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[Dishevelled Den]

I'm using an ATI HD 4350 in this MCE into a 40" Sony full HD screen with pleasing results.

Good to hear yours works well 

Mine too is one TB's favourite brands, Sony 

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.

[TheBoy]

I'm using an ATI HD 4350 in this MCE into a 40" Sony full HD screen with pleasing results.

Good to hear yours works well 

Mine too is one TB's favourite brands, Sony 

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

[tunnie]

I'm using an ATI HD 4350 in this MCE into a 40" Sony full HD screen with pleasing results.

Good to hear yours works well 

Mine too is one TB's favourite brands, Sony 

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?

[Broomies Mate]

I'm using an ATI HD 4350 in this MCE into a 40" Sony full HD screen with pleasing results.

Good to hear yours works well 

Mine too is one TB's favourite brands, Sony 

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 

[tunnie]

thanks for tips 

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! 

[TheBoy]

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

[Kevin Wood]

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

[tunnie]

cheers Kev 

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 

I'll actually start using my xbox as a media centre extender, as that should do most of my needs

[TheBoy]

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.

[tunnie]

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 

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

[Taxi_Driver]

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 ?

[tunnie]

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

[Kevin Wood]

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

[tunnie]

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

[aaronjb]

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.