Need a Video Card - recomendations

[bruno]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

I currently have an onboard videocard(Intel MB). My system has 512MB
RAM, 2.26GHz CPU. I was interested in an ATI board, I believe. I do
some video editing and very little gaming, and then 4-8 different
applications running. I'm looking to spend around $100, hopefully
less? Looking on pricewatch.com this seems feasable, but maybe I'm not
looking at the best price/performance card.

I was looking at the 9250, 9550, and 9600 (pro?). I'm not sure what the
differences are, but I was thinking I should get 256MB on the card but
not sure about the rest.

And then I was thinking of going with Saphire. Or are there other
manufacturers that would be better, or are they okay?

Things run okay now on my system, but I was thinking a video card would
speed up the video editing, and then other things(games, whatever) as
well.

Any suggestions welcomed!

thanks, bruno


--
bruno

 

[Thomas]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

bruno wrote:
> I currently have an onboard videocard(Intel MB). My system has 512MB
> RAM, 2.26GHz CPU. I was interested in an ATI board, I believe. I do
> some video editing and very little gaming, and then 4-8 different
> applications running. I'm looking to spend around $100, hopefully
> less? Looking on pricewatch.com this seems feasable, but maybe I'm
> not looking at the best price/performance card.
<snip>
> Things run okay now on my system, but I was thinking a video card
> would speed up the video editing, and then other things(games,
> whatever) as well.

The videocard will only aid in 3D applications, such as games. Well.... it
will help a little bit in all apps, since you're now using a shared mem
videocard, which decreases your system memory performance.

Of the cards you listed, the 9600 Pro is the obvious winner. You dont need
more than 128 MB on a low(er) performance card such as the once you listed.
The extra memory will only be handy when you go to high resolutions in
games, and activate all the 'goodies'. But even the 9600 pro isnt fast
enough to be able to get decent framerates at this resolution.

So, if you play some games, get a 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro, Sapphire is an
okay brand...

Thomas