Essential Specs for Video Card

[MJC]

I'm a BTV user contemplating an upgrade of the ATI 8500 DV card.

What would be the essential specs to look for?

bus type
RAM on board
fan and fan noise
speed
?????
cost


Specifically, it will have to be AGP. The PC is a 2.4 Mhz box, so what can be offloaded to the card (hardware accelleration)?

I don't give a flip about games and the card will need to drive only a plasma screen. The tearing has proven to be unfixable and annoying.

I render most movies to WMV files and play them from the computer. It would be great if these were accellerated as well (NVidia?).

Once the specs are listed, I'd then probably need help matching them to the confusing series of model numbers provided by the manufacturers.

Thanks in advance.

MJC

[mikem]

GV-N68128DH is looking like a good card to me.

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/VGA/Produ...V-N68128DH.htm

is the URL to the manufacturers website.

6800 Non-Ultra so is based on the NV41 core with fully working Video Processor. Mate up with the Nvidia DVD Decoder and 67.66 drivers from nZone for MPEG and WMV9 acceleration and you are going to get one mean display quality.

Has 15pin VGA, DVI and S-Video Out so problems driving a plasma.

Also is fanless so no noise at all. I am not sure looking at the card if you will be able to use the slot next to the card for a tuner or not.

It is the card I am looking to use myself but I am planning on using a Silverstone LC10 case so is a full ATX case. The card is the only passive card in the 6 series cards at the moment. You will need to make sure there is some ventilation for the case to get the heat out.

[opilion]

I'm super happy with a cheap FX-5200 with 67.22 drivers and the NVIDIA 1.000.67 decoder. Picture quality is great! I'm not a big gamer thogh.

op

PS. With a 2.4 MHz box, you'll want to offload everything (GHz)

[MJC]

Originally Posted by opilion

I'm super happy with a cheap FX-5200 with 67.22 drivers and the NVIDIA 1.000.67 decoder. Picture quality is great! I'm not a big gamer thogh.

op

PS. With a 2.4 MHz box, you'll want to offload everything (GHz)

OK, op, time to be a Devil's Advocate: At the time I bought the 8500, it was at the end of the product cycle, so it was cheap.

One year later, it's time to start hunting for another card. Yet the first alternative mentioned in this thread would break the bank. It seems that most cards are designed for fanatical game players with disretionary incomes, not someone who just wants a picture without a rippled line in the middle during fast pans. If you read the Rage forum, it's all about clock speeds and Halo.

Can the 5200 do WMV accelleration? Please advise. Thanks in advance.

MJC

[mickwall]

Originally Posted by MJC

Can the 5200 do WMV accelleration? Please advise. Thanks in advance.

MJC

No , it does have an MPEG decoder on it but not WMV

Mick

[mikem]

For WMV acceleration then you are looking at Nvidia 6x00 series or ATI x series.

I have read that apparently the 6200 and 6600 will be released as a bridged AGP board but not when, other then later this year.

At the moment only the 6600GT and 6800's are available on AGP. With only gigabyte releasing a passively cooled card at a rather large cost.

The only reason for going for the 6600 rather then the 6200 that I can see is that the 6600 supports HDTV and the 6200 doesn't. But at the moment they are PCI-Express only.