Video card upgrade advice sought.

[Delmar]

The other day I was distressed to find that I had been cursed with horizontal grey lines streaking across my monitor. I looked around and found this page explaning the problem.

http://www.nocrash.com/ncbbs/msgs/157.shtml

So it seems that my Nvidia TNT2 has just about had it and it's time to upgrade. What I'm not sure of is what to replace it with. I want something that can capture video from a Hi-8 camera and has a tv out. I'm prepared to spend $100 or more, as long as I end up with a card that will serve my needs. I think it might be best to avoid Nvidia this time around.

I have another concern though. My pc is a Compaq presario special edition I bought in 2001. It has a 1.2 ghz AMD athlon processor with 128MB RAM. I've been told, though I suspect it's BS, that the machine can't handle more than a certain amount of RAM and can't have parts simply changed around. Should I not worry about this or is it something to keep in mind? Thanks in advance, folks.

 

[PrayForDeath]

You gotta check it yourself and see if you can remove your TNT outa your mobo, and see if there's an AGP slot, if not then you will have to buy a PCI video card, there are PCI Radeon 9200 and PCI FX 5200, they all have TV-Out IIRC.

 

[Delorian]

You should definitely have no problem with raising your amount of system ram, except for the fact that all of the DRAM slots may be full, in which case all you have to do is throw out the old ram when you buy new stuff instead of being able to use both.

If you are looking for an ATI with video in and video out functions, you might try to get seperate cards, like maybe a Radeon 9600 for ~100 and a tv tuner/capture card for ~50 or so, are those the only functions you need is 2d/video in? Also check to see if you can add agp, if your stuck with PCI, your options are severely limited.

 

[Delmar]

Well I had myself a look and the integrated card stuff was nonesense. I schooled myself on what goes on in there and it turns out I have a free PCI slot and an AGP slot, occupied by the TNT2 card. There are also 2 free RAM slots so everything looks good to go. It took about an hour since the icon telling me where to open the case cover was hidden by a sticker.

It was suggested to me that I look at an all-in-wonder card but the only one i saw listed on ATI's site is way out of my price range. A friend who builds his own pc's guessed off the top of his head that I could track one down for about 100 so I think I'll try and keep it around there. Thanks to everyone for the help. I've learned a thing or two I was totally ignorant of previously and it looks like my old card dying is more of an opportunity to get a fancy new toy than the big hassle I first thought it was. Any more suggestions are welcome.

Cheers.

 

[apoppin]

make absolutely sure the voltage supplied to the AGP slot is "correct" for a modern video card.

Some of the older cards/mbs use a much higher voltage (3.3v) which will fry both your new card and your MB.

If you are looking for a cheap All-in-Wonder, the Radeon 8500 should be cheaper than $100. Even the (regular) Radeon 8500 has VIVO (but the new lower AGP voltage - 1.5v).

If you need an old cheap card with VIVO - the original Radeon 64 DDR is a definite upgrade from your TNT2 card and uses the higher AGP voltage (but is limited to older games - pre '03).

And if you can use a modern video card, the 9600 series would be in your range (make sure it is VIVO) and will play most of the very latest games.

edited

 

[Delmar]

I had a look at my current card and it has the following line written on it.

+3.3Vdc@2.7A,+5Vdc@100mA

I take that to mean that I'm looking at a card that uses 3.3V and I'm stuck replacing it with an older, 3.3V card. Can anyone confirm this or am I reading it wrong? Thanks in advance.