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General discussion

video card help??

Apr 13, 2004 6:40AM PDT

I've posted an earlier question and received some excellent (and I might add, ever so grateful) advice-help. So I thought I'd post this one. I need a video card, but my head is spinning from a weird mass of terminology! I do know and understand that it must be AGP. Now my motherboard manual (ASUS P3B-F) states that "AGP bus frequencies above 66MHz exceed the specifications for the AGP interface and are not guaranteed to be stable" I only need a basic, low cost card. So the one I'm looking into is as follows. Would this be a compatible card?
Pine SiS 315E Video Card / 32MB / AGP 4X
Performance
GPU/VPU
SiS 315E
RAMDAC
375 MHz
Maximum Resolution Learn More
2048 x 1536 @ 85Hz

Memory
Video Memory
32MB
Memory Type
SDRAM
Core Clock
166 MHz
Memory Clock
143 MHz
Memory Bandwidth
2.7GB/sec.
Connections
Interface Type
AGP
Interface Speed
4X
Connector(s)
VGA
System Requirements
Operating Systems
LINUX
Windows

Discussion is locked

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Re:video card help?/my thoughts
Apr 13, 2004 11:39AM PDT

One major consideration should be an ability to get good compatible drivers for the card that match your choice now or future choice of operating systems. You won't gain much by buying new high performance cards with AGP 8 and such. This card might work fine....again, it's as much the drivers as the hardware. Also, do you want the ability to play DVD video? Might I suggest, and I know some will disagree, that you get a basic Riva TNT based (or TNT-2) card and use the Nvidia reference drivers which are available on their site. These seem to be rock solid. I believe they have the MPEG hardware capability needed to play your DVDs if you hope to do such. Newer and higher priced cards will fit your system and reduce their AGP speed but will not offer much benefit if you attempt to use them to capacity. Again, my thoughts only.

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Re:Re:video card help?/my thoughts/addendum
Apr 13, 2004 11:43AM PDT

Another ok card (if you can find it) is the ATI Radeon 7500. It's an AGP-4. I have this card in one of my rigs and it's fairly decent for general use. ATI still keeps drivers current for it.

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Re:Re:video card help?/my thoughts
Apr 14, 2004 12:01AM PDT

Thank you both for your suggestions. As much the drivers, has raised a question. The reason that I was thinking of putting in a new video card was because every time I added a program or changed something, I would have trouble with my resolution settings. The only way that I could restore them was to reinstall the driver. Now, quite some time back before I knew how to reformat a hard drive, or very much about a computer at all for that matter, I had to take my system to a repair shop and when I picked it up, he had changed the driver for my video card--it is now a different one then the one that came with the system??? I've experienced problems ever since. I no longer have the original driver as he kept it. My lack of knowledge back then, I now know that I was taken advantage of-thus my reason to learn how to build, upgrade and do what's necessary on my own systems. So, your thoughts please? Could my problems lie solely with the driver?

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Ms Kay, What Is The Sound Card Version, Manufacturer, etc. ?
Apr 14, 2004 8:52AM PDT

A newer, updated driver might fix the problem. Look in "Device Manager", under the "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers" for you particular sound card. Find the specific card model, manufacturer, and driver version and dates, and you should be able to find something newer. You can also post back with the information as we might be able to help.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Re:Re:Re:video card help?/more thoughts
Apr 14, 2004 10:35AM PDT

Applause for undertaking this project. What you will find here is good advice as well as disagreement. Your system will only work as well as it's most troublesome component so this becomes a balancing act. We know you have an ASUS MB and this is a company with a good reputation. I have built or upgraded dozens of ASUS based systems and have had very few problems. I tend to stay away from "no name" brands when I can as drivers and support are just not there for the longer haul. Now, what we don't know is what video or other components you have and what problems you are experiencing. Your monitor brand and model are also important to know as your video card must work well with it and, to optimize your settings, your operating system should know what monitor it is dealing with as well. There are monitor "drivers" that are for the purpose of identifying the capabilities of it. I did check out the display card you mentioned but can honestly not say good or bad about it. Currently, the cards I use are ATI made or Nvidia chipset varieties but have used others such as from 3D Labs and have had good luck with all three. One thing to note is that there are many brands out there that use the chipsets from these major companies. Nvidia, for one, does not make video cards but only the chipsets so you will find lots of manufactures marketing Nvidia products. ATI both makes its own boards and provides chipsets to others such as Sapphire. What I find best when using and Nvidia product is to use the reference drivers from Nvidia and not the ones that come with the card. Anyway, this is more than you asked for and don't want to add confusion. Read all the advice, ask questions and make your own decision. Even a bad one is better than none at all. Good luck.

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Re:Re:Re:Re:video card help?/more thoughts
Apr 15, 2004 9:25AM PDT

Hi, sorry I didn't get back sooner. I'd like thank everyone for all of their help in this post as well as my others. As for my video, the info states Intel 1740, not sure if thats the info that's needed or not. The driver that I've been using or was given is a Ensonio (not sure if I spelled that right).
To find that wee bit of info, well I think a celabration is in order, so drinks all around! lol. I couldn't find the info on the part and the computer was in pieces. And no hard drive. But I put it all back together, and-and I didn't even have any screws left over!!! LOL The hard drive was my biggest problem, its pretty much toast, thus my reason for wanting to replace it. So I put it in, and thought I'd give Segate's wizard a try. Set it up as though it were a new hard drive. I thought the worst that could happen is that it wouldn't work at all. Well imagine this, I'm using the computer right now! Still have my problem with my video-display settings, so any suggestions?

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Re:video card help?/more thoughts/gone full circle
Apr 16, 2004 10:32AM PDT

This whole thread started with your desire for a new video card, didn't it. Yep, looks like you're gonna need one!