I'm looking at getting the new LG BlueRay/HD combodrive (GGC-H20L)

Why do these computer rom drives need a good vid card, doesn't the CPU do all the decoding work?

I've been patiently waiting for the new G35 Intel chipset because of its great on board vid card but will that be enough to run BlueRay and HD Movies?

HTPC's are mATX and you cant fit a full size card in most so how can you put this drive in one and expect to play your movie? Seems contradictory.

Thoughts?

If you have a good video card (higher clock) then more video decoding can be offloaded from your CPU to your GPU/Video card.

I smaller card that's very good in my opinion is the Radeon X1950 Pro series. Not as big as the 8800 series but the 1950 Pro can do the job very well.

Will the G35 on board car be enough if the CPU is a decent Core 2 Duo?

I understand no one can answer for certain but any educated guesses?

Integrated vid card: Intel GMA X3500

http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20071029PR203.html

Thanks for the link, I missed the press release.

With built in HDMI port and also HDCP compliant, I would definitely say yes. 384MB video memory would be enough.

Hey zevia

I'm just looking at your sig, do you own the LG combo drive?

Would you recommend the new version H20N ROM?

http://www.ncixus.com/products/index.php?sku=26553

The Toshiba A2's are at that point that you can buy it and throw it away ina year or so but this combo drive means I can have the best of both worlds at significantly less cost.

I have the GGW-H10N BD/HD-DVD burner/reader combo. A good drive. I believe it's not being marketed and replaced with the GGW-H20N.

The GGC-H20N is a reader and if that's what you want, ie for your HTPC box, it would be an excellent choice.

Too bad it's out of stock at NCIXUS.