9500 GT or IG ATI 4290?

[gtjr92]

I know those are not the greatest GPU's in the world. I am pretty much a console(PS3) gamer. I am building a system and already have the 9500 w/ 512 ram.
I got it for $5 after rebate so what can I say. I am going to get the ASUS M4A89GTD board which has the integrated ATI Radeon HD 4290. My system will pretty much be a multimedia pc with TV card for HDTV/DVR, and also video encoding with Sony Vegas. I'll do some casual gaming here and there, but not a lot. Which of these cards is better for my purposes?

Thanks

[Tator Tot]

HD4290 would be a better media solution, it supports more features and doesn't require extra work to get things like Audio over HDMI working.

[gtjr92]

Thanks, out of curiosity beside the HDMI audio what other features are there that make it a good for Multimedia HTPC? Just asking in case I ever decide to upgrade from the integrated GPU.

[duckula]

Thanks, out of curiosity beside the HDMI audio what other features are there that make it a good for Multimedia HTPC? Just asking in case I ever decide to upgrade from the integrated GPU.

It has a feature called UVD(unified video decoder), which supports Hardware accelerated HD Videos playback.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/ati-avivo-hd/Pages/ati-avivo-hd.aspx

[Phaedrus2129]

The 9500GT is far superior for gaming, however, on par with the HD4650.

[walterm]

From what I've read the onboard 4200 series isn't much better than the 3450-3650 of old, that's why only these cards are supported in "Hybrid" crossfire.
Supposedly the intel 3100/4500 is similar marketing hype, though not quite as good.
Even the Sandy Bridge chips pose no threats to the video card market.