Tv Tuner and Nvidia Cards: HELP!

[Max Power]

Hey, I use to have an old crappy ATI Rage Pro Turbo. And an ATI Tv Tuner card. Well anyway I got a new geforce 2 mx 400 (yeah, I know it's not that new to you guys). And the Tv Tuner card well not hook up to it like it did on my old card. It says "AMC peripheral not found". What does this mean? Do I have to buy a new part to hook it up, or can I change an option or something? Thanks.<BR>

[Colin]

Max Power, did you try reinstalling your TV Wonder software? Also what OS are you using?

[Max Power]

No, I havn't tried that. Thanks. I use Windows SE. I'll try that. Um what ATI (Radion?) card would be a good upgrade from my current Geforce 2 MX 400? I may give this card to my bro even if the when I reinstall the TV program it does work. I probly would spend under $200 canadian. Thanks.

[Colin]

Ahh, a fellow Canadian! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> I have a soft spot for all the Canuck's here... <BR><BR>What I would do is stop everything from loading up at startup first... Click the Start button then go to Run. IN there type MSCONFIG and press enter. Click the startup tab and uncheck everything except scan registry. CLick the ok button and reboot.<BR><BR>Try your TV Tuner software now.<BR><BR>As foro videocard upgrade that depends... What type of games do you play? What are your system specs? $200 isn't much to spend on a videocard, I would try and save a bit more if I were you. Those OEM Radeon 8500's are around $210-220 that's an excellent value.

[Max Power]

Yep, I'm canadia<BR><BR>*laughs*, I'm only 14, and one of the biggest computer nerds in my school yet I still get confused at some of the stuff you say. So I do what you told me to do instead of reinstalling my Tuner program? That would be good since my dad can't seem to find the CD.<BR><BR>So I close everything but explorer and systray, then goto run and type MSCONFIG and then uncheck everything but scan registry... ok, I'll try it andt hen tell you what happened.<BR><BR>I play RPG's, blizzard type games, and GTA3 type games. I got 128 RAM (I'm buying 256 this weekend) 800MHz Celeron (Thinking about upgrading to a 1GHz) a 10 gig drive (also upgrading to 20 this weekend) and uhh, 48x CD drive. And the Geforce 2 MX 400. Ok I'll save up for the Radeon 8500.<BR><BR>PS: I asked my dad about buying more RAM but he says Windows 98 won't use the 256 RAM and it well be no faster then before. Is this true? Thanks.

[Colin]

That's cool man. Which part of Canada are you from? I'm in Toronto.<BR><BR>I don't like the word nerd, I perfer enthusiast! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Yes, first uninstall the old TV wonder software then go to ATI's website and download the driver/software for your TV card.<BR><BR>Your father is right in a sense... Going above 256MB RAM does boost performance but only by a few percentage... It's not really worth it.<BR><BR>Don't bother with a 1 GHz processor you probably wouldn't notice it, that $$$ is better used if you saved for a new MB/CPU all together. Yes, get teh 8500 it's an excellent card... Once you have that though, you'll be all CPU limited maybe it's time for you to start overclocking your processor! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">

[Max Power]

I'm from Nova Scotia.<BR><BR>Cool.<BR><BR>Ok.<BR><BR>Mines not a TV Wonder. Theres no drivers for my card. I think thats bad <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>What is this overcloaking you speak of?

[Colin]

Hmm... What TV Card do you have? Do you know the name of it?<BR><BR>Overclocking is making a certain component run faster then it's suppose to. Example, run your processor at 1 GHz instead of 800 MHz. If you're a newbie though I don't recommend you do that. You usually need extra cooling, and a little more knowlegde of hardware.

[Max Power]

It's an ATI TV ISA It's an old Tv Tuner, from 1998 I was reading it on the site and it had all this stuff of how it well take advantage of Windows 98. And on the requirments it says it needs a ATI Graphics card. I have a new question now, in the drivers for this tuner it says that the driver is only for the rage cards (well it lists the rage cards) but the radeon came out AFTER this newest driver, so would it work with the Radion? Thanks.<BR><BR>EDIT: And my processer is 850 MHz (big difference <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[Colin]

Bad news man... I think you need specifically a Rage 128 based videocard! If you can use a Radeon 8500, it would say that. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0"> <BR><BR>I'd suggets you e-mail ATI and ask what videocards will work with your TV card. Sorry dude.<BR><BR>LOL... Well you get my point about overclocking though right? <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">

[Max Power]

Mayby... I hope not though, I'd just get a TV Wonder if it deos only work with rage's.<BR><BR>Ok, I'll email them.<BR><BR>Yeah, I've read some stuff on this site about it. It seems cool <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[ADRAMELK]

So how much is $200 Canadian? Like $100 US? You can get a 8500 for $100 US.

[Max Power]

$100 US is about $155 canadian. So does that mean it's only $155 for a radeon 8500?

[ADRAMELK]

<a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.pricewatch.com">pricewatch</a> is my favorite place to get anything computer related, go there youll get youre radion 8500 for 155 canadian <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><BR><BR><BR>Just dont buy ANYTHING from ECONOPC.COM <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif" border="0">

[Max Power]

Ok, thanks.

[Colin]

ADRAMELK ya that's about right... Pretty pathetic conversion rate eh? <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Max Power, the duties and such make the price rise... If you look at the online retailers the cheapest Radeon 8500 you can get is about $200... One thing when ordering computer components or anything in general, they all have to pass customs which can add quite a bit <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0">

[Max Power]

Well my dad fix's computers for bussness's and sometimes sells them. So I hope he can get it for me cheaper. And heres some stuff I want to upgrade uhh...:<BR><BR>Videocard: Ati Radeon 8500<BR>Hardrive: 20-40 gig (upgrading from 10)<BR>Cd Burner: That cheap one that guy was talking about sounds good<BR>Tv Tuner: Ati Wonder? Which one?<BR><BR>Thanks. Hope I don't sound dumb or something.

[Colin]

Oh... Is your dad a reseller? IF you go to a distributor it might be cheaper.<BR><BR>As for HDD, those new Maxtor D740X drives are great value's as well... Very fast and quiet. For the CDRW, I would get something a little better in brand and quality. Remember you get what you pay for! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>I'm using the ATI TV Wonder myself and other then the stupid incompatibility with XP (that was fixed by MS) it's great. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[Max Power]

Yea, he fix's computers and sometimes he neats to buy them new parts from resellers. He like, orders them from toronto or something. What is this Maxter Dx740x you speak of? So what cd burner would you reccomend?

[Colin]

The D740X is a model. That's their current top end IDE drive... It comes in 20,40,60 and 80 GB sizes. I have 3 80's and I think they're great! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[Max Power]

Cool, how much fro a 20 gig one?

[Colin]

I think the 20GB model is like $110 CDN or something... You might as well go for the 40, it's only like $15 more! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Oh yeah for CD-RW, the LG's are pretty good even though they're quite inexpensive.

[Max Power]

SWEET! Im getting that thanks! Whats a LG?

[Colin]

LG is formerly known as GoldStar... They make some very inexpensive (good value) CD-RW's. <BR><BR>Just looking at a local store's web site I noticed that the Maxtor 40GB D740X is only $108 man! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[PAnts]

Whilst you're on the subject of CD-RWs: I bought a Lite-On 16-10-40 at around Christmas for £70, I know things have progressed since then, but I am really impressed by how good value this drive was (then). It came with Nero and everything. From what I gather its an Easten company trying to go west, so to speak. With drives like this, it could well make a very good name for itself.<BR><BR>I've no idea what 70 quid'll be in Canadian - but last time I went there was a 2-1 ratio.<BR><BR>PAnts

[Max Power]

Whoo yeah! Im getting that!!!

[asphix20]

i just bought a liteon 32-12-40x cd burner for $40 USD. Id guess thats around 60-70 canadian? Not sure.. but its real nice. Ive not had a single problem with it and cause its 32x it burns a cd in 3 min or less. It was a nice step up from my 10X burner. I got mine at www.atacom.com but if your from canada, you might look for a reseller in canada so you dont have to deal with shipping through customs and what not. As far as a tv tuner if you have USB ports there are some decent USB based tv tuners now, so you could use whatever videocard you have now, free up the extra PCI slot and not hinder computer performance at all. However you need to be careful cause some of the external USB based TV tuners can suck. Pay attention to things such as the resolution displayed. Anything over 720x480 is decent but anything under and dont bother.