HIS Radeon HD 5670 512MB (128bit) GDDR5 HDMI DL-DVI (HDCP) VGA PCI Express 2.1 16X Video Card Retail (RoHS) H567Q512

Comment: The cooling on this card might be the quietest thing in my HTPC case. I can't even hear it with my ear next to it but it's definitely working pumping warm air out the back of the case. The desktop looks much sharper than the HD3200 IGP it replaced and it supports many more resolutions, including the 768p native resolution of my plasma (1366x768). Overall the system seems much faster. WEI went from 3.5 to 6.1 for graphics and brought the overall system from 3.5 to 5.5. Of course, 1080p HD video plays just fine. Using the right software (this took A LOT of work but nothing to do with the card itself), I've been able to get DTS-MA bitstreaming working with my Onkyo AVR. Blu-ray looks and sounds amazing.

When I first got the card, the install was a pain. This card was not supported by the released drivers at the time. Attempting to install these drivers appeared to install but instead failed silently. Attempting to install the correct drivers on top of what got half installed lead to all kinds of strange problems like "Video Error" in W7MC which was not helpful at all. Happily, the lastest versioned of ATI CCC supports the 5670 so new users should be fine. However, the whole ATI CCC experience is the weak-link in the chain. Enough with the gaming ads all over everything!

Specs:
AMD Athlon 64 x2 5050e 2.6GHz CPU
Gigabyte GA-MA78M-US2H Mobo
WD 320GB Caviar Blue HDD
HIS HD5670 512MB GPU
nMediaPC 1000B micro-ATX HTPC Case
Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 RAM

Bottom-line is that for a good bit under $100, you can add perfect HD video and audio playback to your system that's whisper quiet. To me, that's the perfect HTPC card.

Comment: This is possibly the most capable video card available that does not require an additional power connector beyond the PCIe-x16 slot. This card is not super long, but you should still measure your case to make sure it does not bump into a hard drive or a bundle of cables. It is 2 slots wide (obviously, from the picture). I have not noticed any increase in noise since installing this, but the temp of the card (in my computer) goes up to 75c under max load which apparently is normal. The temp and power consumption idles way down when not needed.

Everything worked perfectly right out of the box: I did not have to download newer drivers to get it to work and was able to push everything I wanted up to highest quality without a hiccup, using the provided Catalyst software. Later, I used the provided link to easily navigate to, download and install the latest driver with no problems.

My middle of the pack Acer M5621 PC only has a 300W power supply (400W recommended) but it is working so far under maxed out game conditions. With its Intel Q8200 CPU and 6MB of DDR2 RAM, the Vista 64 Windows Experience Index is all 5.9's.

BTW, my monitor is a 22" wide screen with a native resolution of 1680 x 1050 and I have no plans for a bigger or dual monitor setup so even the 512MB RAM on this card is overkill.

I bought this card so I could play Starcraft 2 in all its glory (I knew it would because my son's HD-4670 does). A plug for Blizzard's good design team is that the SC2Beta was playable (on low) with my legacy, on-board GPU. The game is fully functional and responsive with a minimum spec GPU since it simply omits some of the complex animations, lighting and smooth textures. You may actually want to turn off some of the eye candy since it can be a bit distracting in the heat of battle.

Back on topic... my advice is: don't be persuaded by the gamer geeks who say you have to have the ab$olute top end video card. This card will probably run all current games and HD video modes more than adequately, so you save your money for a nicer monitor, mouse or keyboard.

And finally, search for "guru3d his-radeon-hd-5670-iceq-review" (without the quotes) to find what looks to me like a professional 3rd party review/description of this card.