Advice On A Graphics Card

[parkimar]

Hi, I've been away from the scene for several weeks.

I've just relocated to the US,
I started resetting up my HTPC Rig, and Lo and behold, my graphics card has decided to curl up it's toes and bugger off to the big LAN party in the sky.

I was using a 6600GT (Cost about $220 , converting GBP to USD), I played a couple of games on it, but not many.

I now have an X-Box for the kids, so I will be using my HTPC for TV and Films only.

I was hoping to not spend more than about $130 USD. (Pregnant wife is expressing displeasure at me even spending this)

Does anyone have any suggestions about new cards.
I currently output to an SDTV via S-Video, but will be getting a 50" Samsung DLP soon, so I do want something that is HDTV compatible.

I was thinking about a Nvidia 6200 (approx 65 - 90 Dollars from newegg), but I don't know how good the TV out is.

My setup is :-

MSI MOBO, PVR-350, ATHLON 2600+ 512 MB RAM, several HDD's strewn across a seemingly random network.


Any input greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Mark

[Kanati]

My vote is the Radeon 9550. Been a great card for me (and from the number of other people that use it here they probably would agree though I won't speak for them).

[dagar]

There are passive AGP and PCI-E 6600 (non GTs in your price range).

PCAlchemy has both interfaces with passive HS.

http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/c...8c147b71c8ad5a

The obligatory Neweggs, et al, do as well

[insomniac]

I am not sure if there has been resolution yet, but I keep reading in random threads that there may be some weird issue with sage and the 6600. Hopefully people that are using a 6600 will chime in. Had you used your 6600 with sage?

In either case, you may want to read up on the radeon line w/ component dongle. I believe you could get a 9800 pro for that price these days.. www.pricewatch.com should give you an idea of what you can get. If you do get another 6600 or 6200, make sure that it does come with the component out adapter. Im not sure you can buy one as easily as you could buy the radeon one direct off their site..

I.

Originally Posted by parkimar

Hi, I've been away from the scene for several weeks.

I've just relocated to the US,
I started resetting up my HTPC Rig, and Lo and behold, my graphics card has decided to curl up it's toes and bugger off to the big LAN party in the sky.

I was using a 6600GT (Cost about $220 , converting GBP to USD), I played a couple of games on it, but not many.

I now have an X-Box for the kids, so I will be using my HTPC for TV and Films only.

I was hoping to not spend more than about $130 USD. (Pregnant wife is expressing displeasure at me even spending this)

Does anyone have any suggestions about new cards.
I currently output to an SDTV via S-Video, but will be getting a 50" Samsung DLP soon, so I do want something that is HDTV compatible.

I was thinking about a Nvidia 6200 (approx 65 - 90 Dollars from newegg), but I don't know how good the TV out is.

My setup is :-

MSI MOBO, PVR-350, ATHLON 2600+ 512 MB RAM, several HDD's strewn across a seemingly random network.


Any input greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Mark

[parkimar]

Thanks for the reply - Do you know how it copes outputting to an HDTV.
Can you get a component dongle, or just use DVI ?

Cheers

Mark

[jptaz]

Has ATI improved the driver support for HDTV via DVI?

That has always been my issue with ATI over NVidia.

My $90 - 3 year old FX5200 can easily drive my DVI input on my HD TV set with out playing with power strip or anything else at 1280 x 720. It does not handle 1920 x 1080i well but not many cards do without tweaking.

How Does the 9600 Pro handle VMR9 at HD Resolutions in terms of quality and CPU utilitzation on a AMD 3200+ class PC?

Thanks,
John

[parkimar]

Thanks for the feedback guys, it's really appreciated.

I think so far I'm veering toward 2 cards:-

The Nvidia 6200 http://www.amamax.com/innvge628xag2.html

or The Radeon 9800 Pro http://www.chiefvalue.com/app/produc...OTC-pr1c3watch

I do have the component dongle from my 6600GT, I had it working fine with sage, but I never used FSE, so I maybe didn't get the issue I've been reading about.

(What is the difference between the 6600(non GT) and 6200 cards ?

Has anyone used either of these on an HDTV (720p) ?

Cheers

Mark

[sleonard]

I use a 9600 Pro connected to a Samsung DLP HDTV via DVI. It works flawlessly and gives me 1280x720 without Powerstrip.

[blade]

I have a 6600GT and run at 720p via component. The card handles it just fine even with FSE disabled. 1080i is smooth but only with FSE enabled. I wouldn't think you'd have any trouble with a 6200 at 720p.

The reason I use 720p instead of 1080i is because it's much better for using the desktop and gaming (text and the heads up display is far too small in games when using 1080i).

[jptaz]

blade,

What are your system specs and what is the processor utilization when watching TV at 720P using VMR9 with and without FSE?

I am leaning toward a Dual DVI 6600 GT and then getting the PureVideo Decoder.

Thanks,
John

[parkimar]

Quikc question about ATI and NVidia cards.

With the 6600GT, I ran overlay and the image quality was great, except there would be an enlarging of the screen when watching video. It 'shrank' back down when the video stopped.

I believe this is a common problem, so ignored it, but my questions are :-
Does this happen over DVI/component on the NVidia cards?

Do Radeon cards get this as well ?

Cheers

Mark

[RedR]

Heya,

I have a 6600 GT AGP and LOVE it for the PVR! It's been rock solid and I've had no problem running VMR9.

[Kanati]

It does not handle 1920 x 1080i well but not many cards do without tweaking.

I run my 9550 radeon at 1080i all the time... no problems at all.

[blade]

Originally Posted by jptaz

blade,

What are your system specs and what is the processor utilization when watching TV at 720P using VMR9 with and without FSE?

XP Mobile Barton @ 2ghz with 400mhz FSB and 1 gig of ram. I think that's somewhere around a xp 2800-2900, but I'm not sure.

CPU usage hovers between 9-15%. I couldn't tell much difference in cpu usage between FSE and non FSE.

[jptaz]

Thanks Blade...sounds like you run a box very similar to my system.

Kanait,

Are you usig DVI or the Component Dongle to run at 1080i?

John

[Kanati]

DVI to DVI

[parkimar]

Ok , so from what I can gather, it sounds as if anything above a radeon 9550 or an Nvidia 6200 should be fine for what I need.

Prior to the 6600GT, I had a Geforce 4 MX440, and the picture quality, was a quantum leap above that I got from the 440. Whilst the above cards sound like they can cope with the 'grunt' needed, does anyone have any subjective experience comparing the PQ of the 2 cards ?

Once again - thanks for all the input.

Cheers

Mark

[Kanati]

Well, the picture quality on my 9550 is far better than I was getting with my Geforce3Ti500 (far faster than the MX440)... But can't say with the 6200 as I've never used one.