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Thread ID: 62066 2005-09-25 23:24:00 How Much would a graphics card upgrade affect a Media Centre PC noone (22) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
390858 2005-09-25 23:24:00 Hi all

Currently in our media centre Pc we have a Radeon 9200 SE ( 128 meg ) with it outputting ( via composite not S video ) to a 21 inch tv ( quality is good ) , i was wondering whether upgrading the Graphics card to a 6600GT or a 9600XT would make a noticable difference. Also is S Video any better quality then a regular composite cable - the new graphics card will have s video , currently we only have composite
Stats
AMD XP 2800
1 Gig Ram
9200Se

Thanks
noone (22)
390859 2005-09-25 23:34:00 difference between svideo and composite.......on a 21" tv your not going to notice any difference. you really need a high end and large tv to really notive the difference. tweak'e (69)
390860 2005-09-25 23:43:00 I have seen TV out running on all of those cards , no you will notice no real difference, ATI TV out does look a little bit crisper IMO but barely worth mentioning.

Your gaming performance would of course imporve heaps on like a 6600GT :)
Battleneter (60)
390861 2005-09-25 23:51:00 The only place you'll see a difference is if you're using a High Definition TV (HDTV) capable graphics card. You will require a TV that supports HDTV though as well. A graphics board capable of this will set you back a bit $$$-wise but if you're a stickler for quality etc then it's well worth it.

cheers

chiefnz
chiefnz (545)
390862 2005-09-26 08:48:00 how about upgrading a IDE 133 HDD with a 2 meg buffer to a sata I drive with an 8 meg buffer noone (22)
390863 2005-09-26 08:52:00 And I take it, u have onboard SATA?

Depends what u want to do with the SATA.

It might load Windows, a bit faster, thats about it.
Speedy Gonzales (78)
390864 2005-09-26 23:44:00 yes onboard sata
I will use the new drive to record on to and use features like time shifting with
noone (22)
390865 2005-09-27 00:09:00 Depends what mpeg2 decoder you are using. If you get a 95xx or higher ati card you can get dxva and vmr9 hardware accelleration from the graphics adaptor. If you are using the nvidia mpeg2 decoder a nvidia 6200 card would allow you to use the nvidia pureview features in addition to vmr9 and dxva support. I have had trouble with suspending and resuming with nvidia cards though. BIFF (1)
390866 2005-09-27 04:23:00 we have a leaktek Winfast DV 2000 Tv capture card noone (22)
390867 2005-09-27 04:33:00 In your guys opinion for the max of $250 what do you think will be the best upgrade possible for the PC - considering it is now a media centre pc and never used to be

Stats

Amd XP 2800 +
1 gig ram
80 Gig 2meg buffer IDE HDD
DL , DVD RW
Leadtek DV 2000 TV Card
Ati Radeon 9200 SE


Thanks
noone (22)
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