ATI X700 vs. on-board X4500 which one is better?

[kc130]

I'm looking to upgrade my computer and wondering that should I buy a Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2H with a X4500 on-board video chipset, or just use a ATI X700 discrete Video card with a MSI motherboard base on 954GC chipset. Which one is better? Thanks

 

[hunter315]

The intel onboard GPUs are complete and utter crap, the plain X700 is three tiers up from the X4500 in the hierarchy chart, which is pretty good for being a rather old card.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2569-6.html

 

[kc130]

Thank you. The chart does help a lot!

 

[hopar]

I'm looking to upgrade my computer and wondering that should I buy a Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2H with a X4500 on-board video chipset, or just use a ATI X700 discrete Video card with a MSI motherboard base on 954GC chipset. Which one is better? Thanks

What do you plan on doing with that PC? Neither of those cards will let you play anything made in the last 5 years thats even moderately graphically intensive. I am not even sure those card can decode HD video properly...

 

[kc130]

What do you plan on doing with that PC? Neither of those cards will let you play anything made in the last 5 years thats even moderately graphically intensive. I am not even sure those card can decode HD video properly...

I'm from somewhere of the world where the cost of buying a PC componet is ralatively high. So it had to be a bugdet shuttle upgrade. Besides, that PC would mainly for text or some 2D-related graphic work.

 

[hopar]

Well if serious 3D rendering is not important, I would go with the integrated 4500, its a new chip, typically has few compatibility issues, should have good 2D performance, and will we very power efficient, plus drivers are easy to find (newer versions of windows install them by themselves).

 

[iggybeans]

If the X700/motherboard combo is cheaper, I'd go with that. I've used these cards before and they're surprisingly fast considering most are passively cooled (faster than my old 9800Pro on an AGP slot was). And I wouldn't worry about drivers, there included in Vista and Win7 (and are easily obtained for WinXP). Unlike, the built-in Intel graphics you're considering, the X700 is more like to be supported (on OS instillation).
Besides, you can always upgrade the video card later.