Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: tigers_gonads on 03 October 2014, 21:33:29

Title: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: tigers_gonads on 03 October 2014, 21:33:29
Just acquired a old Packard Bell PC with a 2.9 Celeron / 2 gig of ram.

The cunning plan is to use it as a desktop, using a old 19"tv as a monitor.

Right, the motherboard is VGA only but i've only HDMI / RGB / Scart on the TV.
What sort of cheapo graphics card are out there that will plug into the mother board and give me a HDMI output to the screen ?

I will be dumping the Windows XP that's on it and installing Win 7 32 bit Ultimate if that makes any difference  :-\
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: Kate on 03 October 2014, 21:47:32
Get one with a dvi port and use a DVI to HDMI  cable.

(http://ctcolumbia.technology-solved.com/files/2011/03/DVI-port1.jpg)
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: tigers_gonads on 04 October 2014, 08:30:37
Cheers Kate  :)
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: cnj on 04 October 2014, 14:14:28
for around £20 you can purchase a graphics card with hdmi output which should slot straight in and give more than adequate video performance and improve on the old one.
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: Stuart30 on 04 October 2014, 16:08:46
for around £20 you can purchase a graphics card with hdmi output which should slot straight in and give more than adequate video performance and improve on the old one.

Or simply a VGA TO hdmi adapter...couple of pound on ebay.
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: cnj on 04 October 2014, 16:25:16
my thoughts were that replacing the old card with new will overcome any or all resolution problems that may occur. I have 2x ex school desktops one running win 7 ultimate and the other running win 8.1. the drivers for the desktops will not run the games in win 7 as the graphics chip is not fast enough ! these are machines designed to run win xp, depending what resolution the old tv runs at of course.
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: omega3000 on 04 October 2014, 16:32:31
Just acquired a old Packard Bell PC with a 2.9 Celeron / 2 gig of ram.

The cunning plan is to use it as a desktop, using a old 19"tv as a monitor.

Right, the motherboard is VGA only but i've only HDMI / RGB / Scart on the TV.
What sort of cheapo graphics card are out there that will plug into the mother board and give me a HDMI output to the screen ?

I will be dumping the Windows XP that's on it and installing Win 7 32 bit Ultimate if that makes any difference  :-\

Is that available on disc then  :-\ Got an old PB desktop also but with no o/s  :(
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: Bigron on 04 October 2014, 16:38:02
Stuart, please forgive me if I am wrong, but as VGA signals are analogue and HDMI signals are digital, wouldn't a converter be needed? I don't think it would work directly.

Ron.
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: cnj on 04 October 2014, 16:41:25
if you look in the right place all programs are available !!. the only thing is sorting the wheat from the chaff
!, it may take two or three copies to find one that works.
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: TheBoy on 04 October 2014, 21:26:29
Most video cards now have an HDMI out.

VGA -> HDMI tend to be fairly pricey. DVI (as per Kates pic above) -> HDMI are a pound or 2.
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: Figureman52 on 04 October 2014, 22:31:43
Just acquired a old Packard Bell PC with a 2.9 Celeron / 2 gig of ram.

The cunning plan is to use it as a desktop, using a old 19"tv as a monitor.

Right, the motherboard is VGA only but i've only HDMI / RGB / Scart on the TV.
What sort of cheapo graphics card are out there that will plug into the mother board and give me a HDMI output to the screen ?

I will be dumping the Windows XP that's on it and installing Win 7 32 bit Ultimate if that makes any difference  :-\

Is that available on disc then  :-\ Got an old PB desktop also but with no o/s  :(

Google Zorin OS9, I have been running the free version on my pc for several months now and it does everything my old XP setup did and more.
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: Stuart30 on 05 October 2014, 09:01:06
Stuart, please forgive me if I am wrong, but as VGA signals are analogue and HDMI signals are digital, wouldn't a converter be needed? I don't think it would work directly.

Ron.

Pretty sure ive got a couple here...actually yes you've got me thinking,are they VGA (blue) or the Digital (white) socket.

Going to dig them out and let you know... :-\

Ok so I was half right..actually no I was wrong  ;D

Ive got VGA to Digital and Digital to HDMI adapters.
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: Andy H on 05 October 2014, 09:17:23
Stuart, please forgive me if I am wrong, but as VGA signals are analogue and HDMI signals are digital, wouldn't a converter be needed? I don't think it would work directly.

Ron.

Pretty sure ive got a couple here...actually yes you've got me thinking,are they VGA (blue) or the Digital (white) socket.

Going to dig them out and let you know... :-\

Ok so I was half right..actually no I was wrong  ;D

Ive got VGA to Digital and Digital to HDMI adapters.

Get one with a dvi port and use a DVI to HDMI  cable.

(http://ctcolumbia.technology-solved.com/files/2011/03/DVI-port1.jpg)
The white DVI sockets can carry both analogue(VGA) signals and digital(HDMI). The adapters that plug in to the DVI sockets are cheap because there is no fancy electronics inside - they just route the signals from the appropriate pins in the DVI socket to the correct pins in the VGA or HDMI socket.

Kate is right - fit a cheap DVI graphics card and plug a DVI>HDMI adapter into the back of it. This will give you a picture but no sound (DVI doesn't do sound).
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: Kate on 05 October 2014, 21:26:21
Just use one of these. They are very cheap:

(http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/9433/hdmitodvi.jpg)
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: Kate on 05 October 2014, 21:29:21
£1.55 on ebay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gold-HDMI-To-DVI-D-24-1-Pin-Male-LCD-HDTV-Plasma-Video-Cable-1M-2M-3M-4M-9M-10M-/400717594530?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item5d4ca13fa2 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gold-HDMI-To-DVI-D-24-1-Pin-Male-LCD-HDTV-Plasma-Video-Cable-1M-2M-3M-4M-9M-10M-/400717594530?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item5d4ca13fa2)
Title: Re: Question about a old pc I just acquired
Post by: tigers_gonads on 06 October 2014, 06:17:53
Just acquired a old Packard Bell PC with a 2.9 Celeron / 2 gig of ram.

The cunning plan is to use it as a desktop, using a old 19"tv as a monitor.

Right, the motherboard is VGA only but i've only HDMI / RGB / Scart on the TV.
What sort of cheapo graphics card are out there that will plug into the mother board and give me a HDMI output to the screen ?

I will be dumping the Windows XP that's on it and installing Win 7 32 bit Ultimate if that makes any difference  :-\

Is that available on disc then  :-\ Got an old PB desktop also but with no o/s  :(


Pm incoming mate  :)