"The Black Wibble" wrote in message
...
"Bobby" wrote in message
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Does a good graphics card only improve graphics performance in games?
What
about other PC applications. I guess that DVD playback is improved but
what
about other apps like MediaPlayer, Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc?

Yes. MediaPlayer utilises the graphics hardware through DirectX to decode
mpgs, and avi, and wmv files. Even
when rendering windows on to the desktop and dragging them about, the
Windows OS makes use of the graphics
Desktop Graphics accelerators existed before directx was invented. Just
because the desktop uses the graphics hardware dosn't mean directx is
involved. Old operating system would need rewriting for directx to be used
for desktop functions.

The rumour mill for longhorn implies that Directx, or it's replacement, will
be at it's heart and then your statement will be correct.