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Onboard Video Acceleration: ATi Vs. Intel Vs. nVidia
Conclusion
The NVIDIA MCP61 isn't for movie fans. Don't even consider it. Of the integrated graphics chipsets, AMD's 690V is the clear winner. But that doesn't mean it's the be-all-end-all of video accelerators. Perhaps there are some driver issues holding it back, or maybe the DVD codec we use isn't great, but there's still some performance headroom, and it's pretty easily filled with dedicated video cards. I still recommend the integrated graphics of the AMD 690V. If you're building an HTPC it might very well be just what you need. It is a good purchase for someone who isn't sure if onboard graphics is going to be enough, but doesn't want to run out and buy a video card right away. Intel's G965 is the only other contender, and while it is adequate for casually watching movies, it's not particularly good at it. So it's enough for a laptop, but if you're building a computer just for watching movies, it's not going to satisfy. Keep in mind that AMD's 690V is primarily available for AMD processors and the Intel G965 is only available for Intel processors. If video performance on the cheap is important to you, AMD is clearly the way to go. There is one thing that AMD could do to make their Avivo undeniably appealing: include a DVD codec and maybe a DVD player application. NVIDIA has PureVideo, which, while outside of the scope of this article, is definitely superior to the version of StarCinema used here. PureVideo costs extra, whereas if AMD just goes ahead and includes a good codec with all their Avivo hardware, competing against them will be that much harder.  AMD 690V Pros The best video acceleration of the major chipsets Great value Cons Can still be outperformed by dedicated video cards
Page 1: Introduction to Video Acceleration
Page 2: Methodology & Benchmark Results Page 3: Conclusion 
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Add Comment
4 User Comments 1 - Posted by
Kurtis
on April 12, 2007 - 9:20 pm http://digg.com/hardware/HTPC_Onboard_Video_Qualit... If you liked the article, please Digg it! 2 - Posted by
jenny22
on April 22, 2008 - 3:34 pm i have been trying to play the desperate housewives game...but it always says fail on video acceleration....so i downoaded the direct x 9.0 c....i kept trying to play it after the download but it keeps saying fail on the video acceleration....what do i have to do to play this game?....please give me an accurate answer for my question....i am desperate to play this game....
3 - Posted by
Kurtis
on April 22, 2008 - 6:17 pm Can you tell us your computer specs?
4 - Posted by
Max Slowik
on April 24, 2008 - 4:32 pm You might not have a 3D card, and most integrated video systems won't be able to run the game. If you don't know if you have a 3D card, do you have problems playing any other games? Like, can you play the Sims or whatever?
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