HDMI graphics cards roundup test

5 products related to this article

Gigabyte GeForce 7600 GS HDMI

The Gigabyte GeForce 7600 GS HDMI is no doubt the most desirable HDMI videocard in this overview. The reason is simple: contrary to the other four cards, Gigabyte opted for the use of passive cooling and this is especially welcome in a Media Center PC. No-one wants a loud box next to his or her LCD TV in the living room. The card is based on the GeForce 7600 GS, which is the budget edition of nVidia's mid-range 3D chip. The GS offers sufficient 3D power for a simple game at a relatively low resolution, but it's certainly not a gaming card. Video applications are a different story,mostly due to nVidia's PureVideo technology. The card has HDMI as well as DVI and a standard S-Video TV port. Even SLI is a possibility with this card, but we don not see the reason to use this function with this kind of videocard. The only drawback is that the sound signal can not be added on externally: if your (onboard) soundcard does not have an internal S/PDIF out, you are out of luck. Apart from this negligable disappointment, we wholeheartedly recommend the Gigabyte GeForce 7600 GS HDMI for Media Center PCs. Now all we can do is hope that this card is available soon...