[Green4231]

Hello,

I have recently gotten a projector (z3) and set it up with vga to my computer. While I am reasonably satisfied with the image, I can't help but wonder if my graphics card may not be the best for a htpc. It is a geforce fx 5900 (some form of "light" version). I have read a lot about the new generation cards with purevideo etc. Would such new features really improve graphics quality significantly when playing back dvd video? What about hdtv? And video games (not referring to the framerate but simply to colours, sharpness etc).


In other words, considering I spent quite a lot on a home theater system, would it be smart to consider changing this video card for one that offers better image (primarily through the vga / hdmi ports)? In that case, which would you suggest that would be a notable upgrade from my present one? Thanks.

 

[miketech]

You are in a similar situaton I was 2 years ago when I built my HTPC.

If your PC proccesor is over 2.5GHZ, that will get you started ok. Just get the proper software, set your res/refresh rate to your PJ. Once you get done tweaking, then you

will be more familiar w/ HTPC systems. You may be satisfied w/ what you see at first w/o

spending more for hardware. Sure your 5900 doesn't have the latest stuff but so what. You'll probably be using software mode to begin w/ anyway negating all the hardware features. (ffdshow/Zoom player/etc)That card has lots of video bandwidth. Good luck!..mike...

 

[DPB]

Agreed, for just watching movies almost any video card is just fine.

 

[pete4]

I don't know how much you paid for your projector and I don't know how good fx5900 is. I also have no idea how are you going to use your system. But assuming that the signal comes from the video card it could mean huge diffference. If you're playing some very demanding game the video card could be the most important thing in your whole system (assuming your computer is powefull enough). Also if you like to play HD clips on your projector, some people complained that even 3.2GHz computer wasn't fast enough to play smoothly MPEG4 1080 clips so for example hardware acceleration on video card could make total difference here as well. For SD signal almost any video card is good enough but why would you spend money on a projrector to watch SD? If you see problems like stuterring when playing HD you know what the problem is. If you don't have any problems like that then you're fine, for now at least. If your current card is fast enough for HD and high quality settings in video games (if you play such) then there won't be any dramatic changes by switching to newer video card.