I am trying use some of my old parts to make a htpc. I am not doing anything fancy like HD. Its more like a video/picture/music jukebox. Whats giving me headache is the graphic card. I was using ati 7500 aiw and then realized win xp media center doesnt support that card. Also, when i play those videos with windows media player, i get some serious fps problem. So a new card is obviously needed. My question is, which card should i get? Please remember I have a very limited budget. So cheaper the better. Thanks.
9700 all in wonder pops to mind, i think you should be able to pick one up used for relatively cheap. or if you don't need an all in wonder, FX 5200 or something of the likes with a passive heatsink.
but will i have any problem with the frame rate? My main concern is the noticeable drop of frame rate when watching video on tv.
Very much depends, a 9700 AIW should be sufficient to watch normal def (read. non HD res) tv but it's not necessarily the graphics card holding you back. Whats the other bits and pieces like?
Here is my spec. P4 Northwood 1.8Ghz Biostar motherboard with via chipset (forgot the exact model) 1GB ram 200gb + 400gb Ati 7500 AIW (PCI) I think CPU is good enough. At least it plays video fine on a monitor. The motherboard doesn't have AGP/PCI lock so I can't raise the fsb too much unless i do a pin mod. Actually, can someone link me to a pin mod tutorial?
9700AIW should be fine. For similar money I'd expect you could find an X800AIW too - it's a much more powerful card too.
