Video

It has been claimed that 93% or more of retail desktop computers have video integrated into the mainboard. Intel has an infamously bad family of integrated video chips, and Microsoft is being sued for misrepresentation when it downgraded its standards for "Vista Compatible" to allow crappy Intel systems to carry that label.

On the other hand, any video integrated on an MATX mainboard is good enough to run all the Office applications, the standard Windows interface, and basic DVD movies. You need more to run Vista in Aero mode, play video games, or show Blu-Ray high definition movies.

The least expensive video cards in any generation of technology typically sell for $45 to $80. They do a fine job for everything except video games, where they are just OK. The most important thing to look for is the connector. The old "analog" 15 pin "D" shaped connector was required by an old CRT monitor, but today everything is digital flat panel. The new larger DVI connector provides a sharper, better picture on such monitors. Most DVI connectors on a video card can be converted to the old analog connector through an adapter plug.

TV sets and consumer devices use a smaller digital plug called HDMI, and some video cards contain an HDMI socket. Computer standards are more precise than TV standards, and some flat panel monitors will display a sharper picture when connected to a DVI slot than when connected to a HDMI slot on the same adapter card. So always leave DVI available as a fallback position.

Some people hook their PC up to their TV set and operate it using a TV remote control. Others hook their cable up to their PC and watch TV programs in a window on their screen. The DVD has been around for so long that any CPU and video card can handle it. Blu-Ray drives are just becoming available for the PC in the $160 price range. Modern video cards can do most of the processing for High Definition movies, but only if the video card is connected to a monitor that supports HDCP over the digital (HDMI or DVI) connector. Do not assume this is going to work until you try it out. After trying different cards and different connections without getting HDCP to work on my monitor, I e-Mailed the vendor Sceptre. They replied,  "The HDCP is made for DVI-HDMI standalone devices such as up-conversion dvd players or satellite box with DVI output. I'm sorry this was not tested for video card's HDCP protocol." So a monitor, particularly one sold as a TV set, can support HDCP on consumer electronics without successfully negotiating it with PC video card.

If you don't have HDCP support on the monitor that works with the card, then you cannot display Blu-Ray or HD DVD movies on a screen through the DVI or HDMI connector. You can, however, display them on the same screen using the old 15 pin "D" shaped analog connector (the "VGA" connector) because the movie studios allow this. However, in this arrangement the video card does not do the processing, so you need at least a Core 2 Duo CPU running at 2.4 GHz or better to view the movies properly and the CPU will be nearly 100% busy.

There are three main vendors of video chips.

• Intel makes integrated video that is often found on laptops and business systems. There are no cards with Intel video.
• ATI was recently purchased by AMD so that the other maker of CPU chips also had video capability. It recently brought out a 2000 series (2400, 2600, 2900) and then quickly upgraded it to a 3000 series (3400, 3600, and 3800).
• Nvidia has its new 8000 series (8400, 8600, 8800) cards with improved features over its older 7000 series.
• In addition to the big three, there are some smaller vendors that tend to offer integrated video on budget mainboards. 

Curiously enough, both Nvidia and ATI have adopted comparable model numbers. The first digit is a generation (1xxx, 2xxx, and 3xxx for ATI and 6xxxx, 7xxxx, 8xxxx, and 9xxxx for Nvidia). Within any generation a x400 or lower card is an entry level device good for watching TV and movies, an x600 card is a middle of the road system that can run some games, and a x800 or x900 card is a high end gaming card that, if you buy two of them, will cost more and use more power than everything else in your computer combined.