Beware of the whole package
Written: Jan 06 '03 (Updated Jan 06 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Inexpensive performer good for non-gamers
Cons: You have to download XP drivers
The Bottom Line: It's good enough for 2D application including DVD. I would recommend it except for game enthusiasts.
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| yoshimato's Full Review: ATI RADEON® VE, (32 MB) AGP Video Card |
I brought a analog video capture device to digitize my VHS tapes to DVD. The minimum requirement is a 16 MB AGP card that I don't have. I don't have time to play high end games, so a state of the art 3D performance card over 64 MB isn't for me. The other interesting choices are the ATI all in wonder cards, complete with TV turner, capture, and Tivo / Replay TV like features. They are also high end gamers' cards. I would have got one if they capture both NTSC and PAL. I will get one of these cards for the next upgrade, so I decided to keep the cost down and opted for an entry level AGP card.
There are plenty of outdated 16MB AGP cards at the $10 to $20 range. But only the ATI Radeon 7000 (aka Radeon VE) has hardware acceleration for DVD playback. I think this is just a MPEG 2 decoder on the card. This is the main reason I brought this card. This is safe to have, don't cost much more, and narrow down my choice to one card.
The package
Some other manufacturers use the Radeon VE processor in their cards. Even the ATI built cards have different versions. There are 32 MB and 64 MB versions, with DDR memory or not. It is worthwhile to have DDR that basically doubles the memory access speed. Some cards have TV output but some don't. I opted for the one without TV because an old PC monitor looks much better than a standard TV. If I play games or has a HDTV or has a plasma TV that would be different. Then I will go for the high end cards, which will be next time.
Another important detail is the package – OEM or retail box. The OEM package is for PC builders, which comes with a bare card, and software in CD – no pretty box. There is no hardcopy manual, and the warranty / support is different, typically close to none. But the price is a lot lower. The retail version comes with a pretty box, and a number you can call if you have problems. But who cares for $20?
I didn't know I got the OEM or DSP package, but I should have guessed because of the price. But that suits me – I used OEM from Windows XP to MS Money. However this time there is one catch. You cannot use the hardware accelerator. To use the hardware accelerator you need to use the ATI DVD player. The player software is protected and you need a properly licensed CD. The OEM license do not allow you to use the player.
Installation and usage
For these older hardware, the drivers in the CD are useless for XP, but XP will have included the right driver. So there is not much installation. Just plug in the card and XP did the rest automatically. I think most windows drivers are included in the CD up to 2000, except XP. If you want plain sailing, use newer cards that supports rather than compatible with XP. The most embarrassing are not too new nor too old cards.
The drivers that comes with your XP CD is usually way out of date so I downloaded the updated drivers from ATI. With the new driver the graphic speed is visibly faster. When you move a folder around in VGA mode, you only see the folder in the initial position and final position. In XP if you use an old PCI card, you can see the folder moving slowly from the initial position to the final. You can see the graphic speed by looking at how fast the whole folder image follows your mouse cursor.
Now for the critically DVD test. I used the latest version of PowerDVD. I don't need a hardware accelerator after all. Since I have a 1.8 GHz P4 and 250 MB RDRAM, the video and sound came out flawlessly in full screen mode. That comes back to my comment that any old monitor beats good standard TV's, apart from the size. The monitor has superior resolution, over 1024 by 768 (HDTV standard), non-interleaved (so no flicker). A DVD has 720 by 480 resolution. So in full screen mode the software has to blow up the picture, like expensive TV uses line doubler to improve the look of standard broadcast TV on huge projection TV or HDTV. But with a computer, it's rather inexpensive to do it in software if the computer is fast enough. I'm happy with the card – for some DVD's with vivid color and high depth of view, the characters seem ready to jump out of the monitor anytime. Kids love it. The DVD also looked good on my 32” TV, but I don't sit that close to watch.
I did have a few problems. For the new driver, I always has a blank area on my program menu. But I have a huge program menu, more than 3 columns and screen high. So I gave up on the latest driver and settled for an older Microsoft version that I downloaded via windows update.
After months of use, the card fails twice to compete some draw functions and crash the computer. Actually I would be happy if I know that I have a faulty card or faulty driver – that's only some $20 mistake. But it doesn't seem like it. I installed a lot of new toys lately, but mostly external, all 4 USB ports are attached, external cable modem, printer etc. Internally, there's only the new Radeon card. At about the same days, my cable connection was broken. After some nasty talks with COX cable support, I was fairly sure that the modem was working but there's something wrong between my PC and the modem. By the way, I always want to see an analyst after I talk with the cable support guys. Maybe next time I should practice the word 'supervisor' many times before I start talking. If I feel bad about myself at any time, I would fire the word 'supervisor' that I want to talk to.
Luckily the cable modem comes with an Ethernet connection that I uses, and a USB connection. I tried the USB connection and it works. And of course the graphic card works all the time except twice in the past. So I guess it could be overheating. With my PCI graphics card, my P4 has been so cool that I had only the processor fan on. The latest cards are known to be very hot, and often comes with their own cooling. This old card could not be too hot, but my PC is so good that I work from work instead of work from home. I had VNC that works like PC anywhere to access my home PC at work, and I do a lot of things there and use the work PC for more important things like surfing and shopping. (Boss, that's only a joke.) I set the home PC to server mode and I often left it on over night. There should still be some power saving (or heat reducing) but I don't know how much. So I guess the heat causes the graphic card and the Ethernet card to fail. The Radeon is still working fine. I don't know about the Ethernet card but I cannot get a connection there. The heat is one thing to consider if your old PC wasn't designed for the latest super HOT cards.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 25.5
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Epinions.com ID:
yoshimato
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Location: Beach Cities, CA, USA
Reviews written: 22
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Among other things I reviewed, I also like writing, or more appropriately, being read.
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