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Buying new card(s): AIW or regular AGP + PCI capture card?

S

Solariz

Junior Member
I'm building a new computer for myself with a budget of around $1000 - $1300 or so. I'll be doing some moderate gaming and some minor video editing and capturing things off tv and maybe other media like VCR. My question is, would it be better to pay the premium for an AIW card like the 9600 and have the gaming performance and features of capturing tv all in one card, or would it be better to focus on a non-capture AGP card and a separate PCI card for my captures?

I'd like to take into consideration the quality of the captures between the AIW 9600 and current PCI cards on the market, and the cost of an AIW compared to a good AGP graphics card AND a good capture card. Alltogether I would like to limit my graphics card(s) purchase to about $200, but I would be willing to go a bit higher depending on the benefits.

For reference, I'm looking into getting a:
Antec Sonata (380W)
2.8c P4
512 or 1g of ram
~120 gig 7200 SATA drive. (Might buy 2 drives now, or depending on cost I might buy a drive for my captures a bit later)

I appreciate the help.
 
I'd go with a 5900XT+PCI capture card. That way you could upgrade graphics in the future and keep the capture card.
 
PCI capture card, clearly. You want to keep the upgrading of graphics and TV capabilities independent from each other.
 
I've always went the AIW route myself, and never regretted it a bit. If video is a minor consideration, or if you're looking at a specific application, a seperate may make sense. AIW cards have more advanced features, a great remote and a mature driver and software set, and the AGP bus is superior to the PCI bus for capture as well.

 
Thanks for the advice. After thinking about it, I think I will go the way of getting separate cards, especially since the prospect of upgrading video cards within a year or so because of the new models is just too tempting.

Now if only I can decide on the two cards....
 
Newegg sells a USB 2.0 capture device, it looks cool for $50 (says you can record straight to DVD). I use the card that came with Pinnacle Deluxe myself, works fine. I'd get two seperate cards, capture technology doesn't change much, but 3d GPUs do.
 
The big drawback of USB capture is that it always has to go through the main RAM and CPU. PCI capture cards can deliver into the graphics card directly, allowing realtime TV viewing at 0% processor load. Like I'm doing right now, on screen #2 🙂
 
I have a 9600 AIW Pro right now and I love it (oc'd to 466/760).
I am, however, planning on switching to a 9800 and getting a PCI capture card. The 9600 just doesn't quite give me the level of performance I'm looking for even though it can handle most any game I throw at it, I just have to turn up AA & AF all the way 😉
 
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