What if i invested in one of these? It would be easier than fiddling around behind the monitor?

Vga monitor extension cable

Tehgiggles

If you don't mind doing the cable switching yourself. Its definitely not as elegant as a VGA switch box, but it should work.

If you're committed to getting the laptop for CS4 work, you'll probably want to max it out any way you can - get the 6GB and the i7.

I have the HD4850 and I love it but I think I made a mistake by picking the ATI card....Mirrors Edge had Physx, Batman AA had Physx and better AA with Nvidia? So what would be a good reason to stick with ATI when I upgrade next time?

chikenfriedrice

If the card served you well enough to make you use the phrase "I love it," then there was no mistake involved.

If you have or plan to get those games and want the additional touches Nvidia/PhysX provides, then go with that. Some care more about those extras than others.

In my experience, HP uses very good quality power supplies. They may not be rated high in wattage, but they are very consistent and reliable for the wattage they are rated at. You should be fine as long as the card gets all of its power from the MB slot.asylumni

I agree - if it does not require a PCIe power connection from the PSU, it should work fine.

Sorry, I forgot the part where its an Acer Veriton. If you haven't done so, look at Acer's site for newer sound drivers.

Newer sound cards are designed to allow the OS to detect when an output device is plugged in - thats as close as I can come to what MIGHT be causing the problem. Have you installed the latest sound drivers (if onboard, check the mobo manufacturers website)? If you look in Device Manager, do any devices show errors - especially in the Sounds/Multimedia section?

Well first things first - does it still freeze if the 5.1 is not hooked to your PC?

Any of the cards mentioned here - 4650, 4670, 4850, will run those games.

Whatever you can find for under $100 - 4650 and 4670 are decent bets.

Which version? In 3.5, be sure you use Everything for the time range.