Need a Simple Video Card "Edu"...

As I've been wrong so many times with my tech purchases, I wanted to run this by you folks here...

I need to purchase a Video Card to accept an HDMI cord. What, please, are the criteria I might need to consider? I currently have NVIDIA display devices/controllers that came with this PC (2 year-old Dell), and I'm only wanting to run a 19" 720p monitor.

Can anyone tell me if this (*below) will work, or do I need to supply more info here, please?

* www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-Powercolor-_-14131119

Thanks in advance,
g...

 

What card do you have in your system currently?

Is an HDMI connection your only concern, and if so will a converter or different cable fit your purpose?

If you absolutely have to have an HDMI port on your video card, then that card meets that criteria, but it is also a very cheap and underpowered card relative to modern hardware.

What are you wanting to do with your new card? If you're a little more specific about what you're wanting to use your computer for (gaming/watching hd movies/home,office,business apps/etc), I'd be happy to link some ideas for you.

 

Thank you very much - I've found info on the web to be daunting (for me) - to say the least.

I currently have an nVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430. And again, my monitor is only "720p" capable (I think?) ... perhaps "1080i"?

My thinking (very basically) is that I might be able to improve my viewing by switching from the old-style (VGA?) cord that I have (am currently using, and am limited to with the nVIDIA card I have) to an HDMI cord (of which I now have several available).

I don't really have any real problem with my viewing, but my son is coming to saty a few days, and I thought perhaps I could improve his "World of Warcraft" experience here (?).

This is the other info I've found for my system (none of it which I really much understand):

DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Approx. Total Memory: 1065MB
1280x1024 - 6-Hz
Generic Non-PnP Monitor

PS ~ ohhh - I see the link for the "converter" now...maybe that's the way for me to go?

 

Your gpu is onboard, meaning it is an integrated part of the motherboard, and with a VGA port on it I'm not sure you'll be able to find a cable or converter to HDMI. For HD movies and an occasional bit of WoW, you won't need anything expensive or spectacular. What you do need to know is what kind of slot you have on your motherboard, and then find a dedicated card that will fit that slot.

The card you linked is a PCI-E card. If you do have a PCI-E slot on your motherboard, you're on the right track. If you're not sure, then your options are AGP, PCI, and PCI-E. Here are pictures:

AGP is maroon upper slot, PCI are the two smaller white slots

PCI-E slots are red, regular PCI slots are black in this pic

After you figure out what type slot you have, you know what kind of card to look for. Since your computer is only a couple of years old, you most likely have both PCI-E and PCI slots.

Working off that assumption, here is a good quality PCI-E card with an HDMI port that will suit your needs and not hurt your purse or wallet too bad. Yes, the card you linked earlier was $20 cheaper, but it is also a much poorer quality card. It's hard to go cheaper and keep both quality and the HDMI port, but if you need to, you could couple this card with this cable for about $10 less, and have a much better quality card for only $10 more than what you originally linked. Hope all this helps!

Also, if you bought the monitor separate from your Dell, you might go back and recheck the packaging. There may be a DVI-HDMI cable already there, many newer monitors include them in the packaging.

 

Another note you might want to consider: Even if you can find a VGA to HDMI adapter, you won't gain any quality increase using an HDMI cable, because VGA is an old standard connection, and limits the quality. If you want the quality an HDMI connection can provide, you need a card with an HDMI or DVI port.

 

Yes, thank you much! This all helps. Now, when I get a few NANOSECONDS this evening to look everything over... :confused :-D