Best Video Card for TV-Out?

[AmandaL]

So I've finally gotten my PVR up and running (with much thanks to these forums.. so many helpful posts!) but i'm running into a problem with noise (the box is in my bedroom, and I guess i'm a light sleeper!) anyways, i've narrowed a big part of the problem down to my video card (a very old Geforce 4MX420 that I sacrificed from an old machine).. the fan is just loud! therefore, the next card I buy will certainly be a passively cooled one.

that being said, does anyone have any suggestions? any opinions on ATI vs. nVidia? I've got a budget of around $50 (give or take $10) so I know the nVidia Geforce FX5200 is right within my budget and needs but i'm open to ATI suggestions as well. Also, does anyone have any suggestions on which brand of card to go with for each (I've seen the XFX Geforce FX5200 has gotten good reviews.. any opinions?)

A little about my setup:
Athlon XP 2800+ Barton
512mb ram
160gb HD
Hauppauge 150
stock cooling (though soon to be a SilenX case fan )

Currently using an S-video out to composite adapter, and then compsite into my Erikson 20" TV. I'm recording regular analog cable. The picture quality isn't half bad (though I am having the fast foward problem and the DirectX 9.0 quartz.dll fix doesn't seem to make a difference.. though since i'm not using the V9 something.. can't remember the name.. I didn't think it would help)

Basically looking to stay around $50 and have a passively cooled card.. beyond that, i'm totally open for suggestions.. any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Edit: silly me.. I guess I should add that it needs to be an AGP card

[something fishy]

The inno3d nvidia 6200A (the native AGP chip version) is passive and I am using with great success (s-video out into a SDTV). However as noted in other threads nVidia's VMR9 implementation is dodgy and many (until this weekend myself) can't get it to work.

For this reason an ati card might be better. I have been using an old Sapphire 9600 which is passively cooled and (with the Cat 5.6 drivers) also offers pixel adaptive deinterlacing. The s-video out of this card is good as well.

If you unable to find a passively cooled card you might want to try out arctic coolings aftermarket heatsinks which are very quiet or there are aftermarket passive heatsinks from Zalman and Thermaltake.

[Kanati]

ATI 9550. Think there's more than a few of us on this forum using it for a sage box. I'm personally running mine at 1920x1080 (and 1776x1000 for desktop stuff) out to my HDTV.

[AmandaL]

Thanks for the advice.. I'm thinking I might splurge for the Radeon 9600. I hooked my laptop up last night (it has a 9600 in it) and the difference was like night and day quality wise (at least for the desktop.. I'm going to try some video files later today).

Is there much of a benefit of going for the 9600 over the 9550 however? I've heard that the 9550 is really a 9600 just under-clocked.. I'm not a gamer at all and this is soley a PVR outputing to a standard non-HD TV.

Thanks for any other opinions! I'd never have even gotten this box off the ground without these forums!

[salsbst]

I have a Radeon 9600 non-pro. I guess it was fine for TV out before I got a newish TV. I use it at 1776x1000i/component now. It has more than enough horsepower for 640x480 or 800x600.

Some people, including me, have had difficulty with 9600s that do not have VGA cards plugged in. I built a VGA dummy: http://archive.avsforum.com/avs-vb/s...hreadid=395406 to work around it.

[Kanati]

I think the 9550 would be fine for anything you want to toss at it. As I said, I'm running it at the highest TV setting you can get without any problems at all. And it's a passive cooling card too. Not sure about that on the 9600. I know I had a 9600XT that wasn't.

[salsbst]

The 9600 non-pro is passively cooled. But if the 9550 doesn't have the VGA dummy issue then it is probably a better choice than a 9600 non-pro.

[Kanati]

I have my 9550 hooked up to the tv via the DVI port. When I was first setting it up before installing the ATI drivers I had to have a monitor hooked up. After I got everything installed I took the monitor off and nothing is connected to the VGA port. It could be that the DVI port sees the tv as a monitor though.......

[kelemvor]

I was trying to make this same decision about a week ago and I just bought an FX 5200 Ultra off eBay for like $40 with shipping. SHould get it next week so if you can wait I can tell you how it works... heh.