ATI Radeon™ HD 3200 Graphics

williamss

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Mar 2, 2010
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18,510
Hello,
I'm looking to purchase a new computer. I'm wanting to get into teaching myself graphic and website design. This is listed for Video Graphics:
ATI Radeon™ HD 3200 Graphics with 256MB graphics memory. Up to 1919MB total available graphics memory as allocated by Windows® 7. Is this good or not? I know very little about graphic cards.
 

williamss

Distinguished
Mar 2, 2010
3
0
18,510
Hello,
I'm looking to purchase a new computer. I'm wanting to get into teaching myself graphic and website design. This is listed for Video Graphics:
ATI Radeon™ HD 3200 Graphics with 256MB graphics memory. Up to 1919MB total available graphics memory as allocated by Windows® 7. Is this good or not? I know very little about graphic cards.
 

deadlockedworld

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As a clarification, "it will do fine" on a single moderately sized monitor for most office/graphic programs. It is still vastly inferior to almost any discrete graphics card.

You might consider something with a real card if you want to use a large monitor, multiple monitors, edit video, or do some of the more intensive special-effects tasks available in Adobe CS4.

If you would like advice on the rest of the system feel free to post it along with your price.
 

donpacific2k

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Dec 23, 2008
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18,690
Well, gaming is possible, as long as you're not looking at playing cutting edge 3d games from the last 4 years or so. As you can see from the link it's waaay down the list. I mean I bought a 6600gt (basically equivalent 3d performance as the 3200) new at least 4 or 5 years ago if not more, and it wasn't top of the line then. But if it's a desktop you can always add in a card later.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2118-7.html
 

williamss

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Mar 2, 2010
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18,510
Thanks a lot for the advice everyone! I was going to check if it's possible to upgrade the graphics card, if not I will look at a different computer because I hate to make a purchase to later regret it.
 
Apart from laptops almost all computers come with a PCIe x16 slot to allow you to upgrade the graphics. If you do want to do some gaming then we need to know things like power supply specifications, monitor resolution and your budget.
 

deadlockedworld

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Hey williams-- there are lots of decent graphics cards available online that are easy to stick into an existing system. Provided that the system you buy has enough room in the case, and has a power supply of at least 300w you could easily boost the graphic power by 10x for like $40. All it involves is sticking a card into a slot and tightening a screw.