Buying a Graphics Card

Recently my computer’s graphics card suddenly went out. This was diagnosed after verifying that it wasn’t the monitor or the cable. Due to the fact that my computer is 5 or 6 years old, the original graphics card is no longer manufactured. So down to the local big box store to purchase a suitable replacement for my ATI video graphics card. It cost about $100 but I had some coupons and the purchase was about $85. Take it home, snap it into the pci express graphics card slot and the monitor works! It seems over time, methods to send video from PC to TV have upgraded and very much diversified. Five years ago the standard for s video cable from pc to tv was based on 4 pins. Now the output from pci express graphics cards is either 7 pin or 9 pin. I was not able to find an adapter that would convert my 4 pin cable to the 7 or 9 pin graphics card. So I returned it and mail-ordered  one from a computer supply warehouse at a quarter of the price that came with a 9 pin s video output, that I was told would accomodate a 4 pin cable. No such luck! But I could mail order a 9 pin s video out to component cable. A week later got the parts, hook up the monitor -it works, hook up to the tv – it’s black and white, but crisp! ATI is the software that enables this hardware, they were very helpful when I called and after much trial and error, they believed the manufacturer of the second graphics card was actually not manufactured for the North American market which uses the NTSC video format, rather it was made for the South American market which uses the PAL video format; this would result in a black and white picture. ATI recommended I order from an ATI supported graphics card company listed on their website. The best deal was a Sapphire video card which came with a 7 pin s video out, since I already had component cable, I ordered the 7 pin s video to component video adapter. Another week later, got all the parts in hand, quick assembly – the Sapphire video card fired up the monitor, connect the 7 pin s video to component video adapter to the component video cables, and… the TV video now is in full crisp living color! After a month of trial and error and mail ordering to save on parts costs, it all works at total great price: $42 for the Sapphire video card + $4 for the s video to component video adapter + $6 for the 25′ component video cables + $13 for shipping costs = $65 total, shipped and installed.

Sapphire video graphics card

Getting sound from PC to TV is alot easier than streaming video from PC to TV.  It is much more plug and play, and very little software involved.  Although modern computers are equipped with a computer audio card and connections, I purchased years ago an external computer audio card from Creative since it had the standard red and white composite connections that connect easily to a surround sound amplifier/receiver by way of composite cables; in my setup, 25′ composite cables deliver sound from PC to TV – all that’s needed is to plug in to the TV-in connections on the amplifier/receiver, and surround sound from PC to TV is delivered.  Without the external computer audio card, 1/8″ to composite splitter to the composite cable will work fine.