[mcgsxr]

Satfrat - PM sent.

I have done some more Googling, and it appears that I have a 250w power supply,not sure if that will run the ATI card or not.

I have two HD in the PC today, both 80G.  It came with one 80G, and I added one more in the first year of ownership.  This represents the only mod (or addition) to the unit, since purchase.  I have been "under the hood" and thank GOD it is easy to open!

Now, as for my sensitivity to price, y'all have to understand - this is basically a dumb terminal (no, not in the real sense of the word where the server stores all the relevant data and processing power, but functionally it is WAY more PC than I need.  I bought it for a project for a work from home that never materialized, so the $3,000 I spent in January 2004 has mostly been a waste!) that my wife uses for web surfing, and emailing.  My old monitor puked, so I needed to buy a new one.  I went to the local Tigerdirect location, searching for a cheap replacement monitor, but was sensitive to the 12 month warranty on the off brand monitors, so I started looking at more brand name units, with a 36 month warranty.  The BenQ 22 was a demo, and the price was hard to resist...

So, now I find that my fancy new monitor (and yes, I know that it is not even a particularly good one) vastly outclasses my aged PC.  So, in order to make my primary user (wife) happy, I need to ensure that the resolution is perfect, else she thinks me a dufus for spending money on a big monitor that does not work as well as the old one...

So now I have to buy a new video card.  Not want to, HAVE to.

To put it in terms that we on this audio board will understand, imagine your father in law's CD player dies.  Let's pretend it was a Sony 5 disc changer, that is likely about the equivalent level of quality of my Dell 8300.  He calls you up, and asks you for ideas for a new CD player.  You know that the 2 box Burmeister is out of the question, as is anything Reimyo, so you recommend a nice Rega Jupiter, good value for the money.  He flips at the $2,000 price tag, and you tell him that is not that expensive for a CD player...

That is where I am for a video card for $200-$300.  Though I can understand that if you are into graphics, and gaming, or have aspirations of HTPC, that such a card is not only warranted, but a smart investment.

For me though, I am looking for the Oppo dvd player of video cards, with DVI, and native resolution support for my BenQ.

I think that $50 is about right, and do see a few options in that department, based on some of the recommendations kindly given here - I appreciate your taking the time and helping me, I apologize for not being more forward about the budget, and why!

I don't mind if the card is close to obsolete, if this PC lasts me another 4 years, I have got what I needed from it.  In the coming 2-3 years, I will likely buy her a laptop for her computer needs, and then move the old Dell into my basement, to act as a headless audio server for my SB3.  So, I need a cheap, decent card for the coming 24-30 months.

Thanks again all, great forum, and helpful people make this place such a great resource,

Mark

[WGH]

Are you running the display at it's native 1680 x 1050 resolution? LCD screens have only one sharp resolution, unlike old CRT's where every resolution is sharp. Yes you can change the LCD resolution but text and graphics will get fuzzy.

Check the graphic card refresh rate, you may be stressing it at the high native resolution, LCD's need only 60Hz.

22" is pretty big for just email. I use 1600 x 1200 on my 21" CRT and text can get pretty small sometimes. Whenever I work on friend's computers most use a lower resolution because they like big text. Your wife would probably be happy with a 17" or 19" screen but it sounds like you want the wide screen for movies.

A DVI connection might help clarify text, but it could be the monitor. I came across a few remarks like this:
"The main problems I've found with this monitor is major color banding and a halo above text especially black text on the gray Windows menu background."

[WGH]

mcgsxr,

Have you updated your video card drivers in the last 4 years?
That would be the first thing I would try before buying a new card.

[mcgsxr]

Firstly, thanks to all again, for chipping in with your various thoughts and ideas.

Next - As for using a 22 inch widescreen for email and surfing, I know it is overkill, no argument there, but I simply bought the best unit I saw, for the limited budget I was willing to invest, for an in-stock unit that day.

Lastly - Thanks for the specific idea about updating the drivers, I had never considered that, even without changing the monitor.  I looked up the relevant most recent driver, and installed it.  I shifted the refresh to 60, from 75, and was able to push the resolution to 1680x1050m, via the analog outputs.

So, the monitor is now PERFECTLY clear, and my wife is happy, and so is my wallet!

Thanks again AC members!

[WGH]

The best fixes are the free ones.
And your wife is happy, it doesn't get better than that.

Wayne

[satfrat]

well i miss read you post i guess What did you mean by "X-800 that just wouldn't accept a DVI cord"

I'm using a Nvidia FX-6200 for my Acer 1900x 1080 LCD. This card replaced a more expensive ATI Radeon X-800 that just wouldn't accept a DVI cord and I got tired of using a VGA cord with less resolution. An added bonus was the fact that it's so much easier with the Nvidia card to switch from my Acer monitor to my 1080i HD Sony XBR for DVD viewing. Doing this with the ATI card was a real PIA.


Cheers,
Robin

Ed, I meant that when I actually connected the DVI cord to my Acer LCD, I couldn't get a picture. i even took the HTPC back to the builder in Boston,, who guaranteed that it would infact work, no problem. But after 2 hours of me sitting in his home theater demo room and him messing with it, he decided for times sake just to change the card to a FX-6200. He hardly charged me anything for it and I still have the X800Pro which is really the better card but for my simple mind, the FX6200 is so much easier to deal with. I simply don't need all the things the X800Pro is built to do. all i do is download music, surf the net, watch DVD's and record TV shows off my big sat. dish.
Basically Ed, my problem is that being in my 50's and never owning a computer, my first computer was a $4200 HTPC with waaaay too many bells & whistles. A less complicated computer should be able to use this X800Pro with it's DVI for text and never need to worry about another video card. It'll do a resolution up to 1900 x 1200. 

Cheers,
Robin

ps, I offered to sell it to Mark for $50, that stands for anyone else whomight want it if Mark doesn't. I have the software CD and owners manual. This is a selfserving announcement. 

[mcgsxr]

A generous, honest offer by Robin, someone is going to get a good deal!

Mark

[jqp]

So did you ever confirm that this was your card?

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro board with 128MB of memory

The more I thought about it, the more I thought that this card should actually do fine for you

Upgrading can be tricky - you have to match a component in a balance of components that make up a system (where have you heard that before)

[WGH]

The second post said "For the record I am currently running an Nvidia GeForce FX 5200"

Another use for old GeForce and ATI cards is to give them to friends who own Macs. The Power Mac G4's and G5's come with horribly underpowered cards, and unfortunately graphic cards made for a PC will not work in a Mac straight out of the box.

I took an old unused ATI 9800 Pro and flashed the BIOS using directions and bios download from strangedogs to turn it into a Mac 9800 Pro. The card works perfectly in a souped up G4 Sawtooth running Tiger with Quartz Extreme and Core Image enabled. One advantage of a good 3-D card in a Mac is Google Earth runs smoothly. A flashed ATI X800 would breath new life into an old Mac at a fraction of what a comparable Mac card would cost. Upgrade the processor with a cpu from Other World Computing, add a faster hd, a little more memory and you have some cheap fun.

Wayne

So did you ever confirm that this was your card?

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro board with 128MB of memory

The more I thought about it, the more I thought that this card should actually do fine for you

Upgrading can be tricky - you have to match a component in a balance of components that make up a system (where have you heard that before)

[jqp]

The second post said "For the record I am currently running an Nvidia GeForce FX 5200"

wow guess my focus is not good lately