse]

... when it gets upgraded to add NNEDI3, I don't think they will cut it.

Probably not, but then again nothing but the highest end will do that, as was the case when jinc was introduced.

[6233638]

Probably not, but then again nothing but the highest end will do that, as was the case when jinc was introduced.

Well, Jinc was really "you need a gaming card" when scaling to 1080p, rather than a HTPC card.
NNEDI3 is more like "you need the highest end cards available today" if you want to scale HD content with it.
 
Gaming-class cards should be capable of using NNEDI3 on SD content, but may not be able to handle it with HD content.