Possible To Use GeForce G100 To Replace 7500LE On Pavilion a1777c?

[GHagen]

Gentlemen,

I have a HP Pavilion a1777c with 2 gigs of RAM and an Intel dual core processor running on Vista Premium. If it makes any difference to the answer of my question, I'll crank it up and get the particulars on the processor.

I use this computer only as a PVR to record HD broadcast television off of the tv tuner card that it came with (Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1600) and to play the recordings back either on a 23 inch Samsung HD monitor or a 32 inch HDTV.

The video card that it came with (GeForce 7500LE) has stopped working and I need some opinions on whether I can get by using another video card that I have sitting around. The spare card in question is a GeForce G100 with 512MB of DDR2 RAM. I think that this card was provided originally for Acer desktops (has Acer sticker on the back). It provides ports for VGA, DVI and HDMI.

I don't thinks there's any problem with it fitting as both cards are PCI-E x 16. My main concern is the power. As far as I know, the HP has all the same parts it shipped with, including a Bestec ATX-250-12z DR PSU rated at 250 watts. The recommended minimum system power for the G100 is 300 watts, so not good. But, most of the published recommendations I've seen for the 7500LE -- the card that HP shipped with a computer having only a 250 watt PSU -- also say 300 watts minimum system power.

I do not play games on this machine or do video editing. My only intent is to display recorded HD TV broadcasts on the devices previously mentioned. Can I get away with using the G100? Also, if I can use it, where on this motherboard (ASUS P5LP-LE Leonite) do I plug in the two leads from the G100  SPDIF audio cable which are supposed to carry HDMI audio? If the cables are not compatible with this motherboard (too short, or something) and I can't use them, does that just mean that I can't send an audio signal through an HDMI cable but can output audio through the "regular" audio ports provided on the computer?

I don't know whether it would be worth it for me to buy a replacement card which has a lower power requirement, but of the two upgrade choices -- PSU or graphics card -- it would be a lot less hassle to replace the card than the PSU. If I can't use the G100, I might just keep doing what I'm doing now, which is copying the recordings on a thumb drive and playing them back on a laptop.

Thanks for your interest!

Grant

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, Grant:

I think you will be fine.

Here are the specs for the G100 card and it has a max power draw of 35W.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-g100/specifications

I can't find any comparable specs on the 7500 LE, but I know that many forum  members have installed GT 610's in their desktop PC's that have 250W power supplies with no problem and the nvidia site also recommends a 300W P/S for those too.  The 610 has a maximum power draw of 29W, so not much different than the G100.

For additional peace of mind, run this handy power supply calculator (the basic tab should be fine), and see what the P/S calculator recommends.

http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator

[GHagen]

Paul, thanks for that. One can always seem to get a prompt reply form your desk!

I ran the power calculation and could not find  the G100 in the list of graphics cards, but the 7300 GS was listed which is supposed to be almost the same thing as the 7500LE and the the recommended power was 183 watts -- obviously way under the 250 watt PSU. If the G100 is anywhere near the ball park I can't see it making that huge a difference.

What about my secondary question regarding the SPDIF cable?

Grant

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Grant.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know where the motherboard inputs are for the audio cables.

So in other words, that card doesn't have a separate HDMI audio chip on the graphics card board itself?

All of my graphics cards with HDMI have audio chips on the card.

I just install the card and I get sound from the HDMI port without doing anything but installing the graphics card driver which also installs the audio driver for the HDMI

[GHagen]

All I know is that there is a little plastic connector plugged in to the card with an attached cable that branches out into two leads which are supposed to be attached to SPDIF posts on the motherboard for HDMI sound. This might be a question for the Geforce discussion forum, but I was hoping for one-stop shopping, which is why I brought it up.

I guess that all I need to do to switch cards is to make sure that the old driver is uninstalled, probably through Add/Remove Programs, and make sure the card is uninstalled in Device Manager, shut down and switch the cards, boot the computer and then install the proper driver from GeForce...?

Grant

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yes, that is correct for installing the video card, also making sure that you unplug the PC and press the power button to discharge any residual current before working inside the PC.

There are no motherboard schematics that I know of for the motherboard on your PC, and the only suggestion I  can offer to figure out if the motherboard has such connections, would be to examine the tiny white lettering on the motherboard for descriptions where you might think a place exists for those connections.

[GHagen]

I've seen some general recommdations as to what to look for on a motherboard to identify SPDIF posts, so as you say, I'll probably just have to take a look. If I can't find anything, or the cable won't reach, then might a good time to post to the GeForce forums to find out if people think that I can get sound from the other sound outputs provided on the computer. I don't know why not, since the sound is recorded with the picture by the tuner card. It should play through the regular outputs as it has up to now -- unless connecting the HDMI somehow disables sound output from those other outputs, which makes little sense to me.

I think you've given me enough information that I will try the G100 and see what happens.

Thanks for the input.

(Almost) needless to say, if anyone else has some insight into the unresolved aspects of my question, the floor is still open!

Paul, as always, a pleasure!

Grant

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime, Grant.

Glad to have been of assistance.

Paul