Video Card

I got the 9800 Pro today and noticed the DVI connection. What would happen if I connected it to my HDTV? Would it work and how would it look? I''m also curious about the DVI to VGA adapter. If your flat planel monitor only has VGA connections, why even bother going DVI (video card out) to VGA (monitor), rather than just going VGA to VGA.

Inquiring minds want to know. Thanks

Anybody know when the NDAs come off the next generation of cards? I figure it should be any day now.

Now is not the right time to be buying any card.

I got the 9800 Pro today and noticed the DVI connection. What would happen if I connected it to my HDTV? Would it work and how would it look? I''m also curious about the DVI to VGA adapter. If your flat planel monitor only has VGA connections, why even bother going DVI (video card out) to VGA (monitor), rather than just going VGA to VGA.

It should work with your HD tv although it is probably dependent on the brand. Also there are supposedly different types of DVI connectors so you would need to check that. I have been wanting to do the same thing with my tv but have been to lazy to move my pc across the room so far.

You wouldn''t want to use the DVI out unless you had a display device that had a DVI in. So for a VGA monitor you would just want to go VGA->VGA the only time you would want to DVI->VGA would be if you wanted to use a second monitor that only had a VGA input.

Ah, yes I read farther into the guides that came on the CD, the DVI to VGA adapter is for plugging in a second VGA monitor. You''re right, thanks Stric.

It''s interesting though, anytime they mention hooking the card up to a TV, they say use S-Video or an S-Video to composit adapter. They don''t once say to use the DVI for hooking up a DVI HDTV. They only say to use DVI for a flat panel monitor. Maybe the guides are behind the times?

"polq37" wrote:

Anybody know when the NDAs come off the next generation of cards? I figure it should be any day now.

Now is not the right time to be buying any card.

Well, I''m going from a laptop with a 32mb video card to a new desktop with a 9800 Pro 128mb. So, basically I''m going from nothing to something. If I had a desktop already, with an adequate card, then I''d probably wait.

It''s interesting though, anytime they mention hooking the card up to a TV, they say use S-Video or an S-Video to composit adapter. They don''t once say to use the DVI for hooking up a DVI HDTV. They only say to use DVI for a flat panel monitor. Maybe the guides are behind the times?

The manual for my tv actually has a warning against hooking it up to a PC. However I have it on good authority that it will work fine on my set but the image won''t really look that great. So I think you would have to look into it for the specific set. At the moment I have my HD cable box going into it and that looks great.

DVI to DVI-HD is possible...(in theory)

I''ve tried it on a few occassions with zero success..

I''ve even tried the DVI to HD Component adapter that ATI sells...with again..little success..

My advice is go to www.avsforum.com and prepare to be overwhelmed digging through all the information.

You''ll need Powerstrip for sure..without it theres no hope of it succeding..

Believe me...if your serious about getting it to work..be prepared.

In case you haven''t ordered your video card yet. Here is a good deal on a 9800 pro from a site that I trust and have ordered from several times:

http://www.buyxtremegear.com/r9800pr...

And here is what reseller ratings.com has to say about them:

http://www.resellerratings.com/selle...

"Tobyus" wrote:

In case you haven''t ordered your video card yet. Here is a good deal on a 9800 pro from a site that I trust and have ordered from several times:

http://www.buyxtremegear.com/r9800pr...

And here is what reseller ratings.com has to say about them:

http://www.resellerratings.com/selle...

Now I know where I''m getting my next system from. I just configured a AMD64 3200 system for $1500....good thing I don''t have the cash, otherwise the wife would freak.

Thanks Toby, but I did already buy it. I paid $249 for it, but did see it for $199 somewhere (I forget where.) The reason I went for the $249 is because they had a promotion where if you buy a video card, mobo, whatever, they sell you windows XP (home) for just $99. The only copy of XP I have is tied to a laptop. Grr.

I been looking into running my video out to my 48"" HDTV and here is a bit of what I found.

Basically with S video you can only get 640x480 resolution from what I heard. To get better you need to have a HD tuner or maybe a VGA jack on your tv. The other way I heard is you can buy a box that takes a feed from your pc and converts it into component video for your TV. In that case you can get good resolution.

The HDTV is more than able to display the images it just has to do with the incoming signal from what I understand.

Take this with a grain of salt because I am new to the world of trying this (well other than when I played my Comodore 64 on my TV when I was growing up sinve that was my ''monitor'')

I have heard some stories about OEM versions of ATI cards being clocked slower than they are supposed to be, has anyone ever experienced this?

In the ""old"" days when only ATI sold its own VideoCards yes indeed ATI''s OEM cards (White Box) were generally clocked slower (See Radeon 8500 fiasco)

Nowadays with ATI having Board Partners (Saphire, PowerColor, Gigabyte, Asus, Fic, etc..) Board Partners are free to clock their cards to whatever speeds they want.

And in those board partners lineups you may find retail versions and nonboxed (OEM) versions of their particular cards. Now usually there are no differences between the retail and OEM versions amongst particular board partners but thats not always the case.

Also be sure that your buying what you think your buying. For instance the 9600 Pro can be sold many ways.. with 256mb of ram but both ram and gpu clocked slower than the 128mb version.

Or 128mb versions labeled ""SE"" or ""Lite"" these are clocked slower and/or have less memory bandwidth/pipelines etc..

For instance the 9800SE is hardly a 9800.. its in many ways a crippled 9800 probably more equal to a 9600 in speed (But many 9800SE can be hacked to enable all their functionality but thats a whole nother story)

But the short answer is other than the AIW series ATI no longer does whitebox (OEM) editions of their videocards. All those are handled by their board partners..

Even if say you see a 9800Pro labeled as an ATI OEM piece..its actually a Sapphire board.

TheGamegurru is correct.

When you go to buy a board from a 3rd party vendor you really need to pay attention to the memory/clock speeds.

I for example have 9600 pro 128mb card. From what I can tell though it has better performance than the 256mb versions because it has higher speeds.

I think there where at least 4 different versions of the 9600 pro and I had to make sure I got the one with the high clock/memory speed.

Glad you like the site mateo Tancite ordered an entire system from them and he has been happy with it. I''ve ordered a CPU and other things from them and every time I receive the items quick, in nice packages from fedex