New TV - PC hookup help.

[Zetanio]

Hey guys,

I'm getting a new 32" flatscreen to go on my wall in my room and was wondering what the best method would be to hook it up to my PC. What cables do I need to make it happen and what input does my TV need to have?

Thanks in advance.

[Cephius]

What type of video card do you have?

[Zetanio]

nvidia GeForce FX5200

[Cephius]

You can get something like this and then get some component cables to go to your TV. Otherwise, you can just do a DVI or VGA cable depending on which input your TV has.

[Epical]

VGA will look rather horrible on a 32". I use a 42" as a second monitor and DVI->HDMI works wonderfully. Now, your video card is rather old and if you do not want to upgrade, I suggest doing the S-Video->Component route Cephius linked.

[Zetanio]

If I do the way Ceph linked will I have good quality? This will be my primary monitor.

Another question, I remember for some reason I couldn't really upgrade my 5200 to something else for some reason, maybe it was an older format of card or something... Any recommendations on an affordable upgrade that will work for the TV hookup and be powerful enough for gaming?

[Cephius]

Component and HDMI display virtually the same thing on the same resolutions.. you won't notice a difference on a 32" TV.

[Zetanio]

Great.

So I've been researching and apparently I have an AGP graphics card which is out of style pretty badly. Is there a way to jump on the PCI bandwagon without buying a new computer?

[Cephius]

Look inside your computer, near where your current video card is plugged in. If you have a PCI slot, it should look like the brown slot its plugged into, except longer and it'll be white. If you don't see it you don't have one... and you'll need to get a new mobo, and might as well just get a new computer.

[Zetanio]

I'll check tomorrow, I hope I have one...

[Calina]

The top white slot is a PCI express slot so you know exactly what your looking for