I (think) I need a video card?

[Phantasee]

So I got a 20" monitor, and it's got a humongous resolution of 1680x1050. Unfortunately I can't take advantage of all this screen space because I don't have a video card. My Intel integrated graphics aren't up to the job of rendering hi-def video, so I can't watch that sweet new Star Trek trailer.

My PC was built in about 2003/04. It didn't have USB 2.0 until I added the card for it. It's got a 2.5GHz P4, with 1 GB of DDR2 RAM (came with 512MB). I'm giving out these numbers so you guys have an idea of what kind of machine it is.

What kind of video card should I look for? I have a feeling I should be looking at used cards, maybe. I'm not keen on getting a new computer at the moment, but a some change in upgrades isn't a major issue.

[charlemagne]

Well, of course you need to know which slot for a GPU is available to you. I'm guessing it'll be AGP, considering the age of your machine? If you don't know, look around in your BIOS.

Also, are you sure that high-def-video "lagging" is really because of your integrated GPU, and not because of e.g. a slow internet connection? Or because of outdated/corrupted codecs? Just asking, because it could have other causes than your GPU.

[Phantasee]

Well, of course you need to know which slot for a GPU is available to you. I'm guessing it'll be AGP, considering the age of your machine? If you don't know, look around in your BIOS.

Also, are you sure that high-def-video "lagging" is really because of your integrated GPU, and not because of e.g. a slow internet connection? Or because of outdated/corrupted codecs? Just asking, because it could have other causes than your GPU.

The video is on my hard drive, and all my codecs are up to date. I just formatted my computer a couple weeks ago.

[Dominus Atheos]

It depends on what type of slot you have. If it's PCIe then you'll have quite a few deals to look at:

If all you care about is hi-def playback, this ATI 4350 will work fine at $45 CAD before $15 USD MIR. Or for a little more, this ATI 4650 will play most modern games and comes in at $70 CAD before $10 USD MIR.

But if it's AGP, all you'll be able to find is this ancient hunk of crap ATI 2600 hd for $75 CAD before $20 USD MIR. Don't even try to game on it, you'll blow up the computer. Most integrated graphics that come with a modern laptop will out perform this thing.

[Phantasee]

How can I determine what kinds of slots I have? I got a new 4+1 port USB 2.0 card to stick in the back, and I just picked it up off the shelf. I'm assuming the majority of cards are PCIe nowadays?

I'm not interested in playing games on the computer, I barely touch my Wii as it is. I've got Atomic Bomberman, and solitaire, on the PC. And Tyrian 2000. It's all about the hi-def video.

[Darth Mall]

For high def video it might actually be a codec issue. if the videos are in h.264 I would recommend coreavc for decoding. It's about 15 dollars, but well worth it. I can play 720p mkvs that ffdshow can't handle. And my laptop has only a crutzy intel express chipset for graphics.

My old 7800gt and AMD 3800+ weren't able to do 1080p with ffdshow, but coreavc manged just fine.

[phongn]

My old 7800gt and AMD 3800+ weren't able to do 1080p with ffdshow, but coreavc manged just fine.

Newer video cards can decode many H.264-encoded videos in hardware, nicely freeing up one's CPU. The two cards DA mentioned will work perfectly fine for that.

That configuration you have is similar to mine (Opteron 165/7800GT) and CoreAVC can't quite push higher-bitrate 1080p even so. It also achieves its speed at the cost of visual quality, which might be a no-go for some people. And if he's on a single-processor machine (even a dual-threaded one) he's out of the game entirely for software decoding.

How can I determine what kinds of slots I have? I got a new 4+1 port USB 2.0 card to stick in the back, and I just picked it up off the shelf. I'm assuming the majority of cards are PCIe nowadays?

The majority of video cards produced these days are PCIe. Look on Wikipedia for PCI Express and AGP to see what the slots look like. Other cards are a toss-up between old PCI and PCIe. If you have neither a PCIe nor AGP slot, you're SOL.

I'm not interested in playing games on the computer, I barely touch my Wii as it is. I've got Atomic Bomberman, and solitaire, on the PC. And Tyrian 2000. It's all about the hi-def video.

If you're stuck at AGP, I think the 3650 will decode H.264 streams in hardware. Be aware that at the current state of things it may not work: the hardware-based decoders are very finicky as to what they'll accept.

[Phantasee]

Oh, it's definitely a single-processor machine. Pentium 4, no more.
I found the website for the model, these are the specs. It appears I've got no AGP slots, only PCI slots. Since I installed the USB 2.0 card in there, I only have 2 free.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docu ... 77&lang=en

What are my options for PCI? Or is this where I'm SOL?

[phongn]

What are my options for PCI? Or is this where I'm SOL?

You're SOL.

[Ohma]

What are my options for PCI? Or is this where I'm SOL?

You're SOL.

Umm...I'm pretty sure he isn't...my crappy little P4 with an AGP 6800 can handle 1680x1050 resolution and hi-def video just fine.

This is a list of cards I found on Newegg I think are probably along the lines of what you'll want.

[phongn]

Umm...I'm pretty sure he isn't...my crappy little P4 with an AGP 6800 can handle 1680x1050 resolution and hi-def video just fine.

I doubt you're playing high-bitrate H.264 at 1080p.

This is a list of cards I found on Newegg I think are probably along the lines of what you'll want.

Well I'll be damned. I had no idea anyone made PCI video cards this modern. The 8400GS and 9400GT have hardware H.264 encoding (and newer 8400GS GPUs are more efficient)

[Ohma]

Umm...I'm pretty sure he isn't...my crappy little P4 with an AGP 6800 can handle 1680x1050 resolution and hi-def video just fine.

I doubt you're playing high-bitrate H.264 at 1080p.

I have no idea so I'll take your word for it. But I have been able to watch the recent ST trailer.

[Feil]

Install another gig or three of RAM. There's no point using a video card when you only have 1 gig.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820104097

If you still have problems, then look into a video card if you want. Your computer will be better off for the extra RAM anyway: things will load faster and compile faster, and you'll be able to multitask more applications at once.

[phongn]

Install another gig or three of RAM. There's no point using a video card when you only have 1 gig.

More RAM is often good, but isn't going to be of that much help playing H.264 content.

[Phantasee]

RAM would be nice, but I don't think I can find many sticks of DDR RAM anymore. Am I stuck with DDR or does DDR2 work fine as a replacement? I was mistaken in the OP about that.

I don't know about 1080P. I think I'd be okay with just 720P. Middle of the road is good enough for me, I'll probably be buying a new computer in a year or so anyway, so there's a limit to how much I want to upgrade. Unless that's irrelevant?

What should I be looking at? I've never had to look at video cards before so I don't really know how to read anything on the page Ohma linked to. I know that I'm currently using a VGA cable, because that's all my computer has a connection for, but the monitor also has a DVI connection.

[phongn]

RAM would be nice, but I don't think I can find many sticks of DDR RAM anymore. Am I stuck with DDR or does DDR2 work fine as a replacement? I was mistaken in the OP about that.

You must use DDR.

I don't know about 1080P. I think I'd be okay with just 720P. Middle of the road is good enough for me, I'll probably be buying a new computer in a year or so anyway, so there's a limit to how much I want to upgrade. Unless that's irrelevant?

What should I be looking at? I've never had to look at video cards before so I don't really know how to read anything on the page Ohma linked to. I know that I'm currently using a VGA cable, because that's all my computer has a connection for, but the monitor also has a DVI connection.

Essentially, you'd have to look up benchmark numbers online for various GPUs to figure out how much power they have (and other bits of specification sheets, like if they can decode H.264, for example).

[Nephtys]

DDR, DDR2, DDR3 are all incompatible.

1 Gig isn't that bad for what you're trying. It shouldn't be that much of an issue at all, really. but if your computer is this old, well. You don't need to splurge too much. Buy the cheapest card from a few years ago that'd fit, and you're good until you can buy a modern monster.

[Phantasee]

Another question: will a video card give me any help with converting video? Such as converting into H.264, or chopping up video clips and putting them together into cheesy montages set to terrible music?

Or is that more of a CPU and/or RAM issue?

[phongn]

Another question: will a video card give me any help with converting video? Such as converting into H.264, or chopping up video clips and putting them together into cheesy montages set to terrible music?

You can buy add-on cards to do capture, acceleration and all sorts of neat tricks. They will also cost an arm and a leg.

Or is that more of a CPU and/or RAM issue?

For you, a CPU and RAM issue. Also disk.

[Ypoknons]

You know, you look like the kind of guy who could just use a new computer, maybe even a nice budget laptop. It need seems like you're CPU limited as well, and CPU upgrading is a bitch.

[Phantasee]

As far as I'm concerned, CPU/mobo is what constitutes a new computer. Especially if you take as long as me between upgrades. I don't think anything would be usable on a new computer, since my HDDs and optical drives are all ATA.

A new computer may be in the cards for this summer, before school. Possibly a laptop. But to be completely honest with you, outside of a little video converting (mostly for iPod), I don't do much that needs more CPU power, and a gig of RAM is such a significant upgrade, feel-wise, from 512MB, that I don't think I'll be concerned about that either. My only limiting factor is HDD space, and I'm sure I'll be able to pick up bigger ATA HDDs, used, for a little while, at least. They're getting absurdly expensive new, though.

I'd be interested in laptop suggestions later on though. I'll make a thread when the time comes I'm currently looking at those Lenovo ThinkPads, a Toshiba Satellite, or something else.

[charlemagne]

As far as I'm concerned, CPU/mobo is what constitutes a new computer. Especially if you take as long as me between upgrades. I don't think anything would be usable on a new computer, since my HDDs and optical drives are all ATA.

Most new mobos come with one IDE channel still, so you'll be able to re-use two ATA devices. Also, new SATA harddrives aren't really expensive either, so keeping your optical drives and swapping out the HD is a real possibility when upgrading, since drive speed for reading/burning isn't really an issue - personally I don't really care if it takes 8 or 5 minutes to burn a CD. Just saying - IDE/SATA isn't really an issue when upgrading.

[phongn]

Newer motherboards often use third-party chipsets for PATA support. Unfortunately, said implementations are often spotty and with poor drivers.