PCI (the old one, not PCI-Express) Video card with DVI output

Forums › Desktop computing › PCI (the old one, not PCI-Express) Video card with DVI output

tcpdump

311 posts

Ultimate Geek

#78288 2-Mar-2011 14:40

Hi,

I have an Intel Atom 330 small media centre based on D945GCLF2 motherboard.
I'm after a PCI video card (this MB has only one PCI extension slot) with a DVI output so I can hook up a DVI-HDMI cable into my TV.
So far I have found the ATI Radeon 7000 PCI that will do the job but I'm not sure where I can buy one. I found a new one on amazon.com at US$36 but I'd rather get a second hand one in NZ.

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

dontpanic42

1574 posts

Uber Geek

#444824 2-Mar-2011 15:32

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=389168
This is the only one Ascent.co.nz has listed.
It also seems to be out of stock. Flick them an email to see if they are likely to get it back in stock.

tcpdump

311 posts

Ultimate Geek

#444825 2-Mar-2011 15:35

I believe I forgot something important. It must be low-profile as the case doesn't have enough room for a full size one.

But that one looks like a very modern video card although it's using the PCI interface, thanks for pointing out.

Although I might get away with a full size one if I remove the DVD drive (which I don't use anyway).

Cheers.

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#444828 2-Mar-2011 15:46

I did this recently as I had no digital output, only TV or VGA etc.
Very hard to find new and expensive often if you can.

I use mine to TV with dvi-hdmi adaptor.

Got a low profile one off trademe for about $40 I think.
Passive cooling is code for really fn hot.

It was a hard game for me to play as you can get quite powerful ones but you have to weigh up how good your existing PSU etc is to accommodate that.

Mine works but I had to disable the onboard video and now I don't get any bios info etc so could be a pain if I need to get back into that etc.

michaelt

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

#444849 2-Mar-2011 16:24

I actually have one, that I'd be willing to sell. It's been lying unused for a number of years though, so probably needs to be tested first.

It's an old Matrox card, with two DVI outputs. I'll dig it out tomorrow and post the details. What OS are you planning to use? I'll see if I can find drivers for it.

You might be better off just using the VGA input on the TV though (or replacing the motherboard).

tcpdump

311 posts

Ultimate Geek

#444958 2-Mar-2011 19:49

Thanks. Whereabouts are you based?
I don't have a problem with it being unused for a while if it still runs OK.
I don't need performance out of the video card as it's going to play SD and 720p movies but I do need a DVI port (and a DVI-HDMI cable) as the TV I currently have (Philips 42pf7420_79) only accepts 1024x768 (yes, 4:3) on the VGA port but it does accept 1280x720 on the HDMI port.
You can realise what kind of distortion takes place when outputting VGA signal at 1024x768 and then zooming in from the TV to make it full screen.

Don't worry about the drivers as I'm going to use Linux (Ubuntu) and being such an old card it should be supported as plug & play.

michaelt

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

#445185 3-Mar-2011 15:02

I'm based in Auckland.

I'm pretty sure it works OK, but my only running desktop at the moment runs Vista, and that doesn't work well with mismatching graphics cards (all have to use the same driver).

The card is labelled 'MGI G45X2DUAL-B'. I think this is the 64MB version of the Matrox G450PCI, but it might be the 32MB version (http://www.datasheetarchive.com/G45X2DUAL-B-datasheet.html and http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/graphics_cards/g_series/g450pci/). It's completely fanless.

It actually has some kind of proprietary connector on the back, but I have a breakout cable converting that to 2X DVI-I female plugs (and can supply DVI-I to VGA adaptors if you want).

According to the specs, max DVI output resolution is 1280x1024 so I imagine it can handle 1280x720, but I can't be certain. There's also definitely no H.264 encoding, so be sure your Atom processor can handle that.

Also, the reason why your TV accepts 1024x768 over VGA is very likely because that's the native resolution of the TV. It seems counter-intuitive, but a lot of "720p" TV's used that resolution with rectangular pixels. You might get a better result just using a media player that can compensate for the anamorphism. The 1280x720p DVI input is probably just resized to 1024x768 by your TV's electronics.

Regardless, if you want it, I'm happy to sell it to you. Not entirely sure what it's worth, but I'll offer it for $30 for the card + breakout cable, plus shipping. $5 extra if you want the two DVI-VGA adaptors. If it doesn't work I'll refund you the $30.

michaelt

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

#445189 3-Mar-2011 15:20

I forgot to mention (and it's too late to edit) that it's full height, not low profile.

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tcpdump

311 posts

Ultimate Geek

#445193 3-Mar-2011 15:27

Thanks, I've sent you a PM.

tcpdump

311 posts

Ultimate Geek

#446171 7-Mar-2011 08:29

Hello,

Thanks for the card, it works great on VGA (both displays).
However, I can't seem to get the DVI to HDMI to work.

I have installed the drivers, set the resolution to 1024x768 and 1280x1024.
With the VGA adapter it works just fine but if I connect the DVI to HDMI cable I get nothing on the HDMI port.

I am suspecting that the old DVI standard might not be compatible with the new DVI-HDMI cables, anyone can confirm/infirm this?

I have also just realised that the card might not send signal simultaneously on the DVI and VGA pins. I have connected the TV on the VGA port and then switched the cable to the DVI output, maybe it only works one at a time and with the one initialised?

Unfortunately I don't have a native DVI cable/monitor to test directly the DVI port.

Any opinions?

Thanks.

michaelt

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

#446256 7-Mar-2011 12:49

You're probably right that it doesn't send simultaneously on the DVI and VGA pins. You might have to force output over DVI in software.

Also, it's quite possible your HDTV will only accept 1280x720, and not 1024x768 or 1280x1024 over HDMI. Try forcing the resolution to 1280x720, and output over DVI (if you can) and see if that works.

There are also a number of HDTV's that will only accept HDMI signals with HDCP (encryption). I don't know if your TV is one of them. There's some software methods to simulate it, but I don't know how well they work.

The DVI-HDMI cables should definitely work with single link (1920x1200 and under) DVI, at least in theory.

I do have two native DVI displays, as well as a PC with DVI output, but I'm a bit far away for you to come here just to test the card.

EDIT: Here's the manual for the card, in case there's anything there that can help: http://www.matrox.com/graphics/media/pdf/products/graphics_cards/mms_series/en_g450mms.pdf

tcpdump

311 posts

Ultimate Geek

#446582 8-Mar-2011 11:11

The DVI-HDMI cable is actually going into an AV receiver (Pioneer LX52) and that should take care of the image scaling (in theory at least).
I'll try to give it a shot directly with the DVI cable plugged in to see if it will initialise it.

Thanks for the link, I'll see if I find anything useful. I'll report back with my findings.

Cheers

tcpdump

311 posts

Ultimate Geek

#446848 9-Mar-2011 08:44

Hello,

It seems that my assumption was correct, it's working either on the DVI output or on the VGA output, depending on which is detected.
So I got the DVI working but the image quality if horrible. I did notice that it only works on 1280x720 at 50Hz and at 1920x1200 at 25Hz.

What I did find strange is that in the TV manual (don't have it with me) it gives the VGA resolutions at 60Hz and the Video resolutions 720p/1080i not in Hz but in another format (1,2,3 followed by two letters) 1 means single, 2 means double and 3 means triple something related to the horizontal sync. Possibly this to be the problem but doesn't seem that the video card supports this.

Anyway, I'll probably continue to use the VGA port :)

Thanks for your help.