Which Graphics Card for 42" Plasma

dec2000

Hey Guys,

I know this is probably a really common question here, but I am totally confused on which card is best for my needs and would appreciate any help.

I'm going to set up HTPC, I was toying around with kitting out a new PC but decided against this, mainly due to the cost of it. Have an older IBM P4 running at roughly 2Ghz (sorry don't have the specs to hand at the mo), and have decided to get a decent sound card, wirless PCI card, upgrade to rougly 1Gb RAm and get a decent Graphics card. The PC has an AGP slot.

Ideally I'm looking at spending no more than €120 for the card. I'm not a big gamer, so it doesn't have to be top of the range, but I'm looking for something that would suit playback of DVDs, photos and support the 3d interface of TVedia (or a similar media center software - recommendations welcome).

This is where it starts to get a little more complicated again, I have a 42" Samsung Plasma - rouoghly about 6 months old. I connected my laptop at 1280*768 to a 32" LCD and the quality was very good, I connected it to the Samsung 42" and had to reduce it to 1024 * 768, but the quality wasn't that great. It was a little blurrier than the LCD. Will having a decent graphics card sharpen the display on the Samsung? The manual also says that the optimum PC text resolution is WVGA 848 * 480.

So in short looking for a decent graphics card, roughly €120, which will be used mainly for DVDs, that is going to be on a 1024 * 768 42" screen.

Thanks in adavnce

Owen

1024x768? I had an old 2MB card that could drive that. In short, it doesn't matter a damn what card you use with a res that small, if all you're going to be doing is web browsing, and using office. The reason the screen was blurry was because LCD and Plasmas all have an ideal resolution they like to run at. Your monitor manual stated 848*480, yet you drove it at 1024*768, no wonder it was blurry.

Buzz_Irl

ok -good luck - you will need it !

I have read loads of threads on this - mainly on uk and irish sites

i have a pioneer pdpd434hde - from 3 years ago and have spent a lot of time on this. mine is 1280*768

basically u will not get a gr8 picture no mattter what u do

i conect using s-video

how many hdmi slots do u have? if u have more than 1 then a hdmi out card is an option - but not sure of picture quality

dec2000

Well hadnt read the manual before connecting it and had it set at 1280 * 768, knocked it down to 1024 * 768, not sure why to be honest. The lowest I can set it is 800 * 600, I might try that and see what it looks like. It wasn't a bad setting, just wasnt near as sharp as it looked on the 32" LCD.

Theres just one HDMI slot in, but its not been used at the moment.

8T8

Use the HDMI or VGA options if present they will give you better picture quality than using s-video. Though plasma's are a different beast as you have found out, if you are already using the VGA input the HDMI may or may not improve things it is hard to call.

Can you see the model you have on Samsung's UK site as they list the resolution of the display typically Samsung 42" plasma displays use 1024x768* looking over the specifications of each range.

* Many plasma displays use this resolution on the panel & the LCD will definitely be sharper & clearer by nature.

As for graphics cards..

Option 1: AGP FX2000 with VGA & DVI (DVI can be converted to HDMI) cheapest option, not suitable for gaming but fine for MCE UI.

Option 2: AGP 7600GS with DVI & VGA, suitable for light/moderate gaming.

Option 3: AGP X1600 Pro with HDMI & VGA, suitable for light/moderate gaming (best choice for convenience/performance out of the three if planning on using HDMI).

dec2000

8T8 wrote:

Use the HDMI or VGA options if present they will give you better picture quality than using s-video. Though plasma's are a different beast as you have found out, if you are already using the VGA input the HDMI may or may not improve things it is hard to call.

Can you see the model you have on Samsung's UK site as they list the resolution of the display typically Samsung 42" plasma displays use 1024x768* looking over the specifications of each range.

* Many plasma displays use this resolution on the panel & the LCD will definitely be sharper & clearer by nature.

As for graphics cards..

Option 1: AGP FX2000 with VGA & DVI (DVI can be converted to HDMI) cheapest option, not suitable for gaming but fine for MCE UI.

Option 2: AGP 7600GS with DVI & VGA, suitable for light/moderate gaming.

Option 3: AGP X1600 Pro with HDMI & VGA, suitable for light/moderate gaming (best choice for convenience/performance out of the three if planning on using HDMI).

Thanks for the info! I'm using the VGA input on the television, not the S-Video. I've had a quick look through the Samsungs on the website but can't see mine on there. I will get the model when i get home and check.

Dpes anyone know if the HDMI connection will be sharper using Option 3 above?

8T8

Well unless someone has the exact same make & model it is hard to say.

HDMI is digital so it should offer a sharper picture in theory but in practice with a plasma display I'm not 100% certain.

Try Samsung Germany instead they often list many more models than other world wide Samsung sites.

You may be able to use 1280x768 over HDMI but it is something I'm not sure on depends on the display. You may need to use something like Powerstrip to force a custom resolution it comes with presets for certain displays as well.

dec2000

OK heres the update:

the Samsung TV model is: PS-42D5SD, and link here!
So if I was to get the HDMI interface card, I may have another problem....the
Komplett site says the interface type is AGP 8X, however the spec of the PC
says Slot 1: full-length, 32-bit AGP 4X (1.5v): Notice the 4X and the card
is 8X, presumably this means it won't work? I've read a few sites that say it will and more than saying doing this could destroy the card?

dec2000

Ok just tried setting the resolution to 800 * 600 and it looks alot better. Played an DIVX file back and it was very watchable on it, and Tvedia looks good (although still open to suggestions of other software?)

So the situation now is I'm looking for a graphics card that will sharpen the playback mainly of AVI's on the TV, the HDMI card still looks like a goer but can anyone confirm what (if any damage) may be done in using an AGP 8X in an AGP 4X slot?

Would it be safer to go for a PCI like this or for the sake of €30 should I risk the HDMI?

Thanks guys for all your help so far

8T8

You can see the resolution of the panel in the technical specs it is 852x480 which is why 800x600 looks so good as it is closer to the native resolution of the panel.

AGP8x is backwards compatible with AGP4x cards so that is nothing to worry about. The 7600GS or X1600 I linked to will work fine.

But before you do that try setting 852x480 as the resolution if you cannot try using Powerstrip instead to force a custom resolution with whatever graphics card you have in the system at the moment.

The latest generation ATI & NVIDIA cards come with their own custom resolution features which is much more friendly to use than Powerstrip.

As for Media Centre software try Media Portal (requires .NET installed get it from Windows Update) or GB-PVR.

dec2000

thanks for all your help 8t8