Upgrading a PCI video card???

[Shmuckety]

I have a HTPC with a epia m10000 and it only supports PCI. Currently I have a geforce 5600 in there because that was the most powerful PCI card when I built it.

Would there be any benefit whatsoever if I upgraded to POWERCOLOR 24PRO256M PCI Radeon HD 2400PRO 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI HDCP Ready Video Card? I am thinking that it will help me process videos a little better. The M10000 is a 1GHZ processor that works as fast as a 300mhz PIII. Doing anything tops out the processor.

I am just using this for internet and playing mpg backups of my dvd's on to the TV. I dont have room for over 100 dvd boxes next to my tv.

 

[Klinky]

Buying that video card would be a waste. In some cases HD content could be completely handled by the video card, in other cases it'd be assisted by the CPU, which a 1.0Ghz Via C3 is not going to be able to do. Anything DivX/XviD related is probably going to struggle as getting that setup with DXVA is kind of a pain in the butt. You are better off scrapping it and working on getting a more powerful CPU. Not sure what you're going to find in that price range for Mini-ITX. You're probably better off aiming for an mATX setup. You could get a cheap S754/S939 combo off eBay and a mATX case which will probably go circles around what you're currently using and you'll get the option of a PCIe slot which will allow you to get a better card.

 

[skizzled]

Since you are already maxing out the cpu, you should definitely look into an upgrade of sorts as Klinky said. The 780G motherboards are starting to show their faces for roughly $90 and lower ($70 - good'ol ECS) which will provide you with more than enough graphics power for what you want to do with it. Couple that with a lower end AMD Athlon along with some cheap DDR2, and you are good to go as far as price is concerned especially since you won't have to worry about buying an add-in graphics card.