New Graphics Card (1 Viewer)

[speedypancake]

I've been having problems running Media Portal (picture freezing and jerky scrolling credits / titles) and someone suggested upgrading my current graphics card - ATI Radeon 9200 as it apparently doesn't support the required DirectX v9.0c... The rest of my system is a Compq Presario / Pentium 4 / 2.66GHz / Sound Blaster Audigy

Anyone out there recommend a good performance and value upgrade for the 9200?

Tia - Speedy

 

[Callifo]

Its a DX8.1 card which does work. I upgraded from a 9250 solely because its connectivity was bad. It ran MP perfectly fine for months. Id probably look at the problem being elsewhere.

 

[speedypancake]

"Its a DX8.1 card which does work. I upgraded from a 9250 solely because its connectivity was bad. It ran MP perfectly fine for months. Id probably look at the problem being elsewhere."

Great news if I don't need to buy a new card. But I understood that Media Portal *required* the latest DX9.0c to work properly??

 

[jawbroken]

It does not really require, it is just strongly, strongly recommended (strongly). The experience, in general, with a directx 9.0 compatible card will be better. What sort of CPU usage do you get in MediaPortal when this jerking/stuttering happens?

 

[FlipGer]

Hi,

I have a ATi 8500, afaik it has the same chip as the 9200. And MP works quite well with it!

A fully DX9 capeable card will work a bit better. If you want to look for a card like that:
- ATi 9550 and above
- nVidia 6200 and above

HTH, Flip

 

[speedypancake]

What sort of CPU usage do you get in MediaPortal when this jerking/stuttering happens?

It seems to sit at around 40 - 60 % CPU usage. It usually freezes when I'm using live TV, trying to change channels etc. but I've never monitored the usage when this happens. The other options like pics / music / videos seem to work much better. Forgot to mention the TV card is a Hauppauge Nova-T PCI freeview thingy...

 

[Callifo]

DX8.1 is fine if you dont want to spend anymore. Going for a full DX9 capable card (6200) it dropped average loadings by about 5-10% (cpu handling dx9 only isnt too intensive compared with DX8.1 and 9 at the sametime).

 

[speedypancake]

OK - thanks for your help guys.
Sounds like I should be able to stick with my 9200 card.
Final question - should I uninstall DX9.0c and run DX8.1 instead? And should I stick with MP V1.3 and forget the new V2.0 release??

Cheers

 

[jawbroken]

I am pretty sure you actually need directx 9.0 because that is the SDK MediaPortal is developed under. I could be wrong though, perhaps 1.3 was compatible with earlier directx versions (can't find any information on this at the moment).

 

[Callifo]

No keep DirectX9. I meant the card is a DX8.1 card meaning it will handle that itself. The CPU will take the left over DX9 instructions itself.

0130 is the stable release and 0200 so far is only release candidates. Dont let that put you off though, some of the late CVS builds have been looking VERY good indeed. (worthy of finally upgrading my 0130 stable build)