Get an exclusive sneak peek into our new project. >>> Click Here
Our native mobile app has a new name: Fora Communities. Learn more.

MP-1 upgrade to Radeon cards

2430 Views 49 Replies 22 Participants Last post by Phil Smith, Jun 11, 2004

susan7566

Discussion Starter · Jun 4, 2004

OK...getting upgrade-something-itis.

Many here like the MP-1 mod.

So...for those who have it. If I send Mike my $200 video card....and he upgrades it for $325 plus $15....plus a new BNC-BNC cable (say $70)....did you really think that the MP-1 improved the picture that much...for the money spent ($400+).

I really need to know before I make my $200 video card....a $600+ card!!!

Thanks!

Status: Not open for further replies.

1 - 20 of 50 Posts

Andrikos

· #2 · Jun 4, 2004

Sounds like the Panasonic SA-XR45 (digital receiver) upgrade:

$300 for the receiver, ~$900 for the upgrade!

You can buy a VERY serious card for that scratch....

Checkout www.tomshardware.com of rrelative performances.

You might be better off just buying a different card...

Good luck with your upgradeitis.

See less See more

Bill Green

· #3 · Jun 5, 2004

Yes - but a serious performance card probably won't play DVDs any better.

I don't have the MP mod but recently had a guy from over here (Aaron) do a mod to take the feed straight off the card to BNCs (no buffer amp etc). Mike will say this is of no real benefit but with the addition of good cables this has improved my picture significantly - so i guess the MP will do at least as well.

Whether it is value for money to you no-one else can really say. I thought the MP too expensive for me personally.

Bill

Darren_Falco

· #4 · Jun 5, 2004

It depends. My Marquee liked the hotter signal than the OEM Radeon 7500 output - .7v to 1.0v. Then combine that with a 25 foot BNC breakout cable and the signal that I was receiving wasn't what it should be. I noticed a significant PQ increase when I upgraded from an OEM Radeon 7500 to a MP modded 7500. To me the cost was well worth it.

dokworm

· #5 · Jun 5, 2004

There have been some posts that a stock radeon 5700U looks better than a radeon with MP-1 attached. I'd borrow a Nvidia 5700U card and see what you think before shelling out the big bucks.

An MP-1 mod can always be added to the 5700U or to a momitsu or whatever, so if you decide to get the MP-1 it wouldn't be wasted anyhow...

deronmoped

· #6 · Jun 5, 2004

Pretty sure the MP-1 is designed for people using long cable runs to their PJ.

Deron.

KennyG

· #7 · Jun 5, 2004

While many of the posters in this thread seem to be guessing as to if the MP-1 "does" anything, I can tell you for a fact it does!

I'm absolutely terrible with model numbers, but I believe I started with the Radeon 7500, in which I removed the output filters.

Coupled to my XG110LC they created a very good picture.

At this point I got one of Mike's mod'ed cards (still in the 7XXX series) and I also built a high quality 25" RGBHV cable.

It's hard for me to remember my exact thoughts (perhaps it still in the archives) however the basics of the post were: increase in fine detail, deeper blacks, slightly better colors.

Alot of what Darren is seeing is more than just the voltage increase, I've tried an Exron box (which increases voltage) and it didn't create the PQ the MP-1 did...the Extron did not lower the noise floor, and so blacks were not any better. (deeper)

Is a card with the MP-1 mod worth it? For my needs, a definite YES...and once my new house/HT room is complete, I will buy the latest and greatest with his mod attached.

See less See more

Bill Green

· #8 · Jun 5, 2004

Deron

Good point - my understanding also. I guess i assumed we were talking about a long run - which is dangerous. (the assumption not the long cable

)

Bill

JBJR

· #9 · Jun 5, 2004

You may want to wait a little longer for the mod as well since Mike is still playing around with the 5700 and 5950 cards. But so far feels the picture they are putting out is superior to the ati's. I have a moded 9700 card and can tell you with out a doubt you will see the improvement. My plan is to upgrade to one of these cards as soon as Mike makes the determination which one is best for video. I am using a 35' rgb cable, DIY'd it out of Belden 1694A and Canare connectors. Mike Parker's cable of choice. I have been to many of Mike's gatherings during the mods development and saw its growth to what it is today. I am also getting the MP1.3 for the Holo3D II card. Have also been attending the gatherings for his Transcoder, the MP-5, and will be getting one of these as soon as he finishes it up. It is simply awesome!

John

Tedd

· #10 · Jun 5, 2004

I also have a MP-1 Radeon 9000 and the difference between it and the Radeon 7500 was immediately noticeable upon installation for myself. I agree with KennyG's statement of increased fine detail and more vibrancy in colours but never noticed improvements in the blacks.

The value of the MP-1 mod was driven home when I upgraded a friend's htpc (which created a whole second htpc) so he had to live with the stock Radeon 7500 for a bit. He mentioned he was really missing the MP-1.

The real kicker is he wasn't as impressed with the MP-1 upon it's first installation as I was.

MC Maniac

· #11 · Jun 5, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Tedd

The value of the MP-1 mod was driven home when I upgraded a friend's htpc (which created a whole second htpc) so he had to live with the stock Radeon 7500 for a bit. He mentioned he was really missing the MP-1.

The real kicker is he wasn't as impressed with the MP-1 upon it's first installation as I was.

Good morning, Ted..

I'm that friend Ted is referring to..and yes I'm an MP-1 disciple..

There's also this option to keep in mind:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=395829

I'm consumed with blending at the moment, so haven't followed up with Mike P on this, but assuming the Nvidia card is a go, I'll be calling you Mr. Parker....

See less See more

jimwhite

· #12 · Jun 5, 2004

what about us poor souls who must use a transcoder due to only having YPbPr inputs??? Methinks the MP-1 mod would be wasted money....

Budget Pete

· #13 · Jun 6, 2004

A quick visit to Dokworm's house for dinner and to see how he is going with moding the 5700U to become an FX1000 and we decided before he took the soldering iron to it to compare it to the 9600 Radeon with MP-1 that he has on loan.

Bear in mind that the following is on a shortish cable run (about 12ft) and that the 5700U is connected by a Barco breakout cable. (He will be fitting BNC's to the 5700U later)

We had no test disks other than the Nokia test suite, and the THX optimisers on DVD, so its hardly scientific, but anyway here goes.

The 5700U certainly looked cleaner than the radeon/mp1, less background noise in DVD playback was most noticeable. The colour was MUCH punchier on the 5700. The desktop was also a bit sharper on the 5700.

We are using the latest Nvidia drivers and there weren't any stutter or issues with DVD playback with Zoomplayer or Theatretek.

T2 hidef edition looked about the same on both systems, We thought the noise was back, but it is film grain on closer inspection.

Overall on limited testing, the 5700U was a clear winner, my wife liked the 5700 better without any prompting - quote "That looks better" - why - "I don't know, it just looks better"

All tests were on an Athlon 2500+ and PG9+

As I said, we aint the most technical people, but that's what we saw.

We chucked a radeon 9200 unmodded in for a quick look, and it was definately inferior to both setups, mainly in the noise it displayed.

So I would much rather spend my money on moving from my radeon 9200SE to a 5700U rather than getting the MP-1. I figure that way, I get a better upgrade for the money, and when I get uprade-itis I can always add an MP-1 to the 5700 when the wife isn't looking!

See less See more

Ted White

· #14 · Jun 6, 2004

On two occassions I have had the opportunity to a/b modded and unmodded cards and there is a great difference. It's not just for long cable length installations. It reduces video noise. Much better blacks and a more three-dimensional look as a result. In my opinion the MP mod is a basic component in a high end PC.

Budget Pete

· #15 · Jun 6, 2004

I'd agree with the above, if you want to keep your Radeon.

If not then I'd get a 5700 or 59XX series card and get a better picture than the radeon plus MP-1 and still have change... and still leave room for the final tweak of adding an MP-1 to that.

mp20748

· #16 · Jun 7, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Budget Pete
I'd agree with the above, if you want to keep your Radeon.

If not then I'd get a 5700 or 59XX series card and get a better picture than the radeon plus MP-1

It's not that simple. If it were, my testing would have been finished 5 minutes after getting the 5700 into my HTPC.

One has to be careful to simply make a bold statement like the above. There are pros and cons to each card. The goal is to be able to define these pros and cards, as to not rush a judgement that may be based on a personal preference, or an improperly done comparison.

The 5700/5950 cards could have some very powerful differences over the ATI's. But can these differences be justified based on comparing a 5700 to a ATI 9600, NO! If your testing would have involved comparing the 5700 to a ATI 9800Pro, then the above comments could make more sense, but even with that comparison, there are still the Pros and cons factor.

See less See more

susan7566

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jun 7, 2004

Thanks for all the input everyone. I really appreciate it.

I have a 6pg with about a 12-ft breakout cable....so I guess my cable run is relatively short.

One more question: If I got the MP-1 or a different card (such as the 5700)...would I have to redo the input set-ups on the 6pg? Since this projector takes so much effort to set-up I feel it is important.

I'm guessing "no" for the MP-1....but "yes" for the 5700. Any thoughts?

deronmoped

· #18 · Jun 7, 2004

I waiting for ATI to come out with there next video card, or for that matter wait a few generations in cards (let the manufactures sort things out first). If I was to go out and buy the latest and greatest video card every six months, I would be in the dog house, put there by my wife for wasting all money on my toys.

Now if there was a big improvement to be had, I would be all over it

Deron.

Bill Green

· #19 · Jun 8, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Ted White
On two occassions I have had the opportunity to a/b modded and unmodded cards and there is a great difference. It's not just for long cable length installations. It reduces video noise. Much better blacks and a more three-dimensional look as a result. In my opinion the MP mod is a basic component in a high end PC.

Ted (& Others)

Can you confirm how the comparison is done. I am assuming that the same cards are compared with and without the mod - but if it is to be a fair comparison it needs to be done with the same quality cables. How do you achieve this? As soon as the VGA connnector and breakout cable is introduced on the standard card its an apples to oranges comparison.

Cheers

Bill

sandbagger

· #20 · Jun 8, 2004

Bill

I believe my trip to Teds was one of the 2 A/B comparisons he was referencing. I really was skeptical about the mod too. Ted or Chris can comment on the actual hardware used" plus it was about a year ago" but we used 2 copies of DVD's and just switched between them. I believe the long run to the CRT was the same just used an a/b switch at the source, I could be wrong here. There was such a clear difference between the MP-1 and the unmodded card which still had an exceptional picture, no worse than what I have seen on several projectors or signs of a bad cable ect..... The MP-1 just had a cleaner, less noise signal. The blacks were better and there was just so much more fine detail it was scary

This added detail I believe is what really brought out the 3-D look.

I cant/wont comment on the Ati/Nvidia thing. In the old days I was always a Nvidia fan for games ect. but when it comes to HTPC I am a newbie. I haven't been following the new Nvidia cards at all.

1 - 20 of 50 Posts

Status: Not open for further replies.