New graphic card or everything else?

[skow00]

Hello

recently I got a PC and decided to turn it into a multimedia center. However the problem is the graphic card doesn't support HD 1080p content. The slot for graphic card in my motherboard is AGP8x , which is the problem, since most modern cards are for PCI-E, that's why I would have to replace all the equipment, if I want to replace card. However I've found an graphic card still on AGP: Gigabyte GV-R465D2-1GI (ATI Radeon HD 4650). I'm wondering if the rest of my hardware will support it. I have the following:


Motherboard: Intel® Desktop Board D865PERL
Processor: Pentium 4 HT, 3.2 GHz
Graphic card: Gigabyte GeForce 6800
RAM: 1GB (2x512) DDR - (yeah, I know... )

I'll be glad for any help

--Marek

 

[pinkzeppelin97]

can you give details on your power supply?

 

[xc0mmiex]

yeh, it should be fine... as long as your just using it to play movies you don't really have to upgrade anything else... unless you have a completely terrible power supply you should be fine

 

[pinkzeppelin97]

The requirement is a 400 watt power supply for that card. As well as a 6 pin power connector, so check and make sure you meet both those requirements. However I highly recommend you upgrade to a pc with pci express x16 it will be well worth it.

 

[xc0mmiex]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103080


this one requires a moles and 300W power supply

 

[skow00]

wow, that was quick

my current power supply is 360 W, so I guess I'd need to upgrade it.

On the other hand, the card + the power supply is about 150€, and as i was checking now, I could get new motherboard, processor, graphic card, RAM for about 350€, so maybe it's worth investing for the future...

Well, anyway, thanks a lot for the tips!

 

[pinkzeppelin97]

its a 4 pin molex connector and the card can run on far less then the 400w PSU requirement

here's a link to a picture of the back of card. that's definetly not a molex. Back of card
here's a link to a product page where you can look at the specs and requirements, clearly states a 400 watt PSU required. you could probably get away with using a little weaker but I would use at least 400 watts to be safe. Specs link

Here's a link to the manual where is lists the requirements again 400 watt and 6 pin connector Manual
the card probably comes with a molex power adapter but most people will advise against using those.

 

[skow00]

Can you guys take a quick look at the following and say what you think:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP43C-DS3 ( Intel® P43 + ICH10 Chipset )
Graphic card: Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-512I (NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT)
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E7400 (3M Cache, 2.80 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)

Powered by Gigabyte Superb 550P 550W power supply.

And then few othe components like RAM, HDD etc.

 

[pinkzeppelin97]

Can you guys take a quick look at the following and say what you think:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP43C-DS3 ( Intel® P43 + ICH10 Chipset )
Graphic card: Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-512I (NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT)
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E7400 (3M Cache, 2.80 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)

Powered by Gigabyte Superb 550P 550W power supply.

And then few othe components like RAM, HDD etc.

that setup will serve you well

I would put two sticks of these in http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104072
awesome quality ram for cheap price. As for the HDD what will you be using this pc for? storing alot of HD movies and such?

 

[skow00]

Alright, good to hear.

As for HDD, I'm not planing to buy very big one, probably one of the cheapest there is. I'm storing all the movies on my external Western Digital drive, so the drive in the PC will be only for ubuntu and windows.

 

[pinkzeppelin97]

the cheapest hard drive will cost around 35$ and only give you 80 gb. I recommend you get this 500gb hard drive for only 15$ more. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152137

 

[skow00]

would it be compatible with that Gigabyte Motherboard? MB supports SATA and that HDD is SATAII

 

[skow00]

would it be compatible with that motherboard? MB supports SATA and that HDD is SATAII

 

[smoggy12345]

to OP:

I own a Geforce 6800 in my old computer and it supports 1080p DEFINATLY....have you tried updating to latest drivers and used a DVI to HDMI converter cable???

 

[skow00]

Yep, I have the lastest drivers and the god damn expensive DVI-HDMI cable
I think GeForce 6800 can play 1080p movies, but not in 1080p quality.

If I plug my external drive directly to my TV through USB it's much better quality than when I play through my PC.

 

[coozie7]

@ Skow00: Do not worry about the power, the HD4650 draws less than the 6800 anyway, so you will not overload the PSU, simply use the molex/PCI-E adaptor that comes with the card and things will be fine.
AFAIK both WD and Seagate SATAII (3.0Gb/s) drives have jumpers that will allow them to operate at the lower SATAI (1.5Gb/s) speeds, but check the specifications carefully before purchase, the cabling is identical BTW.

 

[donpacific2k]

I want to reiterate that it's more important to get a quality power supply than one that just hits a magic watt number. I'd treat this as a fixed cost you will have to pay whether you only upgrade your card, or get a new system. I have been burned many times in the past trying to track down problems related to cheap power supplies when upgrading, even though the wattage was 400+. There's numerous threads on here on a daily basis suggesting good ones (e.g. corsair, zalman)

 

[skow00]

Alright. Thanks for the info!