Newbie Problems With MyGica A680B on Win XP

[mikeh49]

Couple of thoughts on video cards:

I don't think memory quantity is that important for a HTPC card, my 128MB 9600Pro seems to be OK. Back in the day, poster csy said that the memory bus width was critical, 128 bit was needed, 64 bit was not good enough. So, I went for 128 bit with the 9600Pro. I note that many modern cards have only a 64 bit bus, so perhaps higher clock speeds can offset the bus width.

In my experience, display resolution counts. I have only 720p TVs and run my HTPCs at 1360X768 panel native resolution. I tried the 9600Pro on my 1920X1080 monitor and it couldn't hack it. I think the number of pixels that the card has to manage is a factor. On the other hand, my test system with the 890GX integrated graphics handles 1080p just fine. This is all on Win7, XP, as we have noted before, is a different kettle of fish. So, your TV or monitor needs to be considered in the decision process.

I wouldn't spend very much on that old MB. There are Nvidia 8400GS PCI on ebay for $25 or so.

[johnsonx42]

Agreed, the memory amount isn't going to be particularly relevant for HTPC use. They all have far more memory than is actually needed for video.

As to the memory bus width, yes of course a wider bus is always better all else being equal... but of course all else is not equal; in this case modern graphics memory chips are much faster than those used on the 9600Pro. As you recall correctly, the 9600Pro was right on the edge for HD; it could push a 720p panel ok, but not a 1080 panel, so every little bit helped.

Regarding the 8400GS, I did try one of those a couple of years ago when I was running GB-PVR on Windows XP. I wasn't happy with it at all, and returned it. I didn't get any really good results until I switched to the Radeon HD 4550 I have now, though truely satisfying results didn't come until I threw in the towel on XP.

[whitedavidp]

Well, I have checked and this baby is 32 bit PCI running at 33MGz. I am not sure if they are 3 or 5V PCI and I can see that some cards need one or the other specifically. While there are cards that are inexpensive enough, I just don't think it is worth throwing any more money at this box. Coupled with the fact that it runs OK using TotalMedia (save for all of its idiosyncrasies), it just doesn't make sense when I could get something like a modern, inexpensive laptop or one of these <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173024> for $300 or so. I would want to be able to put in at least 4G RAM though.

[johnsonx42]

Well, I have checked and this baby is 32 bit PCI running at 33MGz. I am not sure if they are 3 or 5V PCI and I can see that some cards need one or the other specifically.

All PCI video cards are 32-bit/33Mhz. You don't have to worry about the voltage on a PCI video card; trust me, any video card you can possibly buy will work in the PCI slots in a computer made just about any time in the last decade. It's only really old and rare specialty cards where you have to consider voltages.

As to whether it's worth upgrading that system at all, it's your call of course. I have to admit I'd hesitate given that system doesn't even seem to have a hyper-threading Pentium 4, much less a real dual-core. A single-core, single-thread CPU isn't much value any more.

By the way, in your system report I noticed at the time the report was run it showed the CPU at 100% use; do you have an errant process chewing up the CPU? That would certainly explain your choppy video.

[whitedavidp]

I am not sure but I would guess that Everest's reporting process is pretty intensive. I will check it out though. Thanks for all the info/help.