{"id":574,"date":"2011-02-02T11:11:47","date_gmt":"2011-02-02T18:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mpsharp.com\/blog\/?p=574"},"modified":"2011-02-02T11:11:47","modified_gmt":"2011-02-02T18:11:47","slug":"replacing-the-ati-radeon-5450-with-an-nvidia-gt-430","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/?p=574","title":{"rendered":"Replacing the ATI Radeon 5450 with an NVidia GT 430"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So I had reached the end of my rope with the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B0036VO69Q\/ref=oss_product\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MSI ATI Radeon<\/a> card on a couple fronts.    I had <a href=\"http:\/\/www.missingremote.com\/guide\/bitstreaming-hdmi-hd-audio-formats-your-htpc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HDMI bitstreaming<\/a> working with Arcsoft TMT (as long as AnyDVD was running), and I could even put up with the flaky Catalyst UI and drivers.    But I was stymied trying to get the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.missingremote.com\/guide\/video-frame-rates-and-display-refresh-rates-beginners\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">refresh rate set to 23.976<\/a>, which the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pioneerelectronics.com\/PUSA\/Home\/Plasma\/PRO-141FD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kuro PRO-141FD<\/a> will execute <a href=\"http:\/\/forums.cnet.com\/7723-7596_102-51358.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a 3:3 pulldown<\/a> for picture perfect Blu-Ray playback at 71.928.\u00a0\u00a0 Given the cost of the graphics card vs the 60&#8243; plasma, it was time to make a change.<\/p>\n<p>So with $75 of Amazon coupons burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to give the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00471D1OA\/ref=oss_product\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zotac NVidia GT430<\/a> a shot.   Since it goes in the HTPC next to the TV, silent cooling was a must.\u00a0\u00a0 Gaming performance is a non-issue for me, and since the Kuro isn&#8217;t getting replaced anytime soon, 3D video support wasn&#8217;t important either, though the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arcsoft.com\/en-us\/bd_assistant.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arcsoft BD &amp; 3D assistant<\/a> gave the card a thumbs up on all accounts.<\/p>\n<p>Upon opening the package, the Zotac NVidia card looks much bigger than the MSI ATI with the giant heat sink, but both cards take up two slots in the machine.\u00a0   The Zotac actually has two brackets, which make it a nice secure installation.   Also, the Zotac has an DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort connections, while the MSI had VGA, DVI and HDMI.     What a difference 9 months makes.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_577\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-577\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mpsharp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/MSI-ATI-5450.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-577\" title=\"MSI ATI Radeon HD5450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mpsharp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/MSI-ATI-5450.jpg\" alt=\"MSI ATI Radeon HD5450\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-577\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MSI ATI Radeon HD5450<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_578\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-578\" style=\"width: 330px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mpsharp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Zotec-Nvidia-gt430.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-578 \" title=\"Zotac ZONE GeForce GT430 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.mpsharp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Zotec-Nvidia-gt430-300x259.jpg\" alt=\"Zotac ZONE GeForce GT430 \" width=\"330\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-578\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zotac ZONE GeForce GT430 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Installation was painless, it was time to download the NVidia drivers.    A couple things impressed me right off the bat:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Clean install option &#8211; The NVidia drivers will blow away all previous NVidia registry settings and configuration when checking this box.\u00a0\u00a0 Very nice when you&#8217;ve mucked around with one too many registry hacks.<\/li>\n<li> No &#8220;crap-ware&#8221; in install.\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you, I don&#8217;t need a 2 week trial to LOTR online&#8230;<\/li>\n<li> Windows performance index:\u00a0\u00a0 ATI 5450: 4.9,\u00a0 NVidia 430: 6.7!\u00a0\u00a0 Very impressive for a fanless card still less than $100.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So the next thing to try was getting to 1920x1080p@23.976.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First of all, the NVidia Control Panel was so much easier to navigate than even the ATI Catalyst Beta (the old ATI UI was horrid.\u00a0 The latest is bearable).\u00a0\u00a0 From there, getting to 23Hz couldn&#8217;t of been easier.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Although it&#8217;s not listed in the defaults, click Custom, and 23p, as well as 59p, are at the top of the list.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mpsharp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Nvidia1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-576 alignnone\" title=\"Nvidia\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mpsharp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Nvidia1-1024x742.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"819\" height=\"594\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>No need to dig into the &#8220;Create Custom Resolution&#8221; dialog (but I wish the ATI UI had that!)<\/p>\n<p>So that was too easy.   Hmm&#8230; what about my other Blu-Ray playback issues?  While I&#8217;ve had HD bitstreaming working with the ATI card for a while, I&#8217;ve had two other problems with the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.arcsoft.com\/estore\/software_title.asp?ProductCode=TMT5P\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Arcsoft TMT<\/a> software.   First off, for some reason the TMT player refuses to play ANY BD disc.   No explanation given, and all the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HDCP<\/a> tests come out fine.   This started happening with their 3.0.1-170 release, and continues through 5.0.1.87.  The only fix I&#8217;ve found is to install <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slysoft.com\/en\/anydvdhd.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Slysoft AnyDVD<\/a> .\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately, the problem wasn&#8217;t the ATI card in this case, and I still need AnyDVD to watch BD.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not the end of the world since I already own it, but a little disappointing since the software has questionable <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/DMCA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DMCA<\/a> legal status in the US.\u00a0 (BTW: If you haven&#8217;t figured it out by now, do NOT use your HTPC as your sole Blu-Ray player, unless you want to spend twice the money for twice the headaches.)<\/p>\n<p>The second problem I&#8217;ve encountered with TMT is during BD playback (with bitstreaming) the audio will get out of sync if I decide to pause, rew or fastfwd. \u00a0 Fairly irritating. \u00a0 Luckily, Arcsoft has created a hotfix for ATI cards if you encounter this problem, and that seemed to work, though I needed to re-apply it on the latest\u00a0 version.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now for the Nvidia&#8230; Change refresh rate to 23.967, pop in the Inception BD, press play and wait for the DTS-HD MSTR display on the SC-07&#8230;\u00a0\u00a0 DTS!?!?!\u00a0\u00a0 WTF!!!!!\u00a0\u00a0 Arrrggghhh!!!\u00a0\u00a0 After getting this far, I&#8217;m no longer bitstreaming the uncompressed HD audio track!<\/p>\n<p>OK.\u00a0 Off to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arcsoft.com\/forum\/forum_posts.asp?TID=7950&amp;title=nvidia-gt-430-wont-bitstream-solved\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arcsoft Forums<\/a> to see if anyone else is experiencing this.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Found one guy from back in Dec, but it&#8217;s not clear he knows what he&#8217;s doing&#8230;.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arcsoft.com\/forum\/forum_posts.asp?TID=7950&amp;title=nvidia-gt-430-wont-bitstream-solved\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Post my problem&#8230;. <\/a>Next day check the forum (no email subscription!?).\u00a0 Hmm&#8230; it seems Arcsoft has only certified the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/win7-winvista-32bit-260.99-whql-driver.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">260.99 driver<\/a>, while I had downloaded 266.58.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Back to the NVidia site, archived drivers, 260.99, download.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Remove 266, install 260 (with the clean install option), reboot, play BD&#8230;. WHOOO HOOO!!! DTS-HD MSTR is back!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 AND no problem with pause, ff, rew, etc all at true 1080p24!<\/p>\n<p>So one thing I noticed is the 260 &#8220;Clean Install&#8221; check box didn&#8217;t do such a great job.\u00a0\u00a0 Even though I had removed the old driver and rebooted before installing, I was still prompted by numerous &#8220;Newer File Exists&#8221; messages during the install.\u00a0 Furthermore more, the nice list of resolutions you see above all showed up blank with the older driver, but Windows Monitor properties still said I had 59Hz and 23Hz available .\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I should probably go back to a restore point prior to installing 266 and then install the 260 version again but it&#8217;s working the way I want, so I&#8217;m not sweating it for now.\u00a0\u00a0 I may just wait for Arcsoft to support the 266 drivers, and then upgrade again.<\/p>\n<p>So while not perfect, the NVidia still wins the day.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Time to not touch it if it ain&#8217;t broke.\u00a0\u00a0 We&#8217;ll see how long that lasts!\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So I had reached the end of my rope with the MSI ATI Radeon card on a couple fronts. I had HDMI bitstreaming working with Arcsoft TMT (as long as AnyDVD was running), and I could even put up with the flaky Catalyst UI and drivers. But I was stymied trying to get the refresh&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/?p=574\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Replacing the ATI Radeon 5450 with an NVidia GT 430<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,9],"tags":[11,12,14,15,19,22,24,30,73,80,95,109,110,139,141],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-theater","category-intel","category-windows","tag-1080p24","tag-1920x108023-976","tag-23-976","tag-7mc","tag-anydvd","tag-arcsoft","tag-ati","tag-bitstreaming","tag-hd-dts-master","tag-htpc","tag-media-center","tag-nvidia","tag-nvidia-gt-430","tag-tmt","tag-true-hd","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}