Another one for you Tech dudes

[Worthingtons]

My Girlfriend has recently inherited my Old Computer.

It's got Onboard graphics (**** ones) that take 8mb of the RAM, and there is only 128mb Ram on it anyway. She's told me she wants TV on it.

I've seen a good ATI graphics card at just over £20 with 32MB graphics and TV OUT. So I presume this can be used to watch TV easy enough, but is there anyway i disable the onboard graphics prefferably so that she can get that 8mb of Ram back

Also, having seen a special deal on DDR Ram, I'm tempted to double my RAM from 512 to 1mb , does anything think an average gamer would really need 1mb, and also can i mix and match memory speeds or does it all have to run at the same.
Cheers
Matt

[Urban Ranger]

Yes. You should be able to do it through BIOS.

You probably don't need 1GB RAM. W98 doesn't support that much anyway IIRC.

[Worthingtons]

Cheers for that, could you also answer me something else...
I'm trying to figure out what the ports/slots are on the Motherboard

At the top there are 3 memory slots
Then there looks to be 4 PCI (Cream coloured) slots

and there is an isolated one at the bottom, it's quite long (double the length of the PCI's) and is dark (probably black) coloured. Anyone have any idea what this slot is? AGP perhaps?

Cheers
Matt

[Paul Hanson]

That's an ISA slot. It's obsolete and you won't need it.

[alva]

That an ISA card (isn't used anymore)
-
X-post, 2 for the price of one

[Paul Hanson]

BTW, I just realised something. The fact that the graphics card has a TV-out on it won't allow your girlfriend to watch TV; it only allows for the output of your computer's display onto a TV screen. You'll still need a TV card if she wants to watch the telly.

[Ari Rahikkala]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Yes. You should be able to do it through BIOS.

You probably don't need 1GB RAM. W98 doesn't support that much anyway IIRC.

Actually, at least for certain stuff it does (AFAIK)... it's just that it becomes even more unstable than normal .

[Wraith]

--"It's got Onboard graphics "

Be careful, then. From the sounds of things, you don't have an AGP slot (it'd be the one closest to the CPU). If this is true, make sure you're getting a PCI video card. They're getting hard to find these days.

That particular graphics card may not be what you're looking for, either. You need TV in, not TV out.

--"does anything think an average gamer would really need 1mb,"

You sound like the old Bill Gates and his "no one will ever need more than 640K of RAM"

But assuming you meant 1 gig, then probably not at this point. 512 should be plenty.
You can mix and match speeds, btw, but they'll all run at the speed of the slowest, so it's not really a good idea.

Wraith
"Very Educational!"
-- Kintaro Oe ("Golden Boy")

[faded glory]

"Yes. You should be able to do it through BIOS.

You probably don't need 1GB RAM. W98 doesn't support that much anyway IIRC."



To work around this problem, use one of the following methods:
1) Use these MaxFileCache setting in the System.ini file to reduce the maximum amount of memory that Vcache uses to 512 megabytes (524,288 KB) or less.
2) Use the System Configuration utility to limit the amount of memory that Windows uses to 512 megabytes (MB) or less.
3) Or, you can reduce the amount of RAM to 512MB or less.

[Cruddy]

All you really need is a TV adapter card - as previously started, a card with TV in. Then an aerial to pick up the signal and plug it in. You can get ISA versions of these, but the PCI one's are much better, and only cost about £40 or less brand new.

These cards are usually called TV cards. The onboard graphics you have should work fine with such a TV card. In the UK most units are made by Hauppage - an older PCI will be fine, so long as you get the software with it.

You'll need a TV license for it too.

And if the Govt does switch off analogue TV broadcasts in a few years and goes digital, it will need to be replaced.

If you want better performance from your PC, I suggest you invest in a fast SCSI-3 hard disk and controller card. It's all very well having more memory, but the data still has to go to and from the hard disk. I fitted such to my 550 K6-2 with 128 mem, and Civ was about 3 times faster. Cost me about £50 total (Ebay and qxl.com).

[alva]

Why the (extra) tv license?

[Cruddy]

All equipment that can receive TV signals - even video recorders - need an expensive license in the UK. It's to pay for the BBC - the Brisish Broadcasting Company, who never run adverts (except for their own products). Only exception is equipment with an internal battery compartment like a handheld LCD job.

As you may have guessed, I don't have a TV.

[alva]

Ah, we now can more then 1 tv on one license, we used to have the same system but since noone paid for the second one anyway, they changed it

[Az]

I bet the yanks are looking at us and thinking "WTF?, TV tax?! "

[alva]

We soon won't have to pay for it either. cable for free