ASUS GT610-SL-1GD3-L GeForce GT 610 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card

Pros: Good card for your HTPC. Silent and runs cool. Excellent support from Asus.

Cons: none

Pros: Low cost, good value. Used it to replace the MB's built-in Radeon HD 3200 chip. This one is much better, score went from 3.2 to 4.5. Plays HD video pretty much flawlessly.

Windows 7 index: 4.5 graphics / 6.3 3D business and gaming.

Cons: Takes up 2 slots because it's wide, not an issue for me.

Pros: This Nvidia card has solved my HTPC handshaking problem. TV is always seeing signal from the PC which wasnt the case with my AMD card.

This card also has nice heatsink and runs pretty cool while watching Blu-Ray.

0db is golden.

Cons: Nada

Pros: Supprisingly, the disk that came with this GPU made small work of installing it. Not often that I can do this and not worry about going onto Nvidia's site.

Long story short, get this if you want to watch blue-ray movies for cheap, but don't like to play video games.

Cons: Very bulky for a fan-less GPU. Barely fit into the HP I installed it in (and no it wasn't a form factor PC)

Other Thoughts: Make a version of this with a smaller heat sink and a fan.

Pros: Best solution to HTPC I've found so far. It's silent (no fan), enough horsepower for 3D Blu-Ray, HDMI handshakes perfectly and is fully HDCP compliant. Doesn't even complain when I turn off my TV and receiver, unlike the ATI cards. The ATI video would drop the audio over HDMI when the TV was off and require a visit the the sound control panel to reselect the HDMI as the audio OUT. This card maintains audio out even when the TV and the receiver is off. I'm getting 7.1 audio via HDMI.

Cons: Large heatsink and covers the slot next to the PCI-E slot but I knew that before buying. No fan = large heatsink. Not really a con but buyer beware.

Other Thoughts: Prior to purchasing this, I was having trouble getting my AMD A8 chip with built in 7600 series video to work properly as a HTPC. The problem was that the video circuitry would not properly perform a HDMI handshake, which resulted in live TV to not work under Windows 7 Media Center. After much fustration and multiple tries with different driver combination, took the plunge to get this discreet nVidia based card. I am not disappointed. The POST displays now properly via HDMI, Win7 MC now displays live TV and everything correctly on the first try. the nVidia control panel shows the HDCP status, which the ATI CCC never did. For all my future HTPC needs, I'm getting nVidia graphics card, period.

Pros: Easy install. Low profile bracket. Sound through HDMI. Full HDCP compatibility. No fan

Cons: Could have been cheaper, like free. Heat sink takes two card spaces.

Other Thoughts: This thing even showed post information over HDMI without OS and drivers installed. Amazing.

Pros: - Silent
- Low Heat Generation
- Price
- Handles 4k Decoding

Cons: - Is a bit large and will consume 2x PCI slots so plan accordingly

Other Thoughts: For those of you who do not know, this is a re-branded GT 520.

This works wonders for HTPCs. If you want to build a silent, yet powerful HTPC, consider getting one of these. Even under load, this thing doesn't get too much above "warm" to the touch.

Don't think I need to say much more about this.

Pros: Works great in my htpc and was a good deal.

Cons: None