Graphics card upgrade - please help

Murphio

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Sep 27, 2008
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Hi guys. Im not at all sure there is a solution to my problem - but I hope you can help.
I bought a compaq small form factor p4 to use as a dedicated media centre. I wasnt aware that the media portal software (cracking btw!!) required a graphics card with DirectX 9.0 hardware-accelerated GPU with at least 64MB of video memory.
So I need a new AGP graphics card to replace the AGP nvidia vanta. However, it has to be low profile to fit. It also has to be backwards compatible with a x4 motherboard. Is there a card lurking out there which could do this?? I dont want to spend a lot of money and I wont be playing Doom - its just something which can handle the media portal software. Im also concerned that one of the top end cards would be too hot and power hungry.
Any ideas guys?

The specs are as following:
Standard Features - Select Models
(802 bytes)
Compaq Evo Desktop D500 Series with 845 chipset
Pre-Configured Models
Model Key
Example: D5S/P1.5/20j/2/128c/vn
D5S = Evo D500 Small Form Factor
P1.5 = Pentium 4 1.5-GHz processor
20 = Hard Drive
j = 845 chipset
2 = MicrosoftÒ Windows 2000 SP2
128 = Memory
c = CD-ROM
6 = NVIDIA Vanta 16-MB AGP graphics
n = Integrated Intel Pro/100 VM

I would also appreciate it if someone could point me towards the type of ram I need to upgrade to - I need a minimum of 256mb (I have 128mb). Thanks a lot on advance.
 

cow_moo

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Jul 13, 2008
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Umm....................... maybe like a FX5200 because it's low profile ready yeah and I would get at least a gig of ram
 

cow_moo

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yyes any 8x card is also 4x they are the same phisical lengnth just running at different speeds so 4x is half of 8x so it's running half speed bandwith wise
 

Murphio

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Sep 27, 2008
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Hi Roadrunner - I tried to do it on the cheap but Ive probably thrown good money after bad now. Im going to see if the card and ram will make a difference - do you think it will?
 

roadrunner197069

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Sep 3, 2007
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Not much, if any.

You need a strong dual core CPU, you have a 1.5 single core.
You need 2G ram minimum, I recommend 4G.
You need a 500G HDD minimum.
You need a DVD Drive/Burner


I hope you didn't spend over $50 for that thing.

I build alot of Media centers and yours will be slooooooooooooooooow, kinda like watching paint dry.
 

roadrunner197069

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I just built my mom one last week for $607 with monitor, keyboard and speakers.

e1200 @ 3.2
P5Q-EM with HDMI
4G DDR2 800 Ram
500G HDD
DVD Burner
Media Card reader
575 watt PSU
20" LCD
Vista Ultimate 64bit
Here is a screenshot of some of the movies I got on there.


 

Murphio

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Sep 27, 2008
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I'll be honest with you mate - Ive been running Media Portal fine (if a little slow) on a system (my sons comp) which doesnt have anything like the spec you mention. It has a celeron processor, 512mb of ram and crap graphics built onto the motherboard. As I understand it 4gb of ram is a waste of time in XP??
Dont need a dvd burner - I do that on my main rig - which is pretty top end. I have a 500gb HDD installed aswell as a TV capture card which works fine. If I can get the specs to match the computer it has been running on I'll be happy enough.