Video Card for widescreen resolutions?

ggking7

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My onboard i810 video doesn't seem to support my widescreen LCD TV's 1366x768 native resolution in Linux so I guess I need a new one. Can anyone recommend an inexpensive video card for general stuff like DVD and video playback, no gaming for me? It should have a DVI output, or do video cards ever have an HDMI output? OpenGL support might come in handy, although I'm not sure how I'd use it. It definitely needs to be able to output at resolutions like 1366x768 and it should work well in Linux. Can anyone recommend such a card?

edit: One other requirement that I bet limits my options a lot is it needs to be PCI.
 

ggking7

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Looks good to me. Will a PCI Express card work in a rather old motherboard's PCI slot?

Are you sure that card will display widescreen resolutions?

Have you heard anything about the Linux support by any chance?
 

FeareX

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Looks good to me. Will a PCI Express card work in a rather old motherboard's PCI slot?

Are you sure that card will display widescreen resolutions?

Have you heard anything about the Linux support by any chance?

No it wont.
 
I think the first choice is a simple one.. You really want an NVIDA card. ATI support in Linux is nowhere near as good. For the sort of tasks you are talking of you dont really nead that much power although that is quite a high screen res.

I guess you are on some integrated small form factor system hence the need for PCI and not AGP. From my quick look I think you are looking for something liks

FX5200 (PCI)

As for the OpenGL support that will come when you install the Nvidia Drivers and your applications will just use it. You will see a difference in Tux Racer :D

Hope it helps.. Glad to see a fellow linux head round here :D

PS.. First post!
 

ggking7

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Hey AudioVoodoo,

Thanks, I think you're exactly right. An fanless PCI FX5200 is the way to go. Maybe I can find a cheap one on eBay.
 

ryokinshin

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the 6200 is one generation ahead of the fx5200 in terms of its gpu, and i can barely support decoding hd video with my 6800xt agp so dont think of working anymiracles with any of those cards on pci
 
I'd take note of some of the other comments that people are making.. PCI is a dead end for graphics. I'm fairly sure it would do for the tasks you describe but keep in mind I've never played with one myself... :!:

Just to keep the ideas flowing... have you thought about a new motherboard? It might actually work out cheaper to buy a new board and a chepo AGP card.. that would kind of depend on your other hardware though.

If you can get something for beer money then its worth a shot..
 

ryokinshin

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those cards can run vids in really crappy resolutions fine nothing over 640x480, dont expect any hd res video to match ur tv resolution, for crying out loud buy a new system, if ur want hd video, u need a current gen card at least

the best solution is to wait for dx 10, get a mid range card and a cheap dual core comp, ull be set
 
the 6200 is one generation ahead of the fx5200 in terms of its gpu, and i can barely support decoding hd video with my 6800xt agp so dont think of working anymiracles with any of those cards on pci

I'm looking at your comment and I see what you mean.. at that resolution it really might be asking to much even on DVD playback. I get away (just) with a crapy old Radeon9200 (with a whole 64Mb!! Woot!!) but then I'm AGP and only running 1280x1024.

Anybody actually done it and can tell us how they got on?
 

ryokinshin

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i seriuosly doubt u hav a gd enough cpu and ram to keep up anyways

ud be better off if a hardware vendor came over and pissed in ur comp, then u upgrading
 

FeareX

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Just to keep the ideas flowing... have you thought about a new motherboard? It might actually work out cheaper to buy a new board and a chepo AGP card.. that would kind of depend on your other hardware though.

I agree on that, it is better in the long run too. Best would be to buy a cheap PCI-e board.
 
Just to keep the ideas flowing... have you thought about a new motherboard? It might actually work out cheaper to buy a new board and a chepo AGP card.. that would kind of depend on your other hardware though.

I agree on that, it is better in the long run too. Best would be to buy a cheap PCI-e board.

You are right but if there is no AGP slots its likely to be older hardware.. Second hand boards should be easier to find with AGP and the gamers are selling the AGP graphics as they continue the never ending upgrades...

Should be some solutions out there..
 
there are way too many cheap pcie solutions ever since it became standard to buy agp as a new setup

I did say second hand.. But yeah for a new build you are totally right. One of the reasons I put up with a crap card. For my situation I'm better holding out untill I'm forced to a near total rebuild. I tend to work my computing on the cheap. Running Linux and older hardware I get better drivers and a low TCO.

To the OP: Could you say just what you are running and just what your budget is? I'd be intreagued to see how the options would stack up. I really can see arguments in both directions.
 

ryokinshin

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yesyes, budget flexibililty is needed, imo, nvr get something great while lax on something else, is ur case ur display is nice, but ur hardware is on the downside
 

ggking7

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After doing some research and making some calculations, I think I'll buy:

case and power supply: $30
socket 370 motherboard: $30
512MB PC100 memory: $30
big hard drive: $100

The thing is, I would need to upgrade my current system with the memory and hard drive anyway, so it makes sense to buy a new case and motherboard and get an AGP card instead of PCI. It looks like an AGP card is half the price of PCI anyway.

I already have a Tualatin Celeron 1.2Ghz CPU, Lite-On DVD burner, SB Live card, and NIC.

Which Nvidia card would you suggest for this system? Please keep in mind it's only for DVD, video, and music playback, and web browsing.
 
I'm inclined to go with the pervious poster and just recommend a new rig. At that sort of level you are sinking dead money. A $30 case and PSU is unlikely to be of any sort of quality and I'm not even sure if the socket 370 board is going to support a really large drive. That memory is slow and all in all you are not in for the best of experiences. :(

Sorry to say it but I think your going to be looking at a new rig to get any sort of sensible solution. You certainly dont need some fire breathing monster with all the bells but you are going to need more than I think your rig has to offer.

You have $190 towards a new build. Bite the bullet and make a major leap forwards and you will find it the smarter long term investment.
 

Mobius

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WHOOA THERE BIG FELLA!

You don't need a new video card. Built in video can handle custom resolutions just fine. What you need is "PowerStrip" by Entech of Taiwan. PowerStrip allows you to create any custom resolution you like, provided your graphics chipset is supported - which it most certainly is.

PowerStrip has about 88 Quintillion other really great features too: like GPU core and memory overclocking, icon control, screen geometry tweaking, fine granularity control over the advanced timing features of CRTs (and LCDs too) and absolute contrtol over refresh rates.