To support this site:

Forewarned is forearmed...

Video/Graphics Cards : ISA - PCI - AGP - PCI Express Adapter Cards - Page 2

Last updated on 12 November 2009

	SEARCH THIS SITE:
	Web www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk

Click here! to go to Page 1 of this article

How to identify a video/graphics card

The video/graphics card shown above is the AGP ATI ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO DVI card that only has a white DVI-I port that connects to the DVI port on a digital CRT or LCD monitor. It doesn't have a standard blue D-sub VGA port, shown below, the older of the two technologies, which is still found on many video cards, either alone, or together with a DVI port.

As was mentioned on Page 1 of this article, a DVI-I port can produce both analog VGA and digital DVI signals. It has four pin holes to the left of the main body pin holes (three rows of eight) that carry the VGA signal. If you have a PC monitor that only has an analog VGA connector, you can connect the graphics card and the monitor by using a cheap DVI-to-VGA cable that is often provided with a graphics card. The cable simply connects the four pins carrying the VGA signal to a D-sub VGA connector on the monitor.

If you need to identify the video card installed in your computer in order to download driver updates from its manufacturer's site, open the Device Manager and look under the heading Display adapters. The make and model of the video card should be provided there. If you don't know what the Device Manager is, and the information I have made available on this site via this link is insufficient, enter a search term, such a windows + device + manager, in the Google search box provided at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

Click here! to go directly to the links of some free ID utilities on the second of the four Links pages on this site if the standard Windows VGA display adapter has been installed instead of the proper one made by the video/graphics card's manufacturer.

Identifying the make and model of the video card might be necessary because the video chip is built into the motherboard, or, if it is in the form of an PCI, AGP or PCI Express adapter card, it can sometimes be difficult to identify the make and model by removing and examining it.

If the standard Windows VGA display adapter is shown in the Device Manager, this means that either the card's device drivers (created by its manufacturer) have become corrupt and Windows has reverted to its standard drivers, or the correct drivers were not installed. This situation is remedied by downloading and installing the latest driver file from the card's manufacturer's site.

Another useful source of system information is provided by the Direct X diagnostic utility and the Windows System Information utility. In Windows XP, enter dxdiag in the Start => Run box to open the Direct X utility. Look for System Information under System Tools under Programs => Accessories, or quickly by entering msinfo32 in the Start => Run box. In Windows Vista, enter the commands in the Start => Start Search box.

Before you purchase a video/graphics card...

Before you purchase a video/graphics card (or any other kind of adapter card) you should make sure that it is compatible with your motherboard and that the power supply unit has enough power to accommodate it. The inside of the case sould also have the correct slot and enough space to accommodate it. Some video/graphics cards come with a large cooling unit built into them that requires additional space in the case. You should especially take space into consideration when installing dual video cards.

If you cannot find compatibility information in the motherboard's manual, or on the motherboard manufacturer's website, try asking the members of a computer forum (free registration is usually required), or posting your question to the motherboard's ALT newsgroup. Most reputable motherboard manufacturers have their own ALT newsgroup that has the word mainboard in its address.

For example, the MSI motherboard manufacturer's ALT newsgroup is:

alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar

If necessary, read the Newsgroup page on this site. Remember, also, that there are numerous live or semi-live computer forums. Click here! to go directly to computer forum links on the first of the four Links pages on this site.

Click here! to go directly to links to utilities on this site that identify a motherboard. Visit the Motherboard page on this site for information on the motherboard manual.

The user installation manual

If you purchase a retail boxed video/graphics card it will come with an installation manual that shows how all of the features of the card are used and how to install it. If you purchased an OEM video card that is supported by the vendor instead of the manufacturer, you might have to download the manual from the manufacturer's website. If the video card is built into the motherboard, the motherboard's user manual will provide the necessary installation information.

Most standard video cards have a D-sub VGA port, such as the sole blue port shown in the image of a video card below. If a video card only has a digital DVI port, a conversion cable has to be used if you want to connect it to a LCD/TFT flat-panel monitor that only has an analog D-sub VGA port.

The monitor's cable is attached to the output port, but it is possible to purchase dual-head cards (see below) that can be connected to two monitors.

A video card with both a standard D-sub VGA port and a DVI port can have monitors connected to both ports.

Windows 98, and all of the later versions of Windows, are capable of showing different views on the two monitors. You can also purchase a video card that has a DVI port to which a digital LCD monitor is attached. Note that some video cards now provide two digital DVI output ports that allow them to be used with two digital monitors. All of the latest nVidia and ATI video cards have at least one digital DVI port. See the Monitor page of this site for more info on LCD monitors.

Below is an image of an ATI video card that has the usual monitor port (far right) and TV-Out and S-Video Out ports (far left), on its faceplate. Both ports allow the screen output to go to a TV set or video recorder (VCR) instead of a computer monitor. The round port in the middle is a video-in/video-out (VIVO) port that allows video to be captured from an analog device such as a VHS video recorder, edited, and then returned to the analog device.

It is also possible to purchase a video card with a TV-In port that allows data input to the computer from a TV.

If you want to read more about S-Video, visit - http://www.svideo.com/

Note that the correct cables for each option have to be used to link the computer to a television set.

Some motherboards, such as the MSI 6570, allow a TV-Out bracket with S Video and RCA Composite TV-Out connectors to be connected to the motherboard. The bracket itself is inserted in one of the outlets at the back of the case that are also used for PCI, AGP, and PCI Expresss adapter cards. The cables are attached to the connection points on the motherboard as per instructions in its user manual.

How to install video/graphics cards

The Build a PC pages contain all of the information you need on how to build a computer from its components.

Click here! to go directly to information on the first Build a PC page on this site about taking the precautions you must take against static electricity before you install a computer component.

Click here! to go directly to the Disclaimer on the same page. It contains other important information that you should be aware of before working on a computer. Use your browser's Back button to return to this page.

It is now possible to install two PCI Express graphics cards in a PC, but most people are still using single cards, so I'll deal with a single installation first. Installing dual-card SLI (nVidia) or CrossFire (ATI) cards is dealt with further down this page.

Installing an ISA (redundant technology), PCI (redundant technology for graphics cards) , AGP (becoming redundant technology), or PCI Express video/graphics card (the latest standard) is merely a matter of removing the screw/clip that screws/clips the slot's metal cover (banking plate) over its outlet at the back of the case, and inserting the card in its correct type of slot so that its face-plate containing the card's connection ports replaces the metal cover and shows at the back of the case. Note that some PC cases use both a screw and a clip to secure the blanking plate in place.

Note that PCI Express cards usually require auxilliary PCI Express power connectors from the power supply to be connected to them.

The PC's power supply must be up to powering a particular video card, or dual-card setup. Many video/graphics cards require an additional six-pin power connector to be connected to them from the power supply. Dual-card setups can easily require at least a 600W power supply that has a pair of auxiliary six-pin connectors. You can check http://ati.amd.com/ (ATI CrossFire) and http://www.slizone.com/ (nVidia SLI) for certified components.

High-end ATI and nVidia graphics cards, especially dual-card setups, require plenty of power. Power consumption at or over 200 Watts are not unusual. In dual-card configurations built around SLI or Crossfire technologies, the graphics processing can add 500 watts or more to a system’s total power consumption. Not many standard, non-gaming PC's have a power supply unit (PSU) that is up to those kind of power demands, therefore always take the power supply into careful consideration if you plan to convert a standard PC into a gaming machine.

The performance boost that is provided by SLI or Crossfire setups varies from one game to the next. Support for these techologies has not been perfected, which still makes it possible to obtain better performance from a single high-end card setup.

PSUs: More Important than You Think -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/psu-power-supply,review-2385.html

Click here! to go to relevant information on power supplies on this site.

If you installed an AGP video card, even if you were sure that it was properly seated in its slot, it still may not be properly seated. Remove the AGP card and reinstall it, making sure it seats completely. If the motherboard has an AGP retention mechanism, which most motherboard's don't have, it keeps the card in place, so make sure the notch on the AGP card fully engages the mechanism. One of the most common reasons for a loose AGP card is that the screw used to secure it to the case may lift the card partially out of its slot. This problem is rare with high-quality cases and AGP cards, but quite common with cheap components. There are different types of retention mechanism. To remove the card means having to disengage the mechanism, which can sometimes be difficult to do. The motherboard's user manual, a copy of which should be available as a PDF document from its manufacturer's site, should provide illustrated information on how to install a video card if a retention mechanism is employed.

Just make sure never to force anything to do with installing devices or setting up a computer, and make sure that the card is inserted all the way into the slot.

Note that there are occasions when screwing the card in too tightly raises its end connector out of the slot and causes an error that can render the computer unbootable.

You would then close the case and attach the monitor's cable to the appropriate port on the video card, which is usually a standard D-sub VGA port or a digital DVI port that were dealt with on Page 1 of this article.

Removing the video card would be the reverse of installing it. You would have the computer switched off but still plugged in to the mains to earth it. You would remove the monitor cable, open the case, the act of which would discharge any static electricity in your body (which can destroy electonic devices of this kind), and remove the card.

When Windows starts up, it will either detect and add the new hardware itself, or allow you to install the device drivers from a CD that came with the video/graphics card or from a download that you have saved in a specific folder. If Windows has the device drivers and installs them, you can install a later version from the CD that came with the card, or update them by downloading the latest driver file from the card manufacturer's website. Note, however, that the drivers for current video cards tend to be very large files that require a broadband connection for speedy download. If you have to use a 56K dial-up connection, the file will take a long time to download.

If you need to see a graphics card being installed, watch this video:

Tiger How-To: Install a Graphics Card and its device drivers in Your PC -

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5ILrq7lMe-0

See the relevant item in the table below for information on upgrading a video/graphics card.

Note that many motherboards have the AGP or PCI Express slot positioned so closely to the RAM DIMM slots that the RAM modules have to be removed before the video card can be installed, and the video card has to be removed in order to remove or add RAM modules. It is not unusual to hear that someone has tried to install, say, an nVidia GeForce video card and the installed RAM modules have knocked off some of the card's protruding capacitors, thereby rendering it useless. This situation would not have been a problem if the obvious and necessary installation procedures were taken.

Furthermore, very often the first PCI slot on the motherboard is positioned too close to the AGP or PCI Express slot. If an adapter card is installed in that PCI slot, it would deprive the AGP/PCI Express card of air, and might cause it to function abnormally, or to be damaged by overheating.

Furthermore, the cooling unit built into some video cards is so large that the card takes the space of two slots. Space inside the case must especially be taken into consideration when you intend to install dual SLI (nVidia) or CrossFire (ATI) graphics cards.

Some motherboard/video-card reviews provide useful information of that kind.

Personally, I would not purchase a motherboard or video card until I had read all of the reviews of it on the Internet or in computer magazines.

If a video card is not installed properly, the BIOS will issue a beep code via the computer's speaker inside the case. That is why you should make sure that the speaker is connected properly to the motherboard. See the Build a PC page for information on this. The beep codes will vary depending on the make of BIOS. One long beep is usually produced for a video card that is not working.

****

How to install two video cards using nVidia's Scalable Link Interface (SLI) technology

There are special considerations involved in installing two video/graphics cards that are supported by a motherboard that supports either nVidia's SLI dual-card technology or ATI's CrossFire dual-card technology.

If you want to find out how to install two video cards so that they run in SLI mode, download the illustrated user manual for the Socket 939 MS-7100 (aka K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI) motherboard made by MSI.

Click here! to go to the information on SLI technology on Page 1 of this article.

If you're having problems in getting two cards to work together, read this Q&A on this site: I can't get two SLI or CrossFire video/graphics cards to work together in my computer.

For more information on SLI technology, visit nVidia's site at http://www.nvidia.com/ and look under the Technologies heading, or visit http://www.slizone.com/.

Click here! to go to the information on CrossFire technology on Page 1 of this article.

For more information on this technology, visit ATI's site at http://ati.amd.com/.

The user manual of a motherboard that supports one of these technologies will have instructions on how to install dual graphics cards on it, and, if purchased new, the graphics cards themselves should have come with installation instructions.

BIOS BEEP CODES

I haven't provided links to pages containing BIOS beep-code information, because the links keep changing, or the sites die.

Using a search phrase such as "bios beep codes" in the Google search box at the top of this page should produce links that lead to that information.

Click here! to go directly to the BIOS-related links on the first of the four Links pages on this site. Use your browser's Back button to return to this point on this page.

The safest way to upgrade RAM: Use the UK and US Crucial Memory Advisors

Paul Mullen, the highly-respected computer guru of the Helpfile at Computer Shopper - "I have recently been buying my memory only from Crucial Technology. I would rather pay the extra cost than waste time trying to track down the obscure program faults that bad memory can cause."

The memory requirements of the versions of Windows Vista

Most of the versions of Windows Vista require more RAM memory to run optimally on a computer that doesn't use memory-hungry applications than Windows XP. A video-editing application is an example of memory-intensive software. Only Windows Vista Home Basic has a recommended minimum amount of memory of 512MB, which is the same amount recommended for Windows XP. Windows Vista Home Premium, the most popular version, and Windows Vista Ultimate require a recommended minimum of 1GB (1024MB) of memory, which is twice the amount of minimum memory recommended to run Windows XP. For more information on computer memory, read the RAM pages of this site.

For example, if your computer has an Asus motherboard, open the menu, scroll down to ASUS, and click GO. If, say, you have a Dell computer, scroll down to DELL, and do likewise. You will be taken to the relevant information on Crucial's website.

If you don't know the make and model of the motherboard installed in your computer, here is a good free utility - Belarc Advisor - that creates an analysis of the hardware and software on a personal computer. Look under FREE DOWNLOAD - http://www.belarc.com/. Another utility that also provides detailed information on the memory itself is CPU-Z.

Video/graphics cards given a five-star or four-star rating by Computer Shopper

To find vendors and other reviews for the following video/graphics cards, enter the make and model (enclosed within double quotation marks) in the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

Visit http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper to read the the current video/graphics card reviews under PRODUCT REVIEWS, or enter the make and model in the site's Search For: box.

Alternatively, visit these pages:

Computer Shopper (UK) - Video/Graphics card reviews:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper/archiveproductsearch/5/Graphics-cards

Labs - Graphics Cards -

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper/labs/248/graphics-cards/products.html

Click the make/model link to visit the manufacturer's website.

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: November '09 -

"There's actually a lot to discuss in this month's column: the introduction of AMD's new Radeon HD 5000-series GPUs, Nvidia's new GeForce GT 220 and GeForce 210, availability of previous-gen high-end cards, and the state of the graphics war in general." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-graphics-card,review-31723.html

****

Connecting a gaming PC to a TV set or projector - The Component out port

Note that if you want to connect your gaming PC to a TV set or projector, you must make sure that the video card has an output port that matches the TV set's or projector's input port. Most video cards suitable for gaming have standard analog D-sub VGA, digital DVI, and S-video outputs, but some TV sets and projectors only have what is called a Component input port that requires a Component output port on the video card. Only some AGP video cards have a Component out port, however, most PCI Express cards have one.

The warranty

Most video-card manufacturers provide a one-year or two-year warranty for their products, but it is worth noting that Asus, Leadtek, PNY, Gainward, and MSI provide excellent three-year warranties.

Visit the Warranties page on this site for more information on them.

The video card should support the playing of DVD movie

Hardware and software DVD decoding are the two options that enable the playing of DVD movies. The system will, of course, require one of the several types of DVD drive (DVD-ROM, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, etc.) to play the disks.

Hardware decoding is provided by a video card that supports DVD playback. Software decoders are available that can be used with a video card that doesn't support DVD playback, but should be avoided - especially on slow systems.

If your video card supports DVD playback, all you need to play DVD movies is a decent DVD player program such as PowerDVD XP by CyberLink. This program has the same features as a home DVD player, including DTS and Dolby sound decoding, and it claims to be compatible will all DVD/CD disks and drives. Another well-reviewed DVD player is called FusionSoft DVD,which is to be found on most freeware sites. You should be able to locate it by using the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

You should be able to determine if your make and model of video card supports DVD playback by looking up the information provided by the manufacturer's site. Information on how to identify a video card is provided near the top of this page.

If your video card does not support DVD playback, then you are advised to upgrade your video card in order to play a DVD movie on your computer. Software DVD decoding packages are available, but the hardware decoding provided by a video card is by far the superior option, especially if you have a slowish processor (running at under 1GHz).

Note that most current video cards costing around £40/$60 or more support DVD playback.

Video capture and video and photo editing

A company that I know of does a great deal of video editing. Its staff use a digital camcorder to shoot video footage, which is downloaded on to a computer using a FireWire connection in the AVI format. When the video has been edited using specialised video-editing software, the Windows Media Encoder is used to compress it into the Windows Media Format (WMF), because this has been found to produce the best compression-to-quality ratio. The computer being used runs an Intel Pentium 4 1.7GHz processor (a relatively slow processor compared to the fastest AMD and Intel offerings currently available), 256MB of DDR RAM, and a 40GB SCSI hard disk drive that runs at 10,000 rpm, with the Windows 2000 SP2 operating system installed.

For editing video, the capabilities of the software package is as important as the speed and capabilities of the hardware. Video files can be enormous, and can use as much RAM as any system has, so the more hard-disk-drive space and RAM the system has the better, but, as the example above shows, you can use as little as 256MB of DDR RAM and a 40GB hard disk drive.

Photo editing

If you are interested in learning how to edit digital photos, the following article is a good place to start.

The art of digital photo editing -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/4954954.stm

Adobe makes Photoshop available online

March 29, 2008. - Adobe has launched a public beta of its Photoshop application online. Photoshop Express is an Internet application that enables the non-destructive editing of uploaded images. All a user needs is a web browser (Internet Explorer/Firefox/Safari, etc.) to be able to store up to 2GB of images online free of charge. Edits such as removing blemishes and redeye, converting to black and white and cropping and resizing can be performed. The results can be shared online. Users who don't have photo-editing knowledge can select what looks best from sample photos. Sharing options include uploading photos and slideshows to an online gallery hosted by Adobe, or embedding or linking photos to social-networking sites and blogs, such as MySpace, from within the application.

Adobe Photoshop Express beta is available now at http://www.photoshop.com/express.

What to do when video files in the AVI format won't play

The free version of the DivX player installs missing codecs that may be required to play video files in the .avi format.

You can obtain the DivX MPEG 4 player for Windows here - http://www.divx.com/.

The AGP 1.0 & 2.0 specifications

While PCI cards run at predetermined fraction of the the front-side bus (FSB) speed/frequency (usually 33MHz on standard 66MHz, 100MHz, and 133MHz buses, but 37.5MHz on a 75MHz bus, and 41.5MHz on an 83MHz bus), AGP cards run at the same frequency/speed as the FSB).

That is why you have to be careful when overclocking the processor if you have PCI adapter cards installed, since, although they will not be damaged, the increased PCI bus speeds might make them operate erratically or not at all.

If you plan on overclocking a processor, you should find out if increasing the FSB will be tolerated by the system's video card and hard disk drive. Hard disk drives run on the PCI bus, the speed of which is therefore also increased by increasing the FSB frequency.

For more information on overclocking, visit the Motherboard page on this site.

Note that the AGP 1.0 standard supports AGP 1x and 2x, and the AGP 2.0 standard supports AGP 4x.

At present, AGP 1x and AGP 2x are at best only slightly superior to PCI graphics cards. - The x stands for speed, where 1x = 33MHz. 4x therefore means that the card runs at 133MHz, which is equal to the 133MHz FSB frequency that most current high-end motherboards currently use.

AGP 4x graphics cards from Matrox, Creative Labs, Asus, Diamond, Elsa, Number Nine, etc., running on a 133MHz system bus (four times as fast as the 33MHz PCI bus frequency, which is 1x), are currently the standard. They also support both the 2x and 4x AGP buses, so you should be able to install a 4x AGP video card on a motherboard that only supports 1x AGP. Note that motherboards and video cards that support 8x are becoming the norm.

However, take care when purchasing an AGP video card.

If you want to use it to play 3D games, you should install it in a motherboard that supports its top frequency/speed. A 4x AGP video card that uses the AGP 2.0 standard will probably run on a motherboard that supports 2x only (AGP 1.0), but only in 2D mode. If you try to play games, which use 3D mode, it will almost certainly crash the system.

Therefore, even if you intend to use a video card with a lower frequency (1x, or 2x) always make sure that any new computer or motherboard you buy supports AGP 2.0, which supports AGP 4x.

If you want to output a DVD movie to an analog CRT television screen, the video card must have a TV-out port. You merely have to get the correct cable for either the S-Video or Composite ports on the television set. Similarly, if the video card has a Composite input port, you can connect your computer to a video recorder or game console - to use your computer's monitor as a television set and record video to the hard disk drive, which can then be burned to a recordable CD or DVD disk.

If you require more information, the article linked to below describes in detail how to connect the different types of PC video/graphics ports to analog and digital TVs.

How To Connect a Computer To Your TV -

http://www.techlore.com/article/10061/?page=1

If you want to edit video, you will have to purchase a dedicated video capture card.

Your local computer shop should be able to give you advice on the more exotic uses of video and sound. A small shop is likely to be run by people who know their stuff, whereas the staff at a big retail outlet are less likely to be as knowledgeable, and so could lead you to make unnecessary or over-expensive purchases.

Other good sources of information on video cards are the websites of the two major manufacturers of video chips - ATI and nVidia - and their ALT newsgroups. -

ATI - alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati

nVidia - alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia

If you have any questions on adding peripherals to a video card, there are many very knowledgeable enthusiasts who frequent those groups regularly, and who would be delighted to give you the advice you need.

AGP Pro slot

Note that there is a relatively new type of AGP slot called an AGP Pro slot. This allows for the extra voltage output for expensive high-end video cards (graphics accelerator cards) that require more power than the 25W delivered by the standard AGP bus. So far, there are very few of these cards available for the PC platform, but if you want the best future-proofing for your motherboard, it won't do any harm in purchasing a motherboard that has this feature, because it will also run ordinary AGP video cards, and you will be able to upgrade to an AGP Pro card when they become common and less expensive.

What is the difference between AGP 4x and 8x and AGP Pro? -

The AGP 1.0 1x/2x slot is the shortest and can be distinguished from the AGP 2.0 2x/4x slot by a small separator that divides it into two sections. The 4x slot also has extra pins at one end. The AGP Pro slot has an extension added to the end of the 4x slot without the extra pins.

While the AGP Pro slots are designed for expensive top-end graphics cards, they are also found frequently on motherboards used in home desktop computers. If you happen to have AGP Pro slot that is backward compatible, a 1x/2x or 2x/4x AGP card will work in the slot. But take care when inserting a 1x/2x card to avoid incorrectly inserting it into the AGP Pro slot's extension. These extensions often have a cover to prevent this, but the covers can fall off.

AGP Pro is a standard set up for the more powerful graphics cards, which require different voltages to run than the previous cards. The best types to look for are the Universal AGP Pro slots. These will accept all of the AGP Pro cards, but not necessarily cards that support the older AGP standards.

An ATI Radeon 9x00 Tweak Guide

Information on nVidia's video cards , including tweaking advice, configuration utilities, driver customisations, etc., is relatively easy to find. There are sources of information devoted to ATI's cards, but they seem to be more difficult to find. Here is one such source. -

http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/radeon/index.shtml

Unless the BIOS programmers have purposefully not allowed access to them, you can usually set the AGP modes in the BIOS setup.

There is a specific setting in the BIOS (usually enabled by default) that enables USB support, which is required to make full use of the AGP mode.

The most common AGP BIOS settings are -

Init Primary Display - PCI/AGP, AGP 1x/2x/4x/8x Support, and the Aperture Size.

You should be able to find out where these settings are in your BIOS by consulting your motherboard's manual.

Below are the AGP BIOS settings for the Abit KT7 motherboard that is available for both the Athlon and Pentium 4 platforms.

If you want to have most of a motherboard's settings set in the BIOS, buy an Abit board.

The PCI Express (PCI-E) BIOS settings

There are several PCI-E settings in the BIOS, all of which probably make little or no sense to anyone except PC gaming enthusiasts and experts on BIOS settings. There is usually very little information about what the settings do and whether or not they should be enabled, disabled, or what the optimal settings are. For example, in an MSI motherboard manual, the setting PCI-E Maximum Payload size is described as "Sets the PCI Express maximum payload size."

Other PCI-E settings are: PCIE Spread Spectrum, PCIE Clock (PCI-E bus clock frequency in MHz), and SLI Broadcast Aperture, which can only be enabled or disabled, and is found only in the BIOS of motherboards with two x16 PCI Express slots for two video cards operating in SLI mode.

Which BIOS settings should be used?

The best way to find out what a particular setting is all about is to enter the term enclosed within double quotation marks in a Google search box of the kind provided at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

If you don't want to find out what any of the settings do, just leave them as they are, or try using the option that has a name such as Load Optimised Defaults or Auto Configuration with Optimal Settings, to use the settings that the motherboard's manufacturer has deemed are the optimal settings.

The different modes of operation

An important difference between the PCI and the AGP and PCI Express buses is that an AGP and PCI Express video standards allow the use of main system memory for image texturing, which is not possible for a PCI video card.

All of the PC standards are either constantly developing or are being replaced by more advanced standards. The AGP standard is no different. It is currently being replaced by the PCI Express standard.

The AGP standard has reached up to 8x mode (8 times as fast as the 33MHz PCI bus speed). It is capable of transferring data at more than 2GB per second. To take full advantage of this new high-speed standard a new type of processor was required - the AMD Athlon XP and the Intel Pentium 4.

Since AGP video cards require USB to be installed in order to function in full AGP mode, it's possible to use an early AGP card in a pre OSR 2.0 version of Windows 95 that does not support USB, but it will only function in PCI mode. - That is, minus the extra image texturing that only the AGP and PCI Express standards can provide.

The original FAT 16 version of Windows 95 cannot use a USB port, because the USB update from Microsoft only works on FAT 32 versions, the first of which was Windows 95 OSR 2.0. You have to install the update in order to be able to use USB ports with this version.

Windows 95 OSR 2.1 has the USB update built into it, so an AGP card installed in a system running it will fully support the AGP standard.

Windows 98 supports USB and AGP fully, as does any version of Windows that was introduced after Windows 98, such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP. If you want to use a USB device, you should be using Windows 98/2000/XP, because all of the Windows 95 versions of USB are buggy.

Click USB for more information on the subject on this site.

If you want easy access to masses of information on AGP, PCI Express, video cards in general, or a particular make and model of video card, just enter the subject heading (with double quotation marks around it if more than one word or term is used) in the Google search box at the top of this page. - For example, enter agp, "pci express", or "video cards", or "radeon x600", etc.

Internal and external TV tuner cards

TV tuners connect to desktop and laptop PCs through a variety of interfaces. Internal TV tuner cards that are installed inside a desktop PC fit into PCI and PCI Express (PCI-E) x1 slots on the motherboard.

The TV tuners that are installed as external devices are easier to install because they just plug into a USB 2.0 port or into a PC Card slot on a laptop. Visit Expanding a laptop's capabilities with PC Cards on this site for information on the two types of PC card. Most current laptops use CardBus or the newer ExpressCard/54 PC Cards. CardBus is the 32-Bit version of PC Card technology that is being replaced by the ExpressCard standard. Some laptops support both types, but most only support one type, so it is important to buy a TV tuner that your laptop supports.

The AGP graphics standard has been superceded by the PCI Express standard. Some AGP video/graphics cards, such as the Sapphire All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro, and some PCI Express video/graphics cards have integrated TV tuners that can, inter alia, accelerate DVD playback and allow video/image capture and editing.

Click here! to go directly to "Video capture and video editing" on this page. Use your browser's Back button to return to this point on this page.

You can search for examples of such video/graphics cards by using a search phrase such as: "pci express" + "video card" + "tv tuner" (as is) in the Google search box provided at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

It is also possible to buy a separate TV tuner adapter that gives a PC monitor the ability to tune into televisions broadcasts. These can be provided by the manufacturer of the monitor, or by a third-party manufacturer.

Examples of manufacturers of TV tuners are Startech, Trust, and the Avermedia. The input connectors they offer are the standard RF port that all TV sets and VHS video recorders have, composite, component video, D-sub (the standard analog VGA connector on a video card), 2x line in (3.5mm jack and RCA pair), and the output connectors they offer are D-sub, line out (3.5mm jack), and headphones.

TV tuners come with a mini aerial that is suitable for use on a desk or when travelling. Some of these aerials work well, others don't, so Google for reviews of a particular USB tuner to find out what the situation is with regard to the aerial if you intend to rely on it. Most TV tuners work well when connected to a rooftop aerial.

If you have a laptop that you are using with, say, a USB TV tuner, TV reception always requires an aerial. If the mini aerial doesn't work, you will have to connect it to a rooftop aerial. If you don't have a spare aerial socket, you can use a splitter to divide the signal. Note that if you are using dual TV tuners then an aerial lead must be connected to each of them.

The external MSI MEGA SKY 580 USB TV tuner that MSI bundles with some of its laptop PCs, comes with an antenna that can be extended. However, I could only get its Presto PVR software to pick up channels by connecting it to a rooftop aerial.

Most TV tuners, including the MSI MEGA SKY 580 USB TV tuner, have the ability to record broadcasts and can use a feature called time shifting, which means that the program you are watching is recorded as you watch it. You can therefore, pause it and then resume watching it as you please. However, note that they vary considerably in how easy they are to use.

Watching TV on your PC [Video] -

"Ben Meyer uses a USB tuner stick to watch free hdtv programming on his laptop." -

http://www.tomsgames.com/us/site/flash_videos/watching_tv_on_your_pc.html

Some TV tuners (but not all of them), have the ability to record programmes on one channel while watching a program on another channel. Some TV tuners (analog/digital tuners) can access both terrestrial analog and digital broadcasts, but others can only access analog or digital broadcasts

Of course, if you use a PCI or PCI Express video/graphics card to watch television, the computer has to be switched on. You have to use an external adapter in order to watch television with the computer switched off. It would, of course, have to be connected to a TV set.

A good site to find out what kinds of external devices are available is http://www.averm.co.uk/. A good example is the AverTV Box9.

A PCI TV tuner card will be able to handle digital or analog (analogue) broadcasts, but not both unless it is an analog/digital tuner. An analog TV tuner card in the UK can only pick up broadcasts from the five analog terrestrial channels, and a digital card can pick up all of the free digital channels - that is, all of the Freeview channels, the reception of which depends on the strength of the broadcast in your area. This can be checked here:

http://www.freeview.co.uk/

Note that a special aerial is required to receive digital terrestrial broadcasts. You cannot use a standard analog aerial. So don't go out and buy a Freeview digital receiver that plugs into the Scart socket on an analog TV set without making sure that you have a suitable aerial. If you want to record television broadcasts via the Freeview digital receiver, it must have two Scart sockets and two Scart cables: one that connects the Freeview digital receiver to the TV set, and one that connects the TV set to the video recorder. Some (cheaper) Freeview digital receivers have only one Scart socket that has to be used to connect it to a TV set.

Digital broadcasts are already compressed, and therefore an MPEG2 file of high quality can be recorded directly to the computer's hard disk drive, but, when recorded, analog broadcasts have to be compressed by the TV tuner card's built-in hardware or by video compression software, otherwise the size of the files of uncompressed data would be huge. If an analog TV tuner card uses built-in hardware to compress the recording of a broadcast, it will be more expensive than a card that uses software to do the compression, and it will be more expensive than a digital card.

TV tuner cards - analog or digital - can only receive one channel at a time. You can watch recorded programmes while you're recording the one channel you can receive, but you can't watch one live channel while recording from another live channel. But, because hard disk drives can record and play back at the same time, you can watch a programme that you've recorded while you record a new one.

Two TV tuners are required to watch one channel while recording another channel.

A single tuner is sufficient for occassiona viewing, but if you use your PC for most of your TV viewing, a dual tuner (twin tuner) is the best option, because it allows you to record one programme while watching another, and some dual tuners allow you to record two programmes at the same time.

Microsoft has provided a good guide on how to set up two TV tuners. The page also that provides access to a forum where specific questions can be posted. Read the guide here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/.../bowman_dualtuners.mspx

Analog (analogue) broadcasts are technically superior to digital broadcasts, but digital TV tuners don't produce noise and ghosting affects when the reception is bad. However, digital TV tuners can often cut out altogether. Moreover, most digital TV tuners don't support the capture of analog video, which means that (unless you have a digital TV tuner that can capture analog video) you won't be able to capture VHS video from a VHS video recorder in order to convert it to video files.

With the aid of an external antenna, a TV tuner card installed within a computer can provide television and radio reception and act as a video recorder by recording programmes quickly and easily. Features that make a television set that has them expensive are often found on most basic TV cards, such as picture-in-a-window and time-shifting. The more advanced cards can provide radio reception, and can integrate with various online TV and radio listings to make scheduling and recording a simple procedure.

Some analog TV tuner cards can provide FM radio, which can also be recorded. Radio is available via some digital cards via digital TV audio services such as Sky in the UK, but you should check that the software for a particular card supports it. It is not to be confused with digital audio broadcasting (DAB), which is a dedicated digital radio service. A dedicated card is necessary to receive it.

Most, but not all TV tuners come with a remote control, so if you want one included, check the specifications of the product on its manufacturer's site or Google for reviews before you make a purchase.

TV tuner software that is provided with the product allows you to change channels, set up recordings, and its Electronic Program Guide (EPG) provides information on the programmes that are going to be broadcasted. The best digital TV tuners have an EPG that shows the programmes coming up over the next week. However, note that some EPGs don't work at all. Google for reviews of a particular TV tuner before you buy it to find out if its EPG is any good. Note that analog TV signals don't include programme information, however, some TV tuners allow you to download the information from an online service.

Recording from a television source requires plenty of hard-drive storage space, because even compressed video recording consumes vast amounts of disk space. Compression of the recordings is essential. Digital TV tuner cards are the best for this because digital broadcasts are already compressed and can therefore be recorded straight to a hard disk drive. The most practical format to use is MPEG2, which provides excellent quality and reasonable file sizes. Digital TV broadcasts are in the MPEG2 format, making it easy to record them to a hard disk drive, from where they can just as easily be burned to recordable CD/DVD disks. Analog TV tuner cards must compress the video-stream themselves. Some analog cards have hardware that does the compression, but most use software compression, which makes use of the computer's processor, that won't be in any way problematic for a modern high-speed processor running at a speed of 1GHz or higher.

Remember that before you purchase a TV tuner card in the UK, you are advised to check if your area has good digital reception at:

http://www.freeview.co.uk

You should also make sure that your PC provides the minimum hardware specification to run it. For example, most current digital only, analog/digital tuners, and twin tuners require a video/graphics card that supports DirectX 9.

Click here! to visit an article on this site called Using an LCD computer monitor as a TV, and using an LCD TV as a PC monitor.

Note well that installing a TV tuner card can be problematic and might not be possible at all, depending on the other hardware the card has to work with. Click here! to read a Q&A on this site called: Why can't I install a Hauppauge TV tuner card?

TV tuners given a five-star or four-star rating by Computer Shopper

Click the make/model to visit the manufacturer's website.

Go to http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper. Under the Product Reviews heading there are these sub-headings: Latest Reviews, Reviews Archives, Labs, and Hotlist. Each of them has a Browse for Products option that has a Search by Category option, one of which is TV Cards. You can also search three other PC magazines for reviews.

Alternatively, you can make use of the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled) to find product information and reviews for a particular make/model.

Video/graphics card news & reviews

Click here! to go to the links to video-card reviews on the first page of this article.

See the Build a PC page on this site for more comprehensive information on installing adapter cards and peripheral devices.

Relevant websites and articles worth visiting

If you want to find out exactly how the PCI, AGP, and PCI Express graphics standards work, visit these articles:

General PCI Express hardware information:

http://developer.intel.com/technology/pciexpress/devnet

PCI Express and graphics: http://www.nvidia.com/object/pci_express.html

The Express card format: http://www.expresscard.org/

How AGP Works - http://computer.howstuffworks.com/agp.htm

How PCI Works - http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pci.htm

How [Digital and Analogue (Analog)] Camcorders Work -

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/camcorder.htm

How Webcams Work - http://computer.howstuffworks.com/webcam.htm

Frequently-asked questions on GeForce video (graphics accelerator) cards answered - GeForce (Video Cards) FAQ - http://go.to/geforcefaq

The ATI & nVIDIA Video Card Tweak Guide -

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/hwGuides/article.php/1463741

You can make use of the Google search box at the top of this page to search for more problem or installation guides. Try a search phrase such as: "video card" + problems or "video card" + "installation guide"

GO BACK TO PAGE 1