Two questions, two subjects (though)

External Since: Nov 06, 2003 Posts: 8

I apologize to any who feels annoyed for my asking about 2 subjects in
one post, but the subjects are somewhat related.

I have had an Abit Siluro GF4 Ti4200 8X, 128 MB, card for 10 months,
and it been slowly dying for several months. Specifically, only in
the text generation within DOS screens, such as DOS windows and BIOS
bootup text - they have progressed from an occasional extra character
to now where it's impossible to read any text that may be scrambled in
amongst the mix. Strangely, the Windows graphic screens and all
similar are not affected. I've finally replaced it (temporarily
though) with an old TNT2 Ultra, and all displays are perfectly clean,
including pure DOS text. Of course, it can't manage to perform to
current expectations on many later flight sims, though. The KEY POINT
is - the Ti4200 has failed in at least one mode, no doubt about it.
Clearly need to replace it, whether or not Abit agrees to participate
or not!

That leads to the next question. This particular model of Ti4200 does
not have any "Video In" capability. And I have now reached a point
where I need to be able to import Analogue Video into the computer, of
perhaps up to 640 X 480. I've been trying to decipher the mountains
of gibberish in all the various ads, to determine what I need, and
most important ONLY what I need. I do NOT need a TV tuner, for
example. Would I be better off with a "breakout box", or a with a
special plug in card? Or would a replacement video card (regardless
of brand) suffice? I'm still looking at the near to high end nVidia
and ATI cards, for the flight simming, but tieing all these needs
together still seems a bit formidable. Again, I'm willing to buy a
reasonably priced separate device for video import, if that is the
better choice.

Meaningful suggestions will be appreciated.

Olin McDaniel

To reply by email, please remove "abcd" from Return address
-----------------------------------------------------
"Ignorance is treatable, Stupidity is incurable. Sometimes
the difference is hardly distinguishable, however."

External Since: Jan 20, 2004 Posts: 92

"Olin K. McDaniel" <omcdaniel.abcd RemoveThis @mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:4017e54f.1137766@news.east.earthlink.net...
[...]
> That leads to the next question. This particular model of Ti4200 does
> not have any "Video In" capability. And I have now reached a point
> where I need to be able to import Analogue Video into the computer, of
> perhaps up to 640 X 480. I've been trying to decipher the mountains
> of gibberish in all the various ads, to determine what I need, and
> most important ONLY what I need. I do NOT need a TV tuner, for
> example. Would I be better off with a "breakout box", or a with a
> special plug in card? Or would a replacement video card (regardless
> of brand) suffice? I'm still looking at the near to high end nVidia
> and ATI cards, for the flight simming, but tieing all these needs
> together still seems a bit formidable. Again, I'm willing to buy a
> reasonably priced separate device for video import, if that is the
> better choice.
>
> Meaningful suggestions will be appreciated.

I don't see why a separate card with video-in is necessary when so many graphics cards do VIVO. You don't
need video-out (TV-out), but what card with video-in doesn't have video-out? None AFAIK. If you look on
MSI's website, the naming scheme used for their nVidia cards identify the functions included. V=Video-in,
T=TV-out ( ie, Video-out), D=DVI, R=Remote Receiver ( ie, the card has an inbuild TV tuner and comes with a
(R)emote control). They all have the standard VGA out.

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.msicomputer.com/product/chipset.asp?chipset=vga" target="_blank">http://www.msicomputer.com/product/chipset.asp?chipset=vga</a>

So with names like MSI FXnnnn-TD256, MSI FXnnnn-VTD128, or MSI FXnnnn Ultra-VTDR256 you can easily identify a
card that best meets your needs. I don't do flight simming so I'm not sure of the recommended specs that kind
of software requires from a graphics card, but if your ti 4200 could handle the load, then any FX5700 Ultra or
higher will certainly handle it.

Tony.

--
3GHz P4 (HT enabled)
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
PDC20378 IDE/SATA controller
ADI AD1985 audio
MSI FX5900U-VTD256 (BIOS 4.35.20.22.0)
2x 512MB Kingston PC3500
2x 36.7 SATA WD Raptors
52/32/52 LiteOn CD-Writer
16x Pioneer DVD-120S
Enermax 550W PSU
Windows XP Pro & Linux Fedora
PC-70 Lian Li case w/ side window
Hitachi 174SXW B 17" LCD

To email me, replace org.nz with net.nz