[OTHER] Looking for new card (but have some "restrictions") (1 Viewer)

[MPM]

Hi,

Yes, yet another question about new card... Sorry about that!

My current card (9200) is not DX9 compatible so I need to upgrade the card in order to be able to upgrade MP.

I don't have PCI-E, so only AGP is acceptable.
I'm still using TV from previous century so I need S-Video (SVHS) out.
I want a silent card, preferrably passive cooling, as the computer is in the middle of the living room.
No need for gaming performance, only pure TV/video watching...

Have been reading other threads, but recommended cards usually miss one of my criteria...

And of course, if I'm buying a new card then having DX10 support and HDMI with sound output (as I'm gonna buy a new TV "any day now") would be nice too.

I appreciate all hints!

Thanks,
MPM

 

[MPM]

Radeon 3650 - Sapphire or Asus?

Well, after a day of browsing it seems to me like Radeon 3650 would be a nice fit for my needs.

I'm looking at either:
Sapphire Radeon HD3650 GDDR2 512MB (at app. 65$); or
Asus Radeon AH3650 Silent/HTDI 512MB (at app. 85$) due to passive cooling.

Any experience and/or on these?

Thanks,
Mladen

 

[drealit]

Ugh those prices are horrible. I recommend rather than try to claw your way through all this... you actually upgrade the computer. You're pouring water into a bottomless bucket if you do it your way and I highly recommend against it. For $200 (US dollars) you could EASILY be replacing the psu, motherboard, processor, ram, and video card. And actually, you could spend a lot less too.

The time has come... give that computer away (or sell it!) and build yourself a new one with a tiny bit of money.

 

[MPM]

Noooo, don't say so, it may hear you!

Actually, I've been thinking about it to start with, but then decided to choose a simple rip-out-plug-in solution instead of re-installing the entire HTPC. But, I'm now probably leaning towards the original idea (and your suggestion) again...

What happened during last two days is that I spontaneously bought Asus AH3650 on my way home from work - and then spent two days trying to install it without success! Now, I've done my research and was ready for some driver issues but I never got to the choose-an-obscure-driver-that-works-better-for-unknown-reasons-point that many describe. Instead, XP kept freezing just few seconds after start (including the safe mode) so I couldn't do anything with it...

So, Radeon 9200 is going back to the box, Asus is going back to the store and I'll start looking into re-vamping my box...

I've had my HTPC in 4 years now and have gradually replaced all the peripherals - but kept away from replacing the MB as I didn't want to mess with re-installation. So, at this point I only need MB, CPU and Memory. And maybe a video card, depending on the MB. (I've always preferred non-integrated graphics, but have been reading a lot of positive stuff about 780G boards now, so maybe the times have changed...)

Thanks,
MPM

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

I've had my HTPC in 4 years now and have gradually replaced all the peripherals - but kept away from replacing the MB as I didn't want to mess with re-installation

Are you talking about the Windows OS, now that's a must on new build, otherwise you are just asking for trouble , once done the backup to image, so you can install again, usually in a fraction of the time the normal install takes.
My Vista Ultimate backup, done using the actual windows supplied utility, can restore the full OS in under 15 minutes from a external HDD image

 

[MPM]

Yeah, I'm always keeping a couple of images ready, learned it from (bad) experience... Using Acronis TrueImage.

But images will not help me with new MB and CPU - I need to re-install OS and that's why I kept away from it as long as possible. And then on top of OS comes everything else - utilities, codecs, drivers, etc. Until app. 2 years ago I also had to mess with RealMAgic Xcard, digital tuner cards, CAM/CI, etc. but thanks to joined developers' effort (TVEdia removed TV support and MP doesn't support Xcard) and technology progress (feeding digital TV to MP through Dreambox) there is much more space for air flow in my box nowadays!

I'm not sure if you are actually suggesting that new build is required even if I would only change graphics card, but it seems like an overkill for me...