- Aug 5, 2001
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Hi all, I am doing a little DIY project - converting an old Dell Dimension 8250 into a home theater pc with DVR functionality. I need some advice on the video card. This is my first meaningful PC-related DIY, so be gentle if I ask something stupid.
Current PC specs:
P4 2.4GHz
RDRAM: 1GB
Video: 64MB nVidia GeForce4 MX 420 Graphics Card with TV-Out and AGP 8X (I have no idea how many bits is this card but I doubt anything impressive)
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 (to be bought)
There is no PCI-express slot in the PC.
Intended use:
HD-Home theater PC
HD-DVR
HD Video streaming
Gaming - perhaps, but I doubt anything really strenuous.
Budget:
Hehe... whaddya think... somewhere between $40-$100.
I gather from googling that GeForce4 MX 420 is as basic as it gets.
Question: Would it be correct to assume that going to a 256MB 128-bit AGP 8x would give me (1) a huge improvement on the current set up and (2) be sufficient for the intended use (see above) (3) Would it make any sense to go to 512MB card?
Question: I can get an nVidia GeForce 6600GT, ATI Radeon 9550 XL, Asus nVidia GeForce 7600GS, ATI Radeon X1300 Pro, etc. on ebay for around $40. Would these suffice? Any one particularly better than the other?
Other suggestions?
Thanks so much in advance!
Current PC specs:
P4 2.4GHz
RDRAM: 1GB
Video: 64MB nVidia GeForce4 MX 420 Graphics Card with TV-Out and AGP 8X (I have no idea how many bits is this card but I doubt anything impressive)
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 (to be bought)
There is no PCI-express slot in the PC.
Intended use:
HD-Home theater PC
HD-DVR
HD Video streaming
Gaming - perhaps, but I doubt anything really strenuous.
Budget:
Hehe... whaddya think... somewhere between $40-$100.
I gather from googling that GeForce4 MX 420 is as basic as it gets.
Question: Would it be correct to assume that going to a 256MB 128-bit AGP 8x would give me (1) a huge improvement on the current set up and (2) be sufficient for the intended use (see above) (3) Would it make any sense to go to 512MB card?
Question: I can get an nVidia GeForce 6600GT, ATI Radeon 9550 XL, Asus nVidia GeForce 7600GS, ATI Radeon X1300 Pro, etc. on ebay for around $40. Would these suffice? Any one particularly better than the other?
Other suggestions?
Thanks so much in advance!