Ouch, killed component output!

[mdmint]

Decided to get a head start on my Client HPTC video and quiet cooling upgrades and swap positions with Denon receiver. HTPC was on shelf above receiver previously occupied by a VCR. Wanted to get the HTPC below the receiver's rising heat. When disconnecting the component cable from the ATI dongle the Y portion pulled out of the dongle! Fooled around with it but couldn't get it to work again. Oh well. Proceeded decabling, moving and hooking 'em both back up. Connected the ATI 9600 via SVid instead. Works, but I can tell a difference, and not for the better. Fortunately the MSI 9600GT I ordered has ETA of Thursday so it'll be back to component in a couple days.

While I had the HTPC out went ahead and pulled the 3&1/2" 20G HD I use for the HTPC Ghost backup and replaced it with a Laptop 6.4G I had laying around after upgrading my Laptop to 60G. (Main HTPC HD already a 20Gb Laptop drive.) Even though it's only 6.4G it's big enough to Ghost what's on my Client.

[mdmint]

FYI, glad I got the dongle through NewEgg. Even though I'll likely not be using it anymore since moving to the MSI 9600GT it did cost $35. So went on NewEggs website, online RMA'd and printed the $0.96 postage & label it'll cost to send it to them. They aren't always the cheapest, but their service can't be beat IMO.

[stanger89]

Do you mean 6600GT?

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Do you mean 6600GT?

Dumb fingers!

[mdmint]

Woohooo! FedEx had ETA of tomorrow but it just showed up. Let's see, shall I do the upgrades all at once and wait until UPS stragles by with the Panaflo's and T-Balancer later today or this evening or if i'm lucky they'll show up today at all and not tomorrow with some lame excuse like too often happens like yesterday when they delivered 4 of 5 RMA HDs and delivered the 5th somewhere else and when I called they admitted their mistake but wouldn't pick it up without me calling Western D and having Western D call them to tell them to pick up the HD they already knew was delivered to the wrong place and deliver it where they were supposed to in the first place or shall I ....gone!

[Cayars]

Yea, I've had that happen to me a few times and it's the stupidest thing. Umm, yea, we made a mistake on the delivery but we can fix the mistake without permission.

Doh, unless the customer asked you to mess up why don't you fix the problem yourself.

[mdmint]

MSI 6600GT installed and cursory config'd. First after being being forced to use Svid just one day I'll say component output is good to have back! And from just dinking around with it a half hour or so me thinks I'll like it better, likely mucho better, than the ATI 9600.

[GbrNole]

what kind of mobo do you have that card plugged into (the agp version right?)

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by GbrNole

what kind of mobo do you have that card plugged into (the agp version right?)

Yes, 8x AGP.

[GbrNole]

did you use the component adapter with the 9600 you used to have?

i had to rma a defective msi 6600gt and the dumb a$$ store just credited my charge card rather than send a new one so i'm on the cusp of ordering another but the problems with the last card left a sour taste and the ati with the component adapter are just so easy to setup for 1080i.

how does video work for you in sage using the 6600gt with the dongle (assuming you're using 1080i)?

i can go with another 6600 or alternatively i can get a 9600pro with dongle for 130 shipped or a 9800 pro with dongle for 200 shipped.

wmv-hd really isn't important to me but i just want to get something that will work in sage without hassle or i guess i could jump to mce 2005 and not have to worry with all this.

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by GbrNole

did you use the component adapter with the 9600 you used to have?

yes

i had to rma a defective msi 6600gt and the dumb a$$ store just credited my charge card rather than send a new one so i'm on the cusp of ordering another but the problems with the last card left a sour taste and the ati with the component adapter are just so easy to setup for 1080i.

But not easy to change output mode if want to try different modes and your HTPC is in a heavy AV cabinet so back of HTPC not readily accessible! A PIA. You must physically change a switch on the dongle to change mode. Not so with 6600 component dongle, changes done in 100% software.

how does video work for you in sage using the 6600gt with the dongle (assuming you're using 1080i)?

Only had it less than a day but as my earlier post said mucho happy. The main reason for going the MSI NX9600GT to replace the ATI 9600 was I'd been fighting intermittent stuttering using VMR9. (XP2500+ 512M WinXP pro sp1 then sp2 then DX9c quartz.dll replaced etc) Hadn't been able to totally get rid of it no matter what I tried. Finally gave up and was settling for using Overlay the last few weeks. With 9600 seldom could go a full hour without a stutter or few second hang or two minimum if using VMR9. Popped in the 9600GT yesterday afternoon. We watched 3 shows last night VMR9, not a single stutter. So preliminarily for me the 6600GT is doing what the 9600 couldn't do well.

i can go with another 6600 or alternatively i can get a 9600pro with dongle for 130 shipped or a 9800 pro with dongle for 200 shipped.

I paid $209 inc. shipped 3 day FedEx (but arrived in 2 days) for MSI NX6600GT 128 AGP.

wmv-hd really isn't important to me but i just want to get something that will work in sage without hassle or i guess i could jump to mce 2005 and not have to worry with all this.

[GbrNole]

what processor and mobo are you using with that card?

i still had bad stutter in sage vmr9 (nvidia .67 codec) with my msi 6600gt but that may have been due to the card not working correctly.

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by GbrNole

what processor and mobo are you using with that card?

i still had bad stutter in sage vmr9 (nvidia .67 codec) with my msi 6600gt but that may have been due to the card not working correctly.

You could click on my sig line for info (which is admittedly somewhat outdated but accurate for your question) but I'll give a quick answer. Asus A7NX8-E Deluxe & AMD 2400+. I'm not sure which Nvidia codec & driver I was using last night (Just installed 7.something driver IRRC from included CD) & codec from when purchased Nvidia decoder a month or so ago. Or is codec something else, I get so confused!

[g808]

How loud is the fan on this thing? What driver version are you using? I've been holding out on getting a 6600 since I was waiting for a passively cooled version and for some reliable drivers.

[GbrNole]

the fan on the msi 6600gt is pretty quiet. not as quiet as the one on my 5900xt but it's less noisy than the fan built into the high def receiver in my tv set!

the leadtek 6600gt also has a pretty quiet fan.

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by g808

How loud is the fan on this thing? What driver version are you using? I've been holding out on getting a 6600 since I was waiting for a passively cooled version and for some reliable drivers.

Driver wise see my just previous post. Noise wise too soon to really say since just popped it in yesterday and haven't done my total aggressive silencing rework yet. But it's not bad stock. I plan on doing two thing to the MSI 6600GT when I pull down the HTPC in the next day or two for full attack. 1) Wire to run the fan off the newly arrived T-Balancer so it'll only turn as fast as it needs to, and 2) pull the heatsink, clean and reinstall using Artic Silver (the only thermal compound I'll use)

[GbrNole]

mdmint - just to clarify then you use the 6600gt with the component cables, 1080i res (maybe overscan corrected?) vmr9, latest nvidia codec and get smooth playback free of tears and skips?

i wasn't afforded this luxury with my 6600gt (same setup) but i'm hoping that it's because it was defective.

ps. what size power supply do you use?

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by GbrNole

mdmint - just to clarify then you use the 6600gt with the component cables, 1080i res (maybe overscan corrected?) vmr9, latest nvidia codec and get smooth playback free of tears and skips?

i wasn't afforded this luxury with my 6600gt (same setup) but i'm hoping that it's because it was defective.

Actually no, at the moment running 480p (not to be confused with 480i), rest yes. My Toshiba 55HX70 is a 4:3. I couldn't get 1080i the way I liked it with the ATI and haven't played with 1080i yet with the 6600GT. Remember, I've still had it less than 24 hours!

ps. what size power supply do you use?

I'll say it again, click my sig line! I mean, that's why it's there. If you had you'd know I'm using a Coolmax 300w with thermal two speed 120mm fan.