LostKnightsRPG.org

I'm looking to upgrade my old computer, and was wondering if someone might be interested in helping me. Basically i just want a new sound card and graphics card that will have more broad compatibility with TV's. So, HDMI and S-Vid/Component hookups, and audio hookups.

Not sure if my comp is too old to find anything for though. And not sure how to figure that out.

You should be able to get the specs for the graphics/sound card off of bestbuy.com or a similar site, then compare to your comp (usually under control panel and performance and maintinence) cpu will probably be your main concern.

The main thing that needs to be known before any serious suggestions can be made is this:

Does your computer have an AGP (4x or 8x) slot for video or a PCI-e x16 slot for a video card?

High end AGP cards are getting harder to come by. I know, because I was just shopping for one. I got a pretty decent one, but it doesn't have HDMI. That said, I used it to hook my older desktop up to my TV, and my TV had a monitor input, so I just used that.

PCI-e cards are, by far, more technologically advanced, and I think you'll be more likely to find cards with HDMI sockets on them. S-Video has been around long enough that it should be on most cards, though, regardless of interface.

As for "which one do I have?" as far as the slot goes, if you open it up, the slot for AGP normally has a brown plastic, while the PCI-e slots will normally have black plastic (the x16 plastic is very long).

I have 3 pci (not pci-e) slots, and one agp (i think).

It may just be cheaper to get a new computer I suppose.

When I was shopping most of the high-end vidja cards I found floated around the $250 mark. You might be able to make a pretty awesome computer for not too much more, but I doubt that you could make a media-center style system (which is typically pretty heavy on processor, storage and video card so that it can do HD) for less.

Heck, the card I got for my second desktop even has problems with playing high def stuff (particularly if the video in question uses soft subs, it desynchs the audio and video...). Still trying to figure out if there's something I can do to optimize it a bit more, or if there are better drivers or something I could be using.

what are the specs on your computer that is having the problems? If it is similar to or better than mine, I will likely just get a new comp instead.

The card is a GeForce 7300GT. I can't give the rest until I get home, since I haven't looked at them in a while. I built it in about 2004 or 2005 though, so its pretty old.

I hooked everything up, and two problems are occuring:
1) can't get the picture to look right

and

2) keeps shutting down when I let it run for a while. not sure what that is, but it was happening a bit before I re-arranged it. Now however I can't even play more than a cd's worth of songs b4 it shuts down. Weird.

Back to the drawing board. Oh, and I designed a cool computer over at new egg. too bad it costs $1200ish to make.

I got a computer I don't need anymore. It has a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3600+ 1.9 GHz, 1 gig of ram and a nvidia 7100 le graphics card. I bought it about 2 years ago for $220, I can sell it for cheap.

the real question is... Does it work?

mine should be on par with that one, but it is being all fritzy. If you could bring the computer this weekend and help me hook it up to the tv,(and it doesn't look like total ass, which is the trouble with mine right now... I may end up getting a new tv w/taxes to make it better) I can give you cash for it.

Oh, and I wanted to share my creation. I think I got everything, and matched it up correctly (though it doesn't show it, I doubled up on the membory shown below):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDeal ... mbo.181870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDeal ... mbo.182239
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827136133
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820134792
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829111003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136284
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811166030
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833166015
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835887011

2 guesses for it shutting down, fan or powersupply. if both are new,try running the comp with the case open. if the comp stays on longer or doesn't turn off at all, you may need a second fan or a stronger one.

thanks. I'll try that and see what happens.