Video card with 256MB or 512MB for Windows Vista ???

[FulciLives]

vista is the OS from hell on the lower end machines.. i highly suggest sitting on your cash for a year before switching to it...before then most of the major issues should be patched and more hardware will be out that is built around that environment

Well I don't know about all that ... especially since I wouldn't call my system "lower end" but I do have a question about DVI cables.

As I mentioned I will be getting a new video/graphics card that has DVI out and my new LCD computer monitor has DVI input so ... where can I get a decent yet "inexpensive" DVI cable? I'm OK with mail order for that

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[FulciLives]

Well I ended up getting the ViewSonic VX922 from CompUSA.

This is a 19" LCD with a 2ms response time and a native resolution of 1280x1024 with a Brightness of 270 cd/M2 and a Contrast Ratio of 650 :1 so I hope it does the job. I was leaning towards either the LG or Samsung at BEST BUY that I mentioned earlier but both were out-of-stock so I had to find something similar from a local retailer so I came up with this ViewSonic LCD.

Right now I have a Nvidia GeForce PCX 5300 128MB PCIe video card but I was looking at newegg.com and I like the price and sound of the XFX PVT73GUGD3 which is a GeForce 7600GT 256MB PCIe video card.

Here is a link ---> CLICK HERE

Looks like I'll be ordering this (or something like it) sometime after Christmas (hopefully like RIGHT after).

I welcome comments on the XFX video card plus still looking for a place to buy an inexpensive yet good DVI cable (for the video card to the LCD monitor).

BTW is there a way to check the power wattage or rating etc. of my POWER SUPPLY from within Windows i.e., without opening the case? ... or is it on the back of the computer? I hate to move it or open it (with all the damn wires connected to it) only to find out that info could have been had easier.

It looks like the XFX card (see my link above) is a "low power" type card ... at least as I understand it ... so I am guessing that is good because I'm not sure what kind of POWER SUPPLY I got (but I doubt it is "overly" large). My computer is a store bought model Mid-Tower case design from late 2004 so ...

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

My Viewsonic LCD came with a 6ft. DVI-D cable in the box. Are you sure you didn't get one?

[FulciLives]

My Viewsonic LCD came with a 6ft. DVI-D cable in the box. Are you sure you didn't get one?

I didn't think about it because I didn't open it yet (got someone to buy it for me as a Christmas gift) but according to the CompUSA website the ViewSonic LCD does indeed comes with a VGA cable as well as a DVI cable.

I got so caught up with the fact that I didn't have a DVI cable and that none of the video cards (that I've been looking to buy) come with one that for some reason I never wondered if the LCD monitor itself would come with one.



Also for some reason I thought my Nvidia GeForce PCX 5300 was lacking a DVI output but I just looked at it and if I am not mistaken it does have a DVI output (at least it has some "weird" looking ultra wide multi pin like output that the VGA cord isn't connected to). Perhaps I won't be in such a rush to buy a new video card now LOL

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

Yes, mine had both cables as well.

The Nvidia card should have a DVI-I and VGA connectors. DVI-I carries pins for both DVI-D and DVI-A (same as analog VGA DB-15 pins).


see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVI

[FulciLives]

Thank you edDV for the info.

I double checked the video card and based on those images (that I see you got from that wiki link) I do in fact have a DVI-I Dual Link output on my current video card (a Nvidia GeForce PCX 5300).

I got another question for you and maybe it is in that wiki link (which I admit I didn't read in total) but I read on another website (one selling DVI cables I should point out) that it is best to use a DVI-D cable because it guarantees using the digital video stream whereas a DVI-I Dual Link cable can use digital or analog and that sometimes it is hard to tell which is being used by the monitor.

Sounds like they were maybe just trying to scare people into buying a DVI-D (not sure if they said to use Single or Dual Link) cable when one isn't really needed?

I'm still tempted to get a new video card but I may not now that I know my current video card will be A-OK

As for the cable ... I assume it isn't that difficult to ensure that the LCD monitor is using the digital video feed instead of the analog video feed ... right?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I looked at my Power Supply ... there is a sticker on it and it does "DC OUTPUT = 350W" so does that mean it is a 350 WATT Power Supply?

Is that OK for a Nvidia 7600GT or do I need to get a Power Supply with more watts?

My Power Supply is a FSP350-60UMDN Rev. A by FSP GROUP INC.

[edDV]

They came up with the DVI-I connector to meet several needs in a small space.

These often come with a "VGA adapter" like this

so it can be used as a VGA connector. The analog pins are fed by the RAMDAC same as a VGA DB-15 connector.

One DVI-I can use a splittter adapter to feed both a DVI-D and a VGA monitor in dual monitor mode.


The analog pins can also be fed YPbPr instead of RGB to feed an "HDTV" adapter with 480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i like this (ATI example)


Not all cards support all of the above modes.

DVI-D digital pins come in two versions. "Single Link" handles everything up to 1920x1080 HDTV. "Dual Link" is for specialized displays that are higher resolution than HDTV. These are mostly used for CAD and medical applications.

Home A/V equipment are expected to only need single link DVI-D. For home use, Dual link is a waste of money.

HDMI (single link) has no analog capability but instead devotes extra pins to audio and bi-directional serial control.

[FulciLives]

Well I got the ViewSonic VX922 19" LCD monitor and I am using the supplied DVI cable with my Nvidia GeForce PCX 5300 running at the native resolution of 1280x1024 and WOW the image quality is super!

I only wish I got one sooner (only had CRT tube monitors prior and never bigger than 17")

Only thing I don't like (and this seems rather common) is that the supplied stand does not account for rotation (portrait to landscape and back again).

I found a stand on-line for $50 that does this and BEST BUY currently has the same stand for $40 right now so I guess I will get it but seems a shame not to include this in the built-in stand.

One of the reasons I wanted a LCD was so that I could rotate to get that "page" affect where the screen is longer than it is wide. I find it makes reading digital comics much easier although I have found that with 19" instead of 17" I can now read some without rotating but some still have text a bit too small for my taste unless I rotate the screen.

When reading a digital comic I like to display the whole page at once without having to scroll up or down which kinda ruins the effect for me.

One bad side effect now though is that even a super high bitrate XviD made from a DVD looks only SO-SO once you blow it up from 640x480 to a size that "fits" the LCD monitor at 1280x1024 ... luckily I got a Philips DVP-5140 for DivX/XviD playback on my HDTV and ironically it looks better there (then again I'm not like 18 inches from my HDTV whereas I am roughly 18" from my 19" LCD monitor).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

Cool. I got a 19" Viewsonic LCD last month to replace a 17" CRT..

Current monitor arrangement 19" CRT front -> CRT HDTV @4ft ->19"LCD @ 16 inches

[FulciLives]

Any tips on how to clean the LCD monitor?

I am a smoker and I know I would wipe some nasty crap off of my CRT monitor but I don't know if Windex is safe for a LCD monitor. Also I assume you have to be careful with how much pressure you apply.

I ran one of those "dead pixel" programs that show various solid colors and I guess you are just supposed to "eyeball" it for dead pixels and I didn't see any ... I read that "massaging" the screen where a dead pixel is may "restore" it but I don't want to **** it up cleaning it either.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

Better consult Viewsonic. Windex is not what you want. I use a soft damp cloth.

[edDV]

By the way, have you looked at the WMVHD 720p demos with your new LCD? Nice except for the dark blueish blacks and some fast motion blurs.

With my new Core2Duo, nice to see 720p playing 8-16% CPU and 1080p in the low 20% range. 720p used to near max my P4 2.8 and 2.4s and I could never play the 1080p before.

[FulciLives]

By the way, have you looked at the WMVHD 720p demos with your new LCD? Nice except for the dark blueish blacks and some fast motion blurs.

With my new Core2Duo, nice to see 720p playing 8-16% CPU and 1080p in the low 20% range. 720p used to near max my P4 2.8 and 2.4s and I could never play the 1080p before.

I'm a big movie fan and I get a kick out of watching trailers on-line (usually at the Apple Quicktime website) and the other day I did watch a few at 720p whereas before I would only watch the 480p versions. I thought 720p looked damn impressive ... haven't bothered with the 1080p trailers yet but maybe I'll take a look at one or two.

Where are the WMVHD 720p demos at ... somewhere on the Microsoft website I take it?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

Check here. Most of these were originally shot in IMAX format. They will blow your socks off. Big difference when you get a machine that can play and display them full resolution.
http://www.wmvhd.com

These are good for stressing the display system for progressive 720p or 1080p. Data rate matches DVD at ~8Mb/s. Decompression takes CPU power (e.g. P4 ~2.4GHz up for 720p and 3.2GHz up for 1080p).

By contrast, ATSC 720p and 1080i MPeg2_TS have double bit rates ~14-19Mb/s, need less CPU power to play and can get help from the display card if configured correctly.