getting new PC: use onboard video or PCI-e dedicated video card?

[alandla]

Hi all. My 5 year old computer is really giving me troubles and after trying to fix it and getting nowhere, my wife gave the OK for a new one and when that happens you have to take advantage!

Anyway, I now have an ATI AGP excalibur video card on an AMD Athlon2600 with 512Mb RAM alng with an ATI TV Wonder Ve pci capture card and it has been very good for what I need it to do.

My main uses (video related) for the system are: capture video from my HI8 camcorder, play DIVX, XVid, mpeg files, convert captured video to DVD with TMPG DVD_Author, re-encode DVIX or Xvid files to MPG2 with TMPG Enc 2.5 (for eventual burn to DVD).

The last time I bought a computer, everything I read said you would see much better performance with a dedicated card. However, with the advent of Dual Core CPU's and >2Gb RAM, would that be a problem for what I need it to do?

I'm not a gamer and only use the capture card once in a blue moon (may switch to a DV camera with firewire soon anyway).

I've been conditioned to get a video card and have looked at PCI-e cards when I price new systems but I was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this.

I once also thought that way on audio cards but on board audio has been serving me well on this system and I don't even see many systems for sale where they include an audio upgrade option in the price (unlike the video side of things)

Thanks for any discussion.

[Krispy Kritter]

For normal everyday use (surfing, office apps, etc.), onboard video will suit you fine. You can still use your current capture card, so there is no need to replace it. For the type of video work that you are doing, the video card is irrelevant.

[Guru Sonic]

I agree with Krispy Kritter but I just ordered a new video card for my rig that has onboard video becuase of a new monitor purchase. Just make sure that whatever you purchase has the PCI-E 16 slot so at least you have the option during the lifespan of the new machine.

My Compaq that I bought and upgraded last quarter is set up exactly the way that you mentioned for video captures. The new video card is not going into that machine.

YMMV of course!

[alandla]

So my capturing and re-encoding are CPU/RAM intensive vs video card?

I will definitely make sure I can expand my system (PCI-e 16X) but if I'm not a gamer but do watch videos (and may watch more since a new monitor will come with the system), is there any possible need for a video card vs on board? I don't expect to watch HD movies unless I download them since it won't have a Blu Ray drive. Does HD need a video card anyway?

I notice Guru Sonic, you said you got a card because of the monitor. I'm not sure I see the reason.

Thanks for the input.

[jman98]

If you want to watch downloaded Divx/Xvid stuff in HD, onboard video is fine. The same for WMV HD. If you want to watch BluRay or X.264/H.264 in HD, you'll need the fastest CPU and the fastest video card you can get.

[DarrellS]

Is it possible to run an ATI AIW 7500 64MB VE PCI card for capture on the same board with onboard Intel GMA X3000 integrated graphics?

The onboard graphics on my new motherboard is much better than the old 64MB ATI for playing HD (667Mhz clock speed with 384MB memory) and I can't afford to buy a capture card right now.

[jman98]

I don't personally recommend any ATI capture card solutions. Their cards all do software encoding on the fly, which is just ridiculous. You can argue though that with today's fast CPUs that software encoding on the fly is acceptable, but if you just want to capture standard definition video, it's really hard to beat the Hauppauge PVR-250 or PVR-350 cards. Both do hardware encoding with a chip on the card, not software encoding that taxes your CPU.

If you must use ATI, I don't advise doing other tasks on your PC while capturing video. You can do other things on your PC while the Hauppauge works - that's part of the beauty of having a chip on the card do the encoding, not the CPU.

[redwudz]

Is it possible to run an ATI AIW 7500 64MB VE PCI card for capture on the same board with onboard Intel GMA X3000 integrated graphics?

Yes, and what jman98 said.

[DarrellS]

I already have the card and have been using it for years. I was forced to buy a new MB, CPU and memory when my old 478 board burnt up. The old board did not have onboard graphics.

Eventually, I'll get a new capture card (I doubt it will be ATI since they pretty much stopped supporting Windows 2000) but was wondering if I could still use the AIW until I can purchase a different card (probably an M.I.T MyHDTV MDP-130, DVICO FusionHDTV5 Gold RT or Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 HDTV card).

Are there any special steps I need to take to install the ATI card or will it co-exist with the onboard video without any driver conflicts?

BTW, on the old board with 3.2Ghz P4 and 2GB of DDR 400 memory, I could capture straight to DivX, Lossless AVI or MPEG-2 with no problems at all. The new board is running a 3.2Ghz Pentium D and 2GB of DDR2 800 memory.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Just keep in mind that most on-board graphics eat a fair sized chunk of system RAM.

My system has on-board graphics but I installed an nVidia 7600GS. One reason was to get my RAM back (!) plus it supports dual outputs including S-video. I use this for previewing DV editing from Vegas etc. I also noticed that general graphics operations were better.

As far as audio goes, integrated audio suffers from electrical interference from other components. For everyday purposes it isn't an issue but if you want to record audio for serious use, it is important.

If you do buy an audio card, check the drivers. If they only come with Vista drivers, you are out of luck with XP and vice versa.

[stiltman]

Are there any special steps I need to take to install the ATI card or will it co-exist with the onboard video without any driver conflicts?

I didn't have any problems with my Intel board that has onboard X3000.
My card is the AIW too.

However, soon after I install a ATI X800, still no problems.
I then installed a Quadro 3450 and pulled out the AIW card for lack of use

BTW, As soon as you put in a card in the PCI-e 16x slot, the onboard video will turn itself off in the BIOS...least on my Intel board it does.

[DarrellS]

I had to use the sound card that I already had (Turtle Beach - Catalina) because the onboard 8 channel audio doesn't work right with Windows 2000. The volume controls are screwed up in Windows 2000. I had to manually install all the Windows 2000 drivers off the Intel CD since the board was intended for XP and Vista.

Eventually I'll upgrade to a newer OS and get a PCI-e graphics card but I'm on a limited income (SSI Disability) so I can only do so much with skyrocketing food and energy prices.

[stiltman]

I had to use the sound card that I already had (Turtle Beach - Catalina) because the onboard 8 channel audio doesn't work right with Windows 2000. The volume controls are screwed up in Windows 2000. I had to manually install all the Windows 2000 drivers off the Intel CD since the board was intended for XP and Vista.

Had the same problem with the onboard sound too

I switched to XP, plus the editing software I decided to go with pretty much required XP

[DarrellS]

I didn't have any problems with my Intel board that has onboard X3000.
My card is the AIW too.

Great! I'll throw mine in and see what happens.

BTW, As soon as you put in a card in the PCI-e 16x slot, the onboard video will turn itself off in the BIOS...least on my Intel board it does.

That's good to know. When (or if) I'm able to get a PCI-e card, it should run circles around the X3000.

[stiltman]

That's good to know. When (or if) I'm able to get a PCI-e card, it should run circles around the X3000.

Actually, that is a pretty darn good video chip with the very latest drivers. The only reason I went with another card was because I wanted full frame playback in my editing software. Unforunately, the X3000 wasn't supported, either was the ATI X800 I had on hand. Thus, I went with the Quadro FX card. If I never wanted full frame playback with my editing software, I would have just kept the onboard video as it did everything else just fine. Well, I take that back, it doesn't do very good with 3D editing too.

[DarrellS]

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get this to work. When I click on the TV icon, I get an error message telling me the TV module failed to initialize the video. I've uninstalled the Catilyst and MMC and reinstalled but still get the error. I installed this same package on the old board with no problems at all. I guess I can try to install the CD but I don't really like the old MMC (Oh well, I can't get this MMC to load at all).

When I start the computer with the ATI card installed, it takes about a minute to get to the Windows is loading screen with my personal settings and the screen is black the whole time. I don't get the Intel splash screen with the option to enter BIOS or the Windows 2000 screen with the progress bar.

[DarrellS]

Well, I've been trying all day to get this to work but it looks like it's a no go.

No matter what I do. I cannot get the TV module to work. Can't use the capture card if the TV module won't open.

The start up problem seems to be that the monitor is in a sleep mode at restart and wakes itself up after about a minute. Don't no why it started doing that when I installed the card. There is nothing in the power settings that would cause this. Maybe it can't decide which monitor to start since it shows three default monitors in device manager. Two Intel G965 and one All-In-Wonder VE PCI.

Guess it's time to yank the card back out and forget about a capture card for now.

[DarrellS]

ATI card is out and start up problems are gone. Guess I'll have to wait till I can afford a dedicated TV Tuner/Capture Card.

[alandla]

Is it possible to run an ATI AIW 7500 64MB VE PCI card for capture on the same board with onboard Intel GMA X3000 integrated graphics?

The onboard graphics on my new motherboard is much better than the old 64MB ATI for playing HD (667Mhz clock speed with 384MB memory) and I can't afford to buy a capture card right now.

Did this thread get off topic from this post on?