Hi All,
I'm a newbie, trying to shop for parts, trying to stick to the known configs, but trying to save $$$ too.

I'm unclear on how to connect to the TV. I'm considering an Nvidia 5200 with VGA and DVI, and was hoping to simply connect the DVI to the TV (has one DVI input). It's a 3-yr old Sony WV700 with RP/CRT, several component inputs and one DVI input.

Can I do this, or do I need to go out on the VGA and use a VGA/Component converter?

Rest of system will be MSI K8N Neo4-F, AMD 64/3200
The video card under consideration is:
XFX nVidia GeForce FX 5200 / 256MB DDR / AGP 8X
It's got s-video out, which I read somewhere means that it's likely to be closer to spec?

Any tips? I'd rather hear the bad news sooner than later. Thanks!!
--
Chris

you should be able to get dvi output to work directly to the tv, particularly if it's older, since it's less likely that the tv input is hdmi. worst case senario if for some reason you can't get dvi working you can always get a converter at that time.

_________________
Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

Thanks Xsecrets.
It's definitely NOT HDMI. Good news. Many thanks.

That's an nforce 4 motherboard yeah?

If so, that AGP graphics card won't fit in, you need to get a PCI-E graphics card instead.

Crap! Thanks for pointing this out! Doh!

I'm looking at this one now:

Chaintech GeForce 6200 with TurboCache / Supporting 256MB Turbo Cache / PCI Express / VGA / DVI / TV-Out / Video Card

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1281726&Tab=2&NoMapp=0

Seems ok?

That one will work with the motherboard. You may need to get a later linux driver than the one included with knoppmyth as its a fairly new card. I would try and find someone else on here with one already to see if it works ok.

OK, dragon uses a 6200 so it should definitely work.

Yes, I used the Dragon guide. But that gets me the chipset, but not the specific model. I expect that the chipset is all that matters.

Does the "up to" size matter with these PCI-E things? I've got no experience with them. It looks like they use shared RAM with the system. But more onboard is better, right? Is 64MB onboard enough?
Sorry for all of the Qs. I promise to return with As when I have some experience here!

I don't know, the information here looks pretty darn specific to me: http://mythic.tv/system_specs.php they point right to the manufacturers website with part numbers and the whole 9 yards. http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2&l2=6&l3=140&model=473&modelmenu=1

64mb on board will be plenty, I doubt your going to want to play 3d games on this machine!!

You're right, they do spell it out. But I wasn't able to find that card anywhere that I normally shop. The Asus page had a bunch of non-helpful links to companies that carried some products, but not that one, and a google search on the part number turned up a bunch of links, but lots of them weren't working or were in other countries. I probably gave up too early.

Very true. Thanks.