video cards?

[rocketsonly]

To those knowledgeable of computer video cards:

What needs do the video cards with 16mb, 32mb, and 64mb meet? Everyday office use such as browsing websites, watching videos, and word processors? Gaming?

I'm currently looking for a dual monitor card. I've been keeping my eye on a few Matrox G450's on eBay. Any comments about this card? Any recommendations of other dual monitor cards?

Thanks.

 

[Zippy]

I'm not familiar with the Matrox but as a general rule of thumb if you're into gameing at all get the biggest, baddest, besttest card you can afford and hope it isn't obsolete before it arrives at you'r door.
Most cards will easilly do everything except some of the newer games. Many cards will do dual monitors. Check on the makers web sites and make sure any card you buy is still supported and look at their specs. It's easy to spend hundreds on a card or get one for a lot less that will do everything you want for a long time unless you're a hard core gamer.
I myself have what now has to be considered an antique TNT2. I believe it does dual monitors but won't do many of the latest games. It's still supported. It was cheap at about $50 a few years ago but if I want to play most new games at more than 800 x 600 or games that have the latest shading techniques I'll have to break down and buy a newer one.

 

[rocketsonly]

Well, being the teenager I am, I'm always strapped on cash. So I just bought this card from eBay:
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5129079984&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOAB:US:6

And thanks to hospital_rockets for supplying the 2x monitors!

 

[Zippy]

It looks like you did well, especially for the price. The only issue you might run into with high end games is Transform & Lighting (T&L). I don't see any referance to that in the specs although it does have bump mapping. I'm certainly not an expert at this but I bet you will notice dramatically improved performance over your stock card.

 

[rocketsonly]

Yea. I don't play much video games at all in fact. The only time I may need the "extra performance" would be when I'm messing around with the student verstion of Maya (3D imaging program, used for Ice Age and other movies); but heck, I havn't even bought that yet! At school though I'm currently working on a 3D animated video of a two stage rocket, it'll most likely turn our to be my TARC rocket!

 

[Zippy]

I'm not familiar with MAYA but any 3D or other apps that use open GL or Direct X should be greatly improved over your stock card. Video cards if I am not mistaken allso take some of the load off of the CPU so a general performance increase is possible as well although I won't swear to it. For $21 you can't go wrong unless of course you can't get the upgrade to work. Having swapped video cards a couple of times on various Windows machines I highly suggest you go to the manufacturers web site before changing the card and reading up on it. Sometimes the Windows "Wizards" can really get in the way once you turn the machine on so knowing what might happen before hand helps.

 

[rbeckey]

Go to this site and click on the link to video cards:

https://www.pricewatch.com/

I personally like ATI cards. Check out the 9600XT or 9800 series. For most users who aren't rabid gamers, these will be sufficent for several years. Also available are "powered by ATI" cards made by Sapphire, which are just as good and cost less.

Make sure a card is compatible with your motherboard before ordering. If your board is older and only supports 2x or 4x AGP, you will have to make certain that the card supports the older standard. Some 8x cards are not compatible with older AGP slots.

 

[vjp]

I just built a system for a fellow club member, and we picked an ATI 9000 Radeon card with 64MB of memory for his machine. It was a $40 card (at newegg.com) and it's fantastic, very quick and perfect for home/small business machine. It has standard monitor as well an S-Video out, so you can display video on your TV too. The video performance (playing MPEG's, DVD's, WMV's) has been flawless and the software included has a good set of tools for adjusting gamma, brightness, contrast, etc. right from the video card.

It has OpenGL and DirectX, but I haven't yet tested its 3D performance. But it ought to be passable for all but intense high-end gaming.

(I was going to benchmark Doom3 on his machine as part of the burn-in / break-in process, I'll post the results if you're interested.)

 

[Elapid]

i got the 9600 all in wonder...
it has 128MB of ram, s-video in and out, dual monitor capability, tv-tuner, remote control that not only controls the software that comes with the card, but has controls to operate the other functions of the PC...

wild stuff!
i can control my PC even if someone else is sitting in the driver's seat!

 

[rabidsheeep]

the x800 just came out, so ati's costs have dropped alot... if your vaugly into gaming the 9600 (especially the xt) is great... ive got a 9800 pro 128 and i love the thing.

 

[Missileman]

I have a G-Force 4 in my comp.
Outstanding 3D graphics and runs most games even some high end. But may be a bit more than you really need for your applications.