Video Card: What are my options?

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mattRSK

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#108152 24-Aug-2012 18:13

Hey folks,

Looking at turning an old desktop I have into a HTPC. Not sure if you can tell from the photo, but would I be able to replace the video card I currently have for something with an HDMI output. If so what sort of card should I be looking for?

Cheers

l43a2

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#676538 24-Aug-2012 18:15

looks like a PCI slot.... best you could get is DVI out

mattRSK

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#676541 24-Aug-2012 18:21

That was quick thanks mate!

Poll

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#676542 24-Aug-2012 18:23

Your current video card there has dvi out, you can plug an dvi-hdmi adapter onto that and get video out to your tv however you would need to add in a pci sound card with decent audio out to cover surround sound if necessary.

It's hard from the lighting to tell if the current video card is plugged in to a pci, agp or pcie slot. If you can clarify what that is or give us a better image of the slot then we could find if there is a video card that you could plug in as a drop in upgrade that would give you video and audio out over hdmi without needing an additional audio card.

Knowing the rest of the specs of the pc would be helpful for advising whether the entire machine is too old to handle the task and if your power supply could cope with powering a more powerful video card.

mattRSK

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#676544 24-Aug-2012 18:33

Better photo

Has 2GB ram and a pentium D 945 3.4ghz

mattRSK

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#676545 24-Aug-2012 18:37

Power supply is 225w

B1GGLZ

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#676551 24-Aug-2012 18:57

Looks very much like a Desktop I acquired from work when they threw them out about 6 yrs ago. Runs some of my Amateur Radio software but very slow. Actually worked with Windows 2000 and barely works with XP. Probably a PentiumII around 750mhz? Don't think you'll find a video card nowadays that's suitable. Maybe useful as a boat anchor.

Lenovo

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mattRSK

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#676552 24-Aug-2012 18:59

B1GGLZ: Looks very much like a Desktop I acquired from work when they threw them out about 6 yrs ago. Runs some of my Amateur Radio software but very slow. Actually worked with Windows 2000 and barely works with XP. Probably a PentiumII around 750mhz?? Don't think you'll find a video card nowadays that's suitable. Maybe useful as a boat anchor.

Nah runs windows 7 pretty well. But yeah don't think it's suitable for an HTPC by the sounds of it.

mattRSK

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#703482 19-Oct-2012 12:36

Just an update on this. I purchased a cheap usb tv tuner ($19) off trade me and it all seems to be working well. Running through Windows Media Centre very smoothly.

PANiCnz

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#703969 20-Oct-2012 11:30

Look at those pictures its unlikely you will be able to easily source a video card with native HDMI out, however all hope is not lost.

As suggested you can easily adapt DVI to HDMI and then output the sound from the soundcard.

One of the main reasons for using a discrete video card is because all newer cards can do the HD decoding much more efficiently than the CPU.

If you CPU is not up to the task in this PC then output of HD video will be subpar.

I did notice a PCI 5450 on DealExtreme the other day, best part of $100 but it would do the job.