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I need the best Nvidia Graphics Card for Encoding and Video editing. The budget is anything lower than $75. I need the card to be able to play 1080p videos full screen, and encode HD videos quickly and smoothly. Whats the best card for me?

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit

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closed as off topic by Journeyman Geek, Simon Sheehan, Mokubai, Nifle, studiohack♦ Jan 7 at 17:21

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Go to newegg.com (navigate through the following
* Computer Hardware
* Video Cards & Video Devices
* Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Power-search (set the following)
* MAX: 75
* Check DirectX 10, 10.1 and 11
* Check HDCP Ready

Click Search...

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It currently looks like a GeForce 9500 or ATI HD 4650 may be your best bets. If you can find an nVidia GeForce 8800 around your price range, that will be a far better card. It's worth noting that CUDA (nVidia cards only) is better supported in software currently.

If you can spring for a little more, an nVidia 8800, 9800 or 260 series card would give you much better results than the above options. A 9800 series probably the best option under $150.

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Pretty much any of the latest generation graphics cards can play at 1080p

I would personally not look at the RAM and just get the cheapest highest number card you can find.

I can't really recommend any over any others as obviously it is location/shop dependent, however I also recommend you get one that is compatible with CUDA as this will harness the true power of your GPU and get it done in no time (Compared to traditional methods if using a CUDA encoding program).

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Cheapest highest number sort-of ignoring the first. An 8800 beats a 9200, because the first number is the range. At least in nvidia, ATI are a little more straightforward. – Phoshi Dec 19 '09 at 22:59
nVidia has recently gone form 4 to 3 digits, so the 'highest number' rule doesn't really apply anymore :) – Molly7244 Dec 19 '09 at 23:01
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@Phoshi: only a little :) a hd48xx/hd49xx beats a hd57xx – Molly7244 Dec 19 '09 at 23:05
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A GeForce 220 will be about the cheapest you will be able to afford. Its around $70 and on nVidia's list of card that support CUDA.

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All consumer GPUs don't have hardware Video Encoder (only decoder), there could be some encoders that use CUDA for that but I don't know any.

However on Core 2 Duo You will be able to encode HD with x264 in nearly real time.

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i believe TMPGenc Xpress is CUDA-capable: tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/oem/tutorial/en/tutorial.html – quack quixote Jan 16 '10 at 5:22
As far as I understand the use of CUDA in TMPGenc Xpress is limited to mpeg-2 decoding for the source files and filtering while encoding. – axk Nov 2 '10 at 20:12
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