Vid Cards

[hogfarmr]

1. does a vid card tv out look like a cable out that i can plug directly into my tv?

2. is the geforce2 still the best deal going if i want a cost effective vid card WITH tv out?

Basicaly my computer sits right next to my tv and i have wanted a dvd player for a while and i need a new vid card so i'm thinking hey, why dont i just get a vid card with tv out so i can watch dvds on my tv from my computer  . Is there anything wrong/ unforseen problems with this logic?

So far best deal looks do be a eVGA GeForce2 32mb ddr with dvd support, $128. i assume the dvd support is a driver issue and has less to do with the card then they lead you to believe.

Once again, thanks for putting up with my complete stupidity of computers.

-AKHog

[hogfarmr]

err just found a GeForce2 mx200 64mb sdram with tv out for $86. good deal?

MX200 64mb @ $86 vs 32mb ddr @ $128

-AKHog

[Lephturn]

I don't know what the "mx200" part of that name is, but it sounds scary.  Usually anything that comes after the "GeForce 2" bit and before the amount of ram means "like a real GeForce 2 but crippled for 3D games".

The GeForce 2 32 Meg will be faster for gaming.  The mx version will be slower, but may run at rediculously high resolutions that the 32 meg card won't handle.  Generally speaking, 64 Megs of RAM is a waste of time on an MX board.

If your priority is gaming speed, get the full-tilt GeForce 2 with DDR ram.  If the budget is important, the MX will play AH just fine I'm sure, just a bit slower.  

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Sean "Lephturn" Conrad - Aces High Chief Trainer

A proud member of the mighty Flying Pigs
http://www.flyingpigs.com

Check out Lephturn's Aerodrome for AH articles and training info!

[bloom25]

Nvidia just recently castrated the GF2 Mx chip even more than it used to be.  The mx 200 is much like a tnt2 m64, and this means you don't want it.  The Mx 400s are just like the past Mx cards, but have 64 MB of ram and a higher core speed.  Unfortunately they did not raise the memory bandwidth, so this extra ram and clock speed result in less than a 1 percent improvement.  At this point I would advise going for the full GTS cards.  The Asus V7700 Pure with TV out has recently dropped in price.  Asus' video cards are of the highest quality.



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bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

[Fishu]

I have ATI Radeon 64mb VIVO and it has composite and s-video for tv-out.
S-video needs certain connector from the VCR/TV and composite usually goes to VCR/TV through scart connector (which also has RCA cable that goes to soundcard)

So you can't directly plug those into your TV unless your TV has either of above mentioned connectors.

I have never tried GF2's, but people doesnt really praise it for its DVD decoding capability.

If you wan't a good gaming card with best DVD support, you'll be probably buying ATI Radeon in that case.
However, Radeon drivers arent as reliable as Nvidias (tablefog support seems to be broke in drivers, which causes problems in the games that uses it.. Ie. Rogue Spear, no fog)

If you're going to get GF2 based card and still want to watch DVD's, I think theres also need for DVD decoder card thing (which naturally will have better quality than the Radeons)
So I don't think GF2 alone would be good for that purpose.

Many tells that GF2's has adequate image quality in general (I can't verify that, never used one) and some even have done tweaking right on the card to get picture filtered better.
I'd think that Radeon would be good choice also if you're planning to use higher resolutions, where it does not have only better image quality, but also faster than GF2's.

If Radeons would have better drivers, I would have already brainwashed you to buy one.

[This message has been edited by Fishu (edited 05-04-2001).]

[Vermillion]

There is an excellent article on Sharky Extreme about the budget video card's, they go in depth on the different GF2 MX cards, the ATI Radeon cards, and also some of the other budget cards.
 http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/articles/value_3dcard_roundup_10-00/

I rolled the dice  and went with a Radeon LE 32 meg DDR card for $78 bucks including shipping (was a tough call between it and the GF2MX cards), even though most of my recent cards have been Nvidia products (Geforce and TnT cards before that).

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Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure

[Nifty]

well, if you can still get 5.1 surround to come out of your PC when playing DVDs, then I don't see a problem with using your PC as a DVD player for your TV.  If you have (or are planning to have) a home theater system, and the PC won't drive the system properly, then you'll really miss out on the full DVD experience.  This may be a factor of what your soundcard is capable of, I don't really know.  Personally, I just decided on using a CD-ROM in the PC and buying a DVD player separately for my home theater experiences.

Of course, if you don't have a surround system, then this whole post is moot!  

BTW, if you do need a new sound card to get the 5.1, the Hercules Game Theater XP looks kinda nice, especially for DVD audio decoding.

As for the video card, MX cards are "lite" cards like everyone says.  If you can afford it, go full GeForce 2 GTS.  You can probably find 64mb cards for $250 if you look around, maybe less once the GeForce 3's come out.