Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: tunnie on 28 September 2010, 23:04:20
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Any recommendations? I've got a works 'borrowed' PC on a permanent basis, its got on-board mobo graphics, but its just not man enough to drive 42" LCD TV as a media server. It can drive the resolution, but can do no better refresh rate than 60 hertz, so that causes a slight flicker.
Was thinking something along lines of this?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169294
Also are all graphics cards these days PCI-E? Its been a good 7 years since i bought a graphics card :-[
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I think you'll be hard pushed to find an old-fashioned PCI card, especially one that will significantly out-perform an onboard graphics implementation.
Kevin
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.. or did you want a PCI-E card?
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Check to make sure of the graphics card slot,is it agp or pci-e (not pci!)
Google the PC model/number that should give you a clue.
eddie
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Cheers. I will google it tonight. I'm sure it's PCI-E, it's defo not AGP. It's a new ish IBM build.
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you have to disable on board graphics card (from bios) .. but still you can have problems.. some mobos cant decide which one to use even if you disable on board gpu..weird.. :-/
and if you want more pain, add a tv card for that configuration.. ;D (I did)
and imo its better you go for an nvidia based card as
gamewise support for nvidia is better..
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i was thinking ATI route, i won't be using it for games (got the xbox for that) only thing i want to cure is the flicker caused by refresh rate. I might try some new firmware :-/
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have you always had the flickering on the screen or has it started recently?
That graphics card should do the job fine if thats all you use it for.
Personally I prefer nvidia over ATi, I have had quite a few different cards over the years and always found nvidia cards and drivers to be more reliable than ATi. :y
Maybe something like this if you do want nvidia
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174120
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no its always done it, it just can't cope with decent refresh rate of say 75 hertz and 1920 x 1080. It gets worse sometimes, usually if i've left it on for a few nights downloading. It needs dedicated graphics really...
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no its always done it, it just can't cope with decent refresh rate of say 75 hertz and 1920 x 1080. It gets worse sometimes, usually if i've left it on for a few nights downloading. It needs dedicated graphics really...
I have mine set at 60 hertz with no problems ar all and thats a 46" screen. Use it for the forum on a daily basis.
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no its always done it, it just can't cope with decent refresh rate of say 75 hertz and 1920 x 1080. It gets worse sometimes, usually if i've left it on for a few nights downloading. It needs dedicated graphics really...
I have mine set at 60 hertz with no problems ar all and thats a 46" screen. Use it for the forum on a daily basis.
dedicated card, or motherboard? Its fine on web browsing, but suffers on dark backgrounds, so watching TV shows is ok-ish, looks quite bad with something like spotify
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no its always done it, it just can't cope with decent refresh rate of say 75 hertz and 1920 x 1080. It gets worse sometimes, usually if i've left it on for a few nights downloading. It needs dedicated graphics really...
I have mine set at 60 hertz with no problems ar all and thats a 46" screen. Use it for the forum on a daily basis.
dedicated card, or motherboard? Its fine on web browsing, but suffers on dark backgrounds, so watching TV shows is ok-ish, looks quite bad with something like spotify
Mine is a dedicated card and is connected via a 5 metre HDMI as well. Plus I wanted one for gaming so bought this.
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/ATI+5700+Series/Asus+ATI+Radeon+HD+5770+%22CuCore%22+1024MB+GDDR5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=39489
Not high end but not economy one either. Rather imptressed with it so far though. :y
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If its an LCD, its either shite, or its shite.
A workaround, if your pc supports it, is 50hz - better matched to PAL
ATI's traditionally struggled with recorded HD content - MS issue that shows the slow crash recovery of Radeon cards.
My MCE (main one) uses onboard x4500HD, thats good enough for MCE at full HD.
The other one uses ati 4550
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I'm using an ATI HD 4350 in this MCE into a 40" Sony full HD screen with pleasing results. :y
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I'm using an ATI HD 4350 in this MCE into a 40" Sony full HD screen with pleasing results. :y
Good to hear yours works well :y
Mine too is one TB's favourite brands, Sony :D
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/199915
Looks reasonable cost, might have to wait until end of month though see if i can afford it :'(
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I'm using an ATI HD 4350 in this MCE into a 40" Sony full HD screen with pleasing results. :y
Good to hear yours works well :y
Mine too is one TB's favourite brands, Sony :D
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/199915
Looks reasonable cost, might have to wait until end of month though see if i can afford it :'(
I've used this for combination for a while now - not only for tv viewing and recording but to OOF as well - so the MCE is on more or less from morning to night.
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I'm using an ATI HD 4350 in this MCE into a 40" Sony full HD screen with pleasing results. :y
Good to hear yours works well :y
Mine too is one TB's favourite brands, Sony :D
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/199915
Looks reasonable cost, might have to wait until end of month though see if i can afford it :'(
Try turning off all the picture processing your telly does. If that doesn't resolve, I'd suggest buying a decent telly ;)
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I'm using an ATI HD 4350 in this MCE into a 40" Sony full HD screen with pleasing results. :y
Good to hear yours works well :y
Mine too is one TB's favourite brands, Sony :D
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/199915
Looks reasonable cost, might have to wait until end of month though see if i can afford it :'(
Try turning off all the picture processing your telly does. If that doesn't resolve, I'd suggest buying a decent telly ;)
Its all set to off anyway in PC input, think its crap on-board mobo graphics, it needs a dedicated card i think.
Don't supposed you got a semi-decent PCI-E card i can use as a test?
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I'm using an ATI HD 4350 in this MCE into a 40" Sony full HD screen with pleasing results. :y
Good to hear yours works well :y
Mine too is one TB's favourite brands, Sony :D
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/199915
Looks reasonable cost, might have to wait until end of month though see if i can afford it :'(
Try turning off all the picture processing your telly does. If that doesn't resolve, I'd suggest buying a decent telly ;)
Its all set to off anyway in PC input, think its crap on-board mobo graphics, it needs a dedicated card i think.
Don't supposed you got a semi-decent PCI-E card i can use as a test?
Check in the BIOS. Quite usual with OnBoard Graphics you can alter the allocated memory to the card. If it used to be a works machine, the techies would have probably lowered the memory allocation (if changeable).
Following that, search for a different driver version remembering that the latest version doesn't necessarily mean the 'best' version.
Following that, if it doesn't already have one (which is probably does), locate the GPU chip on the Motherboard, and stick a heatsink to it. If it does have a passive heatsink, add a fan.
If it does work out you need a new Graphics Card, I cannot fault nVidia cards in the last 12 years I have been building computers privately and commercially. ATi...... I wouldn't touch with a barge-pole.
HTH :y
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thanks for tips :y
I've put it in 'turbo' mode in BIOS and upped the ram to the max, its slightly better, but i think i am trying to polish a turd with this graphics. I'll have to splash the cash on a decent card. Might as well since PC was free! :)
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What is onboard gfx? Most recent should be able upscale sd to 1080p without issues. Actually, the mce menu is more gfx intensive!
Need a good CPU to do 1080p decode and display with onboard gfx though
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Just received a Radeon HD 4350 to go in my new build. £25+vat
Wanted something cheap and fanless so it doesn't melt in a year's time when the fan dies. Not fussed about graphics performance as I don't do games.
I'll let you know how I get on with it. It won't be running windows, though.
Kevin
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cheers Kev :y
I'll post up specs tonight, its nothing amazing, at a guess the CPU is a CeleronD 2.3/4 maybe?
It says it had 210mb allocated to video memory but i doubt it ;D
I'll actually start using my xbox as a media centre extender, as that should do most of my needs
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Specs I use for Win 7 MCE, which are probably overkill for the main one:
Intel DG45ID mobo, onboards X4500HD vga/hdmi, onaudio audio, onboard gigabit lan
Intel D8200 Core2 Quad 2.4Ghz with fanless cooler
2G Ram
1.5Tb Spinpoint HDD
Optiarc DVD <<<< shite!
Hauppauge HVR2200 dual freeview tuner
Hauppauge DT500 dual freeview tuner <<<<< shite!
All wrapped up in an Elonex Artisan LX case
Connected to 1920x1080 LCD and seperate audio amp
Secondary MCE
Foxconn 815 based mobo, onboard realtek audio, 100Mb Lan
3.2Ghz P4, with fanless cooler
ATI 4550 VGA/HDMI
1Tb Spinpoint HDD
NEC DVD
Hauppauge DT500 dual freeview tuner <<<<< shite!
Again in an Elonex Artisan LX case
connected to an LCD that claims its 1366x768
No issues with either performance wise, though obviously the older one has an easier job with video.
seXBOX 360 connects to the main one, but it takes about 30s to bring main one out of standby and connect to it.
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i won't be able to get anywhere near that spec, whats in the box at the mo:
Win7 Ultimate
Graphics - Intel 82945G, ive set it to DVMT with 216mb of ram allocated, its also in 'turbo' mode ;D
CPU - Pentium D 2.8 Ghz, with 1.5GB of ram.
Some run of the mill 80gb HD.
Does job for me apart from this flicker, which is very slight. Just going to try connecting the xbox for videos see how well that works, only leaves using Spotify really
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Just received a Radeon HD 4350 to go in my new build. £25+vat
Wanted something cheap and fanless so it doesn't melt in a year's time when the fan dies. Not fussed about graphics performance as I don't do games.
I'll let you know how I get on with it. It won't be running windows, though.
Kevin
Kevin....512M or 1G ?
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Just received a Radeon HD 4350 to go in my new build. £25+vat
Wanted something cheap and fanless so it doesn't melt in a year's time when the fan dies. Not fussed about graphics performance as I don't do games.
I'll let you know how I get on with it. It won't be running windows, though.
Kevin
Kevin....512M or 1G ?
Also where from? PC World (its right next door to my office) had the 512mb one for £39.99 the robbing gits!
That said, i was using my xbox as a media extender, works quite well. I'll prob just RDP from my laptop and setup downloads on it, and use that for now
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Mine came from http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/atiradeongraphicscards/sort-price-asc/.
Not necessarily the cheapest or best, just where I happened to be getting the rest of the bits from. Used the free delivery option and it all turned up next working day.
Kevin
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Mine came from http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/atiradeongraphicscards/sort-price-asc/.
Not necessarily the cheapest or best, just where I happened to be getting the rest of the bits from. Used the free delivery option and it all turned up next working day.
Kevin
Cheers, looks like some good prices there, 1GB one same price as 512mb from PC world
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Not entirely related but.. when buying stuff online I also check www.scan.co.uk and www.cclcomputers.co.uk :) occasionally www.aria.co.uk are useful, too.
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i won't be able to get anywhere near that spec, whats in the box at the mo:
Win7 Ultimate
Graphics - Intel 82945G, ive set it to DVMT with 216mb of ram allocated, its also in 'turbo' mode ;D
CPU - Pentium D 2.8 Ghz, with 1.5GB of ram.
Some run of the mill 80gb HD.
Does job for me apart from this flicker, which is very slight. Just going to try connecting the xbox for videos see how well that works, only leaves using Spotify really
1.5GB RAM looks low for Ultimate especially considering that 216MB of it is being bled off for video, have you got any spare RAM you can insert to try and bump it up? Increased system RAM might allow the video to pull more and clear your problem.
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not got anything significant to hand that can boost it :(
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i won't be able to get anywhere near that spec, whats in the box at the mo:
Win7 Ultimate
Graphics - Intel 82945G, ive set it to DVMT with 216mb of ram allocated, its also in 'turbo' mode ;D
CPU - Pentium D 2.8 Ghz, with 1.5GB of ram.
Some run of the mill 80gb HD.
Does job for me apart from this flicker, which is very slight. Just going to try connecting the xbox for videos see how well that works, only leaves using Spotify really
1.5GB RAM looks low for Ultimate especially considering that 216MB of it is being bled off for video, have you got any spare RAM you can insert to try and bump it up? Increased system RAM might allow the video to pull more and clear your problem.
Its Windows 7 - 1Gb left for Windows is more than enough to run MCE and hang an extender off it. Vista, I would agree, 1.5Gb left for windows is a better option.
MCE isn't that heavy on memory to be honest, esp if you use it as a dedicated MCE, and therefore don't install every bit of crap ever made onto it :y
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I've never bothered to play with the MCE but yes I guess if that's the only thing running it shouldn't be a problem. Silly question, but just to check it's not a 64 bit install is it?
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I've never bothered to play with the MCE but yes I guess if that's the only thing running it shouldn't be a problem. Silly question, but just to check it's not a 64 bit install is it?
With 1.5Gb ram, I would like to hope its not x64 version of Windows :o
That said, for marketing purposes, so many PC builders put x64 onto 4Gb equipped machines. Retards.
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I'd hope not as well but i've seen so many people take x64 because it has to be better than x32.....