video card needed - which one?

[JonH]

Hello,
After putting this off for some time, I back to trying to build an inexpenisive system for work and video. Having used Matrox g400 TV for several years, I want to capture DV via firewire.
I plan on getting a P4 processor with HT, and a motherboard with an 875P Intel chipset (leaning toward Gig. GA-8KNXP). Also plan to add a digital bridge in order to capture different types of video.
I was going to go with the Matrox 450 eTV but heard that I should go with an 8 AGP card. I don't do gaming. But I like to be able to bring a TV signal in like I can with my Matrox card. Also, I like the dual head display when editing (I send a signal to a tv).

Any suggestions here would be appreciated. I'm not real knowledgeable about these things.

Thanks.
Jon

[K6-III]

Get either P750 or Parhelia, so you can do TV-out plus dualhead.

Then, get a TV tuner card of your choice...

[JonH]

Thanks K6. The Parhelia looks like more than I can afford. The P750 as well as the P650 look like they'll do the trick. One problem, though. It doesn't look like they will work with Win 98. My stat software would cost me about $2500 to replace with an XP supported version.
I was going to set up a dual-boot system with XP and Win 98. Win 2000 appears to be okay with these cards, but win 98 wasn't listed. Any other thoughts?
Thanks a lot.
Jon

[Marshmallowman]

There are no windows 98 P drivers, so if you are stuck in win98 you may have to rule out the P's.

Will the current version of the software you have work?, it s just not supporterd in winxp?

I am thinking your going to lose any win98 support you may have pretty soon anyway (a lot of companies are dropping win98 support about now anyway, MS includeded)

[JonH]

Thanks for the reply.
I think if I go with a dual boot using XP and Win 2000 I can pull this off. Win 2000 should work for my stat software and the P750 should work with this OS as well. If I'm missing anything here, let me know. Also plan on getting a Canopus bridge.
Jon

[Frank Marshall]

Hey JonH,

You might as well forget the HT processor while you're at it. There was a thread here recently, one of Debbie's I think, where it was established that HT only works with WinXP. I could be wrong but you'd better look into it.

[JonH]

Thanks Frank. You're right. That's why I wanted a dual boot system. Only plan on using win 2000 for statistical analyses. Otherwise will be running XP - unless I'm off on my logic. I'm not real up on these things.
Jon

[dbdg]

Just another confirmation, HT works in 2k in so much as your rig will be stable but everything does run a little slower.

Just done quite a bit of testing.

[JonH]

Thanks, DBDG. Any other advice? Never built my own system before. I use MSPro for editing. Plan to add +- DVD burner as well.
There are so many choices out there with respect to motherboards and other things. I was going to get 512K of DDR as well. Are there any brands to stay away from?
Any advice about any aspect of this project would be appreciated.
Jon

[Ray Austin]

A good video card that supports everything Win95,98, ME, NT4.0, 2000 & XP

is Geforce4 TI 4200. I have one and it works very good, supports two monitors [VGA,DVI and includes DVI to analog converter to use 2 analog monitors.] very nicely and has svideo TV out too! You should be able to find it on the web at around $100 or less. This board is a little aged, but a good solid performer. Operates at AGP4X or 8X. The manufacturer of mine was Asylum.

[Brian Ellis]

HT DOES work in W2k, but not to the full extent.

With Mark Dileo's benchmark test for MSP7, I get roughly 20% better performance with HT on than HT off, using W2k SP2.

OTOH, HT on does slightly slow down apps which are not written for HT, no matter what the OS.

I use a G-550 on my HT machine, mostly single screen, although I have 2 18" TFTs connected to it. I use the second screen only when I absolutely need it, because the 1/2 second blanking as the overlay is switched on and off in DVD-Max is a blankety-blank nuisance. For RT TV viewing, I use the DV preview and scrubbing outputs from MSP7, through my ADVC-100, allowing me up to 3 screen use with a low-cost graphics card.

[JonH]

Thanks for the info guys. THe GForce card may be the way to go after looking at a few reviews. Found one for $87.
Think I'm ready to order everything. Was going to go with the P4 2.8 processor (HT) and Gigabyte MB with the 875P chipset. Are these good choices? Want to keep cost reasonable and performance needs are really only for video.
Thanks.
Jon

[JonH]

I have one more Q I need help with. Planned on getting 512 MB of Corsair RAM DDR 400 pc 3200.
Do I want dual modules of 256 each or one 512 when combined with a FSB of 800 with p4 with HT? Seems like I heard 2 were better with HT.

THanks.
Jon

[kropotkin]

I have the same dillema: how to replace my G400 Marvel which is dying on me on this very momments . I placed some kind of metal on the board and started the computer, so something broke and vidoe acceleration doesn't
work anymore - i have to use the proc for everything ).
So, i would love to have dual display, and to keep some resonable s-video or rca output, because sometimes i would export to vhs.
Parthelia is out of my reach ... so something else?
And ... no nvidia .

Cheers.

[JonH]

I plan on using the Canopus DV bridge to capture and export to VHS.