Reddit reviews EVGA GeForce GT 610 1024MB DDR3, DVI, VGA and HDMI Graphics Card (01G-P3-2615-KR)

I thought I would share my cheap HTPC build. It was made mostly from parts I had sitting around.

Basically, it is:

• A Lenovo M90P PC, but is not the SFF (Small Form Factor) version. Mine has an i5 Core 650 with 8GB of RAM. Note that this is a BTX motherboard, so it's not compatible with ATX parts.
  
  
• 128GB Samsung Pro 840 SSD for the OS.
  
  
• Two WD Red 4TB drives, setup in a Storage Pool under Windows 10. I also sync my library to a backup server and to a second external HDD. (I previously only had one, but it overheated and died, I did not have backups, and I lost my entire library! That is why I am doing this again.)
  
  
• A CPU fan controller.
  
  
• A HDD cooling fan added to each WD drive. The fans keep the HDDs around 87F - 93F degrees, which is acceptable considering this is in the same small cabinet with my stereo receiver, Tivo, and PS3, which all get pretty warm when running.
  
  
• Added a Lian Li MF-699 3-fan bay cooler to add air flow.
  
  
• Asus Xonar sound card
  
  
• EVGA GeForce GT 610 video card with an HDMI output
  
  
• This little wireless keyboard
  
  
• One of these power adapters which allowed me to plug in the two HDD fans with MOLEX connectors (as the Lenovo only has SATA power connectors)
  
  
• Passmark disk checkup utility to monitor the temps of the HDDs. This is required because using Storage Pools prevents most HDD monitoring software from working. Passmark actually monitors the drives at the system level, not at the "Drive letter" level.
  
  And that's it.
  
  It is running Windows 10, a Plex media server and media player, and a PlayOn server.
  
  I use the sound card because the built-in one either didn't support 5.1 or did not support 5.1 through Plex. It connects to my AVR.
  
  I use the video card to get an HDMI output, which goes through a 5-port HDMI switcher (my 3 other devices, including a Steam Link plus one spare port), and then to my projector (which only has 2 HDMI inputs and obviously doesn't have sound, hence the AVR).
  
  I hope this is inspiration that you don't have to spend a lot to get a fully functional HTPC.

Buy this. Remove the 210, put in the 610, update drivers, and you're done. You'll have full 7.1 HD audio and more than enough video decoding power to direct stream anything from Plex.

The Athlon x4 doesn't have integrated graphics, so you need a graphics card. The Nvidia GT 610 should suffice. Graphics card error means there's no video output device whether that be no graphics card or no integrated graphics.

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-1024MB-Graphics-01G-P3-2615-KR/dp/B00847TOLC/ref=sr_1_2


|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Spain|amazon.es|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Japan|amazon.co.jp|
|Canada|amazon.ca|
|Italy|amazon.it|




This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting). The thread for feature requests can be found here.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00847TOLC/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687762&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0046HAW7Y&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=18KJJG79NV7SJR0W0HK1

Hey, thanks for trying to help me out. Much appreciated. My GPU is a EVGA Geforce GT 610: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00847TOLC/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Not sure if this is relevant to you but I have the bootflag npci=0x2000 in order to have the card function well.

Not sure what you mean by onboard or hdmi audio but I would lean toward it being onboard. I think I remember having to install some realtek drivers to get sound working.

My BIOS version is F7 (just updated from F5 today in the hopes that that would solve my issue).

Truth be told I'm not very adept at this hackintosh stuff, and I don't totally understand some of the concepts, such as dsdt. Essentially I've gotten to where I am through extensive googling and troubleshooting but my actual understanding of what I'm doing is not very great. I've heard about patching dsdt but up until now I've kind of avoided it due to the fear of it being too complicated. Plus I've been working on my hackintosh for a few months now so I'm hesitant to make a major change without knowing what I'm doing. But if you can walk me through the dsdt process then I'm all ears.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00847TOLC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_4lQNwbY4ND5KS
Will this be any good?

I know what to do next time i get a spare $40
(top result in case if moves in the future)

I have one that can do 4K video and Steam big picture flawlessly for $40 on Amazon.
Edit: I see the price got fucked.

EVGA GeForce GT 610 1024MB GDDR3, DVI, VGA and HDMI Graphics Card 01G-P3-2615-KR https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00847TOLC/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_DhAJub1BG9TM7

> Hey wanted to circle back.
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> Would something like this be an efficient upgrade?
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> http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-1024MB-Graphics-01G-P3-2615-KR/dp/B00847TOLC/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1397256867&sr=1-2&keywords=geforce
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> Mainly looking to play MMO's (WoW) without major FPS drops in crowded cities / raids.