Q: You said to watch my PC on a TV I need a scan converter or a TV-out port on my video card. However, my PC's "here" and my TV is "there". How can I get a signal over without running a very long video wire?
A: Try this product: http://www.x10.com/products/x10_vk53a.htm Which is a 2.4 GHz wireless link between sender and receiver station.

Q: I know there are VDI to VGA adapters. Are there VGA to VDI adapters?
A: Try here: Cables-n-More

More fuel to the fire: ATI's new product line, and NV35

Yes, I've seen the info on ATI's new product line... 9800's, 9600's, and 9200's. The truth is... They're really NOT that interesting. They are basically a pumped-up and tweaked versions of their respective cousins (9700's, 9500's, and 9100's respectively). The performance is definitely there... as pure bit-blasters with impressive anti-aliasing solutions, according to Tomshardware. Both Tomshardware and Anandtech liked it well enough, as this erases the slight lead GeForce FX enjoys over the 9700's and puts ATI back over the top.

NVIDIA's interim solution, NV31 (for your info, GeForce FX is NV30), and its lower speed cousin, the NV34 (NOT NV28 as previously posted), are not doing that well in initial benchmarks. So the question now is... what is NVIDIA doing, as there is virtually NO NV30's on the market?

What NVIDIA is doing is damage control. There are signs that NV30 video cards will NEVER reach retail. If you preordered, you'll get one, but no NV30 cards will reach retail shelves. Instead, NVIDIA will rush out NV31/34 based cards to retail as soon as the drivers are stablized and hardware optimized. A second team is feverishly working on the next generation product... NV35.

What does this mean for the consumer? Expect prices to drop on the entire GeForce 4 Ti-line as time wears on and announcements of the NV31/28 based products are made. GeForce 4 Ti 4200 64-meg can sometimes be had for under $100. Expect it to drop another $20 or so in 60 days. Cards higher up the foodchain would see even more price drops as soon as the NV31/34 products hit retail, and corresponding larger drops.

Similarily, the first-gen super Radeons (9700's, 9500's, and 9000's) will see price drops as well as the vendors switch to the newer faster model. The 9000's should see particularly big price drops as it will be dropped altogether, being supplanted by the 9100 / 9200 series (which is based on the OLDER Radeon core!) You can already find 9100's in stores for just under $100 (for 64 meg models). Expect that price to drop another $20 or so in the near future.

The NV31 and NV34 GPUs will be the basis of a full line of DX9 compliant video cards, along with NV30. Not even ATI can claim that as their entry card, the 9000/9100/9200 is based on the older Radeon core, and is thus only DX8.1 compliant.

So what are my recommendations?

If you have less than $100 to spend, your current choices are 64 meg cards, like GeForce 4 MX 440 / SE, or if you're lucky, a GeForce 4 Ti 4200 64 meg. You can also find Radeon 9100's (formerly known as 8500's) for just under $100 for the 64 meg model. The Ti 4200 and the Radeon 9100 are about neck to neck, with Ti4200 taking a slight lead in most races. Expect the 4xxx series prices to keep dropping, as the NV31/NV34 hit the market. The lowest priced version of NV34 is expected to be $99, which means all the Ti4200's will be BELOW that, and the GF4 MX 440 will be even CHEAPER than that...

For under $150, you should be able to find Ti4400's and Radeon 9500's soon for that price. Both are excellent cards. The mid-ranged GFFX card will also be in this range as well.

For under $200, you may be able to find a 9700 or TI4600 in the near future.

Times are good for upgrades... If you have the money.

Q: Can you suggest a free WAV to MP3 program?
A: That is called an "encoder", because MP3 is a "codec". Try Ostrich Encoder, based on the LAME codec. (Trust me, it's anything but.)

http://www.overclockers.com/tips1028/

Q: What is "thermal grease", what does it do, and do I need it?
A: Thermal grease is used to give better conduction between the item being cooled and the heatsink. Basically, nothing is completely flat, so even in a very smooth surface, conduction is limited to the area actually physically touching. Thermal grease can seem into those crevices and let those conduct as well, improving cooling efficiency.

Thermal grease is usually used by overclockers, who will apply a slight bit (about grain of rice) on the item applied. Then the heatsink is applied with pressure, spreading out the grease.

Do you need it? If your heatsink/fan is pre-attached, leave it alone. If you have a separate heatsink/fan, it may help, but not by much. At most you'll get 1 degree Fahrenheit difference. I doubt you'll get even a 2 degree difference.

Not Another GeForce FX vs. Radeon 9700 Pro Article

Most reviewers said NVIDIA, maker of the GeForce FX chipset, has failed the graphics card race to ATI Radeon 9700 Pro series. Some went as far as using the word "boondogle", while others stick with simpler words like "disappointment".

The truth is, NVIDIA simply made a prediction of what the market want several months back, and the market went in a different direction. NVIDIA is used to telling the market what it needs. By keeping to the every-6-month release schedule, no one can keep up, and thus NVIDIA can maintain its position as market leader. Then ATI designed the R300 core for the Radeon 9700 series almost from scratch. They overengineered the thing, and went for a different set of design criteria from NVIDIA's requirements. When GeForce FX series slipped, ATI was able to get their products out the door and capture the market's hearts, and in turn, push the market to a new direction, AWAY from NVIDIA's predicted market.

GeForce FX can be best compared to a Ferrari. It has plenty of horsepower, and has excellent handling. It can handle a road course or a slalom with ease.

Unfortunately, most PC games and benchmarks nowadays are NOT road courses or slaloms, but ovals and drag strips, where horsepower is far more important.

NVIDIA made the decision many months back to make individual pixels smarter by building the engine that can apply more effects to individual pixels than ever before. Hoever, the rest of the market has not followed. Instead, the market is obsessed with higher resolution and more color depth. ATI Radeon decided to go for raw pixel pushing horsepower instead (128-bit memory interface, quad pipelines, 20-GB/sec memory bandwidth, etc.) back then, and when GeForce FX slipped, ATI was able to PUSH the market into ATI's vision for the market instead of NVIDIA's vision for the market.

The current "benchmark" flap only illustrate the situation even more clearly. NVIDIA has recently issued a press release that 3DMark 2003 does NOT accurate represent a typical gamer's needs. There are some truth in that press release. 3DMark 2003 has 3 primary tests: DX7, DX8, and DX9. All are weighted equally to give you the final score. However, there are currently NO GAME on the market that uses DX9. Majority of games use DX7, with a few using DX8. Only a FEW upcoming games plan to use DX9. ATI, of course, loves the situation, and they stand behind the benchmarker, FutureMark, 100%. Futuremark also defends their position as being neutral territory... They don't play favorites among any manufacturer. They indeed are the ONLY widely recognized "forward-looking" synthethic benchmark for graphics cards and systems.

To reuse the analogy, NVIDIA is complaining about the testing tracking being more ovals and dragstrips, when most races (games) are done on road courses and slaloms.

NVIDIA, as it slipped the release schedule, lost control of the market. To regain control of the market, they need to redesign their next generation of product to overtake ATI's raw performance, THEN steer the market back to NVIDIA. ATI of course, is not sitting idle, as it is busy designing the R350 core for the Radeon 9800 series.

The ultimate beneficiary are the consumers.

Just be sure you're NOT lead by the nose into something you DON'T need.

Q: I downloaded 3DMark 2003 from Futuremark.com and I got a really lousy score. Should I upgrade my hardware?
A: Personally, I would say no, because 3DMark 2003 tests something that is NOT used by any game or graphics program currently on the market: DirectX 9. See this link for details.

http://www.futuremark.com/products//3dmark03/?tests

Basically, if your card does not support DirectX 9 natively, your score WILL be at least 25% lower than those who don't. Since the ONLY cards on the market that supports DirectX 9 are the ATI Radeon 9700 series and GeForce FX series, only people who have bleeding edge hardware will get the top score.

Here's also a few facts... NO GAME currently uses DirectX 9 features, though supposedly Doom 3 will. MOST games still use DirectX 7, with a select few use DirectX 8.

So should you upgrade? I see only two reasons.

1) You got money to burn and you want to REALLY future-proof your PC, no matter the cost
2) You want to play the "my benchmark score is better than your benchmark score" game.

Both of which are extremely childish, in my opinion.

Q: What is a GeForce 4 Ti 4800? How is it related to the rest of the Ti series?
A: A Ti4800 is a Ti4600 with AGP 8X support.

The entire Ti series is basically like this

Ti4200
Ti4400
Ti4600
Ti4680 (4200 with AGP 8X support)
Ti4800 SE (4400 with AGP 8X support)
Ti4800 (4600 with AGP 8X support)

Yes, I know this is confusing. NVIDIA's numbering scheme didn't help much either.

Q: What is an .ISO file? What do I do with it?
A: In general, .ISO file is an "image" of a CD. Basically, the raw data of a CD is pulled and dumped into a single file, maybe compressed. WinRAR and WinISO can read the file. Nero and similar package can burn it back onto a CD-R.

Q: What is the difference between music CD-R and regular (data) CD-R?
A: Music CD-R are for those stand-alone CD-R copiers / mixers. Those machines ONLY work with music CD-Rs. They cost more because they have to pay an extra fee to RIAA. The computer ignores the special marker on the music CD-Rs. There is no benefit to buying music CD-Rs to record music, despite what some salespersons claim.