FireWire port on New midrange PC

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nicmic

Member
I am just looking at the mid range set up listed below for a new general/Video editing PC. I would have liked to add a Firewire PCI card so that I can download video from my camera but the system tells me that it's not possible on this motherboard. Does anyone know if it is possible to add a FireWire on this system in a different way?
Also I recently replaced my conventional Dell 18 inch LCD monitor with a 22inch 16:9 Medion tv/monitor. The tv has not got a DVI port so I connected it to the VGA port. I find that even though the screen is full HD 1920x1080 the writing is not as clear as it was on my old monitor. Is that because of the connection? Would a HDMI connection to a new computer improve things or I'm I better off ditching the tv and getting a dedicated monitor?
Any suggestions about the above or the spec will be much appreciated.

Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 550 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4670 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H87M-E: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 650 - DVI, mHDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK270 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
 
mantadog

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
The reason the firewire card wont work with that motherboard is it needs a PCI lane, use this configurator and select the z87-a http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-haswell-pc/.

The issue with the monitor could be down to the VGA cable or it could be the display, using a HDMI cable certainly wont make it any worse. if its still fairly bad after using the HDMI cable then its a problem with the display rather than the connections. TV's generally don't work well at monitors, but at 22 inch I wouldn't have thought you would encounter a problem. Its down to the pixel density not being as good on a TV as on monitor, because you generally sit further away from a TV than you do a monitor.
 
mantadog

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
Spuff said:
Yes, get a PCI-E firewire card.
Click to expand...

PCS only have PCI firewire cards, if you go down this road you will need to install it yourself Not that it would be a hard job, if you were up for it you could certainly buy your own card and install it.
 
N

nicmic

Member
Thank you for the advice! I think a PCIe card is probably the answer I don't really want a full size case to acomadate a full size motherboad and I am not afraid to open up the case and do it myself. Thanks again.
The only other thing I am not sure about is the HDMI ports their is a normal size one on the motherboard and I think a mini one on the grafics card. Which is the best way to connect the monitor or doesn't it matter.
 
mantadog

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
You will use the one on the GPU to connect the monitor, the one on the motherboard is to support integrated graphics, if you are using a dedicated GPU then use the ports on the back of it.
 
N

nicmic

Member
I have now ordered the PC but I have changed the graphics card from the 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 650 to the 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 630 to save about £40. I don't do gaming but I will do some video editing. Do you thing I should have staid with the original choice?
 
mantadog

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
If your going to go that far down the GPU order I'd advise dropping it all together. Integrated will do fine, the GPU isn't so much involved with video editing unless its high end stuff, so I wouldn't worry. Drop it back to integrated and save more would be my advice.
 
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