Hardware Question

[Stephen W. Clarke]

Len,

Thanks for the feedback.

> What is the current video card?  What kind of system has a 124W PS?

The current video card is a nVidia TNT2 (16MB) that I had kicking around.
The system is an HP Vectra VL box (desktop model).

> The BIOS didn't like it?

Not sure why it didn't POST. My guess is either:
1) because it was a 64-bit card the system arch didn't understand it
or
2) because it's power draw was so high it couldn't get to the setup screen

> Getting a PCI video card is getting harder.  Getting one that uses low
> enough power might be nearly imposible, especially since it has to be high
> end enough to drive the display at that resolution and refresh.

As for finding the card, looking at the brisk trade in low end video cards
on eBay I don't think that will be too difficult. The challenge as I see
it is to figure out which brand/model card to buy.

The thought of buying a new system had crossed my mind but I was hoping to
spend $20-$30 on a new card instead of $100 on a new system.

Thanks again,
Stephen



On Wed, October 31, 2007 11:48, Lennart Sorensen wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 31, 2007 at 11:16:26AM -0400, Stephen W. Clarke wrote:
>
>> I've been using an old HP Vectra VL (PII-266) as a monitor to keep tabs
>> on the systems in my rack. Recently a co-worker gave me a used 21 inch
>> monitor (IBM P260) to expand the visual real estate on my system. I'm
>> enjoying the extra desktop space but the refresh rate is driving me
>> nuts. (60 Hz). I'd like to upgrade the video card but don't want to buy
>> one that won't work. It will have to be PCI, support 1600x1200 at 85Hz
>> and run with the existing PSU (124W).
>
> What is the current video card?  What kind of system has a 124W PS?
>
>
>> I tried a Radeon 9250(64-bit) that I had in the office but the system
>> wouldn't post with it in. I've been looking at either a Radeon 7000 (no
>> fan) or a Radeon 9000 (with fan).
>
> The BIOS didn't like it?
>
>
>> Do any of you have recommendations?
>>
>>
>> I'm running a dual boot system of Puppy Linux and Ubuntu 7.10, but with
>>  video cards as old as the one's I'm looking at, drivers shouldn't be
>> an issue.
>
> Getting a PCI video card is getting harder.  Getting one that uses low
> enough power might be nearly imposible, especially since it has to be high
> end enough to drive the display at that resolution and refresh.
>
> My recommendation is to do one of:
>
>
> 1) Live with it, since hopefully you don't look at the screen very
> often.  Costs nothing except possibly your sanity.
>
> 2) Reduce the resolution to 1280x960 or 1152x864 to get decent refresh.
> Costs you some screen space but no money.
>
>
> 3) Buy a better computer with a sane power supply.  You can pick up "off
> lease" business machines with P3 for about $100 and P4 for about $200 which
> will probably drive the screen just fine, and will be much better
> performing machines than the P2 crap box.  Costs a bit of money and
> possibly uses a bit more electricity (not that running a 21" CRT is
> cheap).
>
> 4) Buy a 20" flat panel instead so that 1600x1200 at 60hz is in fact
> perfect.  Dell has a 2007FP model that is 1600x1200 for $389.  So cost
> quite a bit, and who would want such a nice screen on a monitoring
> machine.  Doesn't make sense unless you actually look at it a lot.  This
> would recuce the power expense by quite a bit over the 21" CRT of course.
>
> --
> Len Sorensen
> --
> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
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>


-- 
Stephen W. Clarke
Marketing and Communications Officer
Nray Services Inc.
56A Head Street
Dundas, ON L9H 3H7
CANADA

(905) 627-1302 x14

--
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TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
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