XL201 Video Card Upgrade

[grahamjb33]

I have recently started using my Sony XL201 MCE 2005 running on WinXPSP2 for playing games and all was well until I installed MotoGP 2007. Whilst the graphics on this game are extremely good and even with the resolution set to its lowest, the CPU can reach over 90% power usage and the screen 'sticks' occassionally which makes it difficult to play.
I am thinking that as the standard card fitted namely the Nvidia Geforce 7600 GTL with 256Mb on board could be struggling with this game, the main CPU is trying to compensate and this is causing the high power usage.
If I am correct in my diagnosis I would appreciate advice on what video card upgrade would resolve these problems, eg a Nvidia Geforce 8800 GT? By the way... the XL201 is bog standard with 1Gb ram and no upgrades to date.
Great forum for info, keep up the good work everyone!
Thanks... Baler

[fremaas]

Hello,

there is a long time that I didn't come on the forum because I'm very busy... I take a minute to have a look to what everybody talk on this thread.

Thanks to IT Troll and his tutorial I have upgrade last year my VGX-XL201 with a Blu-Ray player optiarc and a 8500GT like him and that works great!

I continue to look after the new graphical card low profile to see if a new model can give me the possibility to play with GTR2 'race game' on my LCD. Recently I found a news for a new model, the GTS250 low profile. Here is the news in french:

http://www.pcworld.fr/2009/11/27/materiel/carte-graphique/sparkle-geforce-gts-250-low-profile/461281...

It seems to be a very powerful graphic card for an HTPC but I found 2 problem for a VGX case.

First, the card need a power connector and I don't know if is possible to buy a converter to plug the graphic card on a HDD power connector that is not use ?

Second, the graphic card have a big heatsink with a small fan. I suppose that the card need a lot of wind to keep a low temp. With this small fan I think that it will make some noise that I don't want in my room! Do you think that heatsink from the 7600 that is on my 8500 now can be use to replace the heatsink from the GTS250? I can't see the back of the card...

A+
Glad

[ITTroll]

I think the GTS 250 would not be a good choice. It is actually based on an older rebadged 65/55nm chip and so has high cooling and power requirements. At load it requires 130-150W which I suspect will be too much for the little XL PSU. Sparkle have already lowered the speed on their card to below the defaults so that cooler can cope - using even less cooling is likely to cause problems. Being an older chip it does not have the new 4th generation PureVideo.

The GT 240, on the other hand, is based on the new 40nm process and so has all the low power, 4th gen benefits. However there aren't any low profile cards yet - but could be one to watch out for...

[fremaas]

Hello It Troll,

Thanks for your advice! So I'm gooing to wait the new GTS 240 in low profile before replace my 8500GT. I see that you replace your 8500 by a 9500. Do you use always the original heatsink or it was not possible to adjust it on the new graphic card? I hope that the new GTS will keep the same hole that the 8500 so I can put the original heatsink on it

A+
Glad

[super_mackem]

Further to my problems with the Asus NVidia 9400GT and being unable to obtain sound via HDMI, after much cursing, hair pulling etc, I discovered that the NVidia 9000 series card don't support sound to Philips TV's via HDMI! However I've seen threads on the NVidia forums from owners of other brands who also have problems, eg LG and Samsung. I get some sound to my Samsung but not all. I subsequently tried an ATI Sapphire 4550 which works fine but due to its inbuilt HDMI sound capabiity, you can't get simultaneous sound via HDMI and Toslink which was too much of a problem for me. So, I've ended up reinstalling the 7600GTL and buying PowerDVD 9 which has more efficient coding than previous versions, enabling me to play BluRay videos just fine. CPU runs up to around 70% but no stuttering or other issues.

That was a waste of a month of my life !

[ITTroll]

I see that you replace your 8500 by a 9500. Do you use always the original heatsink or it was not possible to adjust it on the new graphic card?

I think it would fit but I went with the active fan cooler this time because all the passively cooled 9500 GTs have very large heat sinks.

[fremaas]

Hello,

It seems that the new GT220 and GT240 will be available soon:

http://www.presence-pc.com/actualite/Sparkle-GeForce-GT220-GT240-37660/

The little problem is that the heatsink will be a 2 slot so I don't know if it will fit in the VGX? And there is no word about the power consumption and if the card need a power connector...

A+
Glad

[Wheeker]

Having followed this thread from the start, I had resigned myself to not upgrading my 6600 graphics card on my XL100, what with modifying cards & cutting-up heat-sinks etc. Also, I am unclear- with certain cards is it a case of not being able to run audio through HDMI & S/PDIF simultaneously or that there is no audio through S/PDIF at all? I have no simutaneous audio requirements as I use HDMI to my TV (Video only) & S/PDIF to my A/V Receiver (can't run HDMI through this due to "handshake" issues or maybe a new graphics card would sort this also?).

However now I have installed W7, I am having regular MC & IE crashes and real trouble finding a stable 6600 driver. I do not use my XL100 for any gaming, but would love improved stability & smoother MC video. As far as I can work out for an XL graphics card upgrade:
- must be low-profile card design.
- to have some S/PDIF audio it must have socket on card to enable S/PDIF passthrough?
- all upgrade cards lose firewire & component video out AND/OR front panel A/V connection functionality (not an issue for me as long as headphones still work).
- Nvidia cards keep getting suggested- does ATI offer any better alternatives?
- passive cooling is preferable but active can be fairly quiet anyhow?
- is the Nvidia GT220 currently the best option out there (Purevideo G4)?

[super_mackem]

Hi Wheeker,

The ATI Sapphire 4550 might be a good alternative to fit your requirements. It's low profile, passively cooled and a smaller card than the 7600GTL fitted as standard in the XL201. No modification or messing aroud is required for the XL201, you just slot the card in and away you go. I'm not familiar with the internals of the XL100 but if the dimensions are similar to the XL201, then you shouldn't have any issues. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the only problem for me was that you can't simultaneously have sound going through HDMI and S/PDIF. In your case, if you only require video through HDMI, with the sound going permanently via S/PDIF, then you could achieve that by simply selecting the original audio codec via the Control Panel, rather than the ATI supplied HDMI version. I did that very thing for the short time I had the card installed but found having to switch each time I wanted sound via the TV or audio amp to be a pain. Not an issue in your case.

I would recommend a passively cooled card. When I had the NVidia 9400GT installed, I found the fan noise very distracting. My wife even asked what 'that noise' was and she had no idea I'd done anything to the PC.

My ATI Sapphire 4550 is sitting in its box gathering dust. I was going to keep it as a spare but if it is something you're considering, PM me and I'm sure we could come to an arrangement.

[ITTroll]

super_mackem's advice is sound. The only other thing to consider when comparing nVidia and ATI are the supported modes.

I found that the 4550 was rather limited on which resolutions it would support at 50Hz (PAL). It supports the standard 720p and 1080p at 50Hz but not some of the other native panel resolutions. For example it would only do 1360 x 768 at 60Hz. All the nVidia cards will happily do this at 50Hz on the same TV.

[super_mackem]

As an aside IT Troll, how did you go about upgrading to Windows 7? And did you encounter any issues or gotcha's? How long did it take.....?