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19 Posts
Before I get to my question, I want to thank this forum for helping me put together my HTPC in the first place. I've had a Linux HTPC up and running for about a year now with very few major problems (except for a RAID 0 disk failure about 6 months ago) and I couldn't be happier with it. MythTV is an excellent piece of software, and my machine has slowly expanded to become a media server for the entire house.
Now, for my question. My original video card was a plain jane nVidia card with very little memory. All it has is TV-out via s-video, and that's all I wanted at the time. It has done what I purchased it for perfectly. Unfortunately, my roommate moved out a few months ago, taking his 6 gaming systems and 100s of video games with him. Now I find myself wanting to reboot the HTPC into windows for a bit of gaming action, and this poor video card cannot keep up.
What I'd LIKE would be another nVidia card (never had a problem with nVidia's Linux drivers and I'm familar with the setup) that will perform without lag at regular TV resolution (I think mine maxes out around 720x480). I'd rather it use a heatsink rather than a fan, because the last thing that I need is another fan in that box (case fan, CPU fan, and a fan on the RAID 5 array make for a good bit of noise). And, of course, it needs to have video-out (S-Video or RCA). I know that I don't need the latest, cutting edge video card to meet these requirements, but all of the review sites are interested in maxing out resolution, so I'm never sure which card will do what I want without paying too much. My MB supports up to 8x AGP.
I'd appreciate any direction that I can get since I'm not sure where to proceed from here.
Now, for my question. My original video card was a plain jane nVidia card with very little memory. All it has is TV-out via s-video, and that's all I wanted at the time. It has done what I purchased it for perfectly. Unfortunately, my roommate moved out a few months ago, taking his 6 gaming systems and 100s of video games with him. Now I find myself wanting to reboot the HTPC into windows for a bit of gaming action, and this poor video card cannot keep up.
What I'd LIKE would be another nVidia card (never had a problem with nVidia's Linux drivers and I'm familar with the setup) that will perform without lag at regular TV resolution (I think mine maxes out around 720x480). I'd rather it use a heatsink rather than a fan, because the last thing that I need is another fan in that box (case fan, CPU fan, and a fan on the RAID 5 array make for a good bit of noise). And, of course, it needs to have video-out (S-Video or RCA). I know that I don't need the latest, cutting edge video card to meet these requirements, but all of the review sites are interested in maxing out resolution, so I'm never sure which card will do what I want without paying too much. My MB supports up to 8x AGP.
I'd appreciate any direction that I can get since I'm not sure where to proceed from here.