Via/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP in 1440x900 ???

[Stultify]

The board is an OEM HP Asus A7V8X-LA.

[ebLda]

So is it possible to get what I need?

[tcsenter]

No, but your motherboard has an available AGP 8x slot to support an AGP graphics card that would give you the widescreen resolution you want.

[ebLda]

Ok, that opens a whole new can, newegg has 160 agp cards, could any point me in the right direction (under $100). not big into games, but It would be cool to watch and record tv on my computer, and playback on my tv. so if any one knows what card would be right for me or which of these are important.

Manufacturer:
GPU:
Memory Size:
PixelPipelines:
Chipset Manufacturer:
Memory Interface:
DirectX:
D-SUB:
V-Out:
VIVO:
Tuner:
Max Resolution:
Any 2048 x 1536@85Hz (5)2048 x 1536@75Hz (3)2048 x 1536@60Hz (3)2048 x 1536 (27)
SLI Supported:
Cooler:
CrossFire Ready:

[Stultify]

not big into games, but It would be cool to watch and record tv on my computer

Ok, that opens a whole new can

400 series VIA chipsets are not "choice" for this task, it can be done, but you are going to have to "fool" with it.

under $100

Not going to happen.

[ebLda]

ok, ok, forget about the tv crap, I just want a video card thats at least not crappier than one I have but will give me 1440 x 900 resolution.

[Stultify]

Probably best "bang for your buck" @ Newegg is a Nvidia based FX5200 128m card for around $50 (this being a DirectX9 card that will let you go Vista when you feel the time is right).

TV capture/video would probably be best with an ATI all-in-wonder card (but over $100).

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: ebLda
Ok, that opens a whole new can, newegg has 160 agp cards, could any point me in the right direction (under $100). not big into games, but It would be cool to watch and record tv on my computer, and playback on my tv. so if any one knows what card would be right for me or which of these are important.

Opening this can also opens a few potential issues:

You're not going to find an AGP card with onboard TV tuner and video capture for under $100, at least not from Newegg. The ATI All-In-Wonder (AIW) family is your best bet for a combo TV Tuner + AGP card. Older models like the Radeon 8500 AIW (DX8) can be purchased used fairly cheap, but ATI has essentially discontinued driver support for its pre-9500 models. I recommend an AIW based on DX9-class Radeon 9600 or 9800, though there are other options combining an AGP card with a separate TV Tuner (PCI card or USB converter).

The ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 Edition is based on Radeon 9600 256MB AGP and available new in retail package with all accessories for $125.00 shipped from ZipZoomFly (Newegg competitor with good reputation)

There are also a few available on Ebay for a little less (and some for more): ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 Edition 256MB AGP - $80 plus $20 shipping

If you go with an AIW card, make sure the card is retail packaged (boxed) or includes all retail accessories such as cables, adapters, and remote control. These accessories can be difficult to find if they are missing. Also make sure the TV Tuner supports NTSC (North America) instead of PAL format (assuming you reside in the states).

Personally, I would rather have the Radeon 9800 AIW, also can be found on Ebay:

ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 PRO (USED with guarantee) - Current Highest Bid = $12.50

The Radeon 9800 is a more powerful graphics chip than 9600, but even the Radeon 9600 will be a huge improvement over your current UniCrap IGP in every category.

The next issue is that your factory power supply may well be inadequate for a graphics card such as AIW model, due to the additional power requirements of TV Tuner circuitry and ATI's Theater 200 decode/capture chip. The R9600 is relatively efficient compared with the R9800 (the R9800 being more powerful), so you *might* not need to upgrade the PSU to support the R9600. However, it is much less likely that your factory PSU would support a R9800, particularly AIW model with its additional power consumption.

There have been a number of persons with HP/COMPAQ systems using this motherboard (KM400/A) who have posted on this forum about problems getting an AGP card to work. Some were due to an inadequate power supply, the AGP not being fully inserted into the slot, a driver or configuration issue. Others, however, were not so easily solved. OEMs like HP/COMPAQ rarely do much compatibility testing outside of those components they intend to offer with that system, either as standard or upgrade option. As a result, compatibility is more hit-or-miss when trying to upgrade OEM systems.

Having said that, plenty of others have no trouble getting an AGP card to work in their OEM system. Clear as mud, eh?

As mentioned briefly above, you could also buy a separate internal or external TV Tuner device (e.g. PCI or USB2.0). There are some decent TV Tuner PCI cards for around $30 ~ $35, which you could pair with an inexpensive AGP card.

Good luck![quote]
a Nvidia based FX5200 128m card for around $50 (this being a DirectX9 card that will let you go Vista when you feel the time is right).<hr

[cemalley]

I have a P5VDC-MX which runs fine with a Asus Radeon 9550 265MB AGP graphics card, however this card is just not up to running games such as Oblivion at 1440 x 900 which is my LCD resoution.
So I have tried two other graphics cards in the PC, both can be installed and I can get the system up and running with the latest drivers but both just hang on starting or just after starting most games and sometimes at the desktop for the Nvidia.
The two cards, both of which work fine in another machine, are
1. Gecube Radeon 9600XT 128MB, AGP
2. Palit Nvidia 7600GT 256MB, AGP

For both, I uninstalled the previous driver before shutting down and installing the new card then installed latest drivers after restarting. I also tried various other driver versions.
I checked bios settings, but for this motherboard there is not much to tweak relating to AGP.
I had installed the motherboard AGP drivers sometime ago.
I had installed monitor drivers.
I fiddled pretty much any graphics related setting I could find but nothing helped.
The system had a 400W power supply which should have been fine, but to be sure I put in a new 550W supply with heaps of 12V capacity and that also made no difference.

Other specs of the system are 1.5GB DDR 400 memory, 160GB 7200rpm 8MB SATA hard drive. and Samsung 940BW 19" LCD monitor

At this point I would prefer to use the 9600XT (and not spend any more money),
but any suggestions on what the problem might be or at least confirmation that there is no reason why these cards should not work with this motherboard would be greatly appreciated.

[Unichromeo]

I also have a VIA/S3G Unichrome Pro IGP.

My motherboard, according to cpu-z, is an "ASUS Tek" K8V-MX Rev 1.xx Via K8M400 (VT8380). (I just learned today what a motherboard is so if this isn't all the relevant information, let me know).

I recently got a HP w1907 which needs 1440x900 to be happy.

What do I need to do to make it so? How do I find out if I need BIOS update (I think I do) and where I might find the appropriate one? What do I need to do to update the video card?

Thank you so much in advance...