Looking for a "pretty good" PCI-E video card ...

I'm getting ready to build another PC and am looking for a "pretty
good" PCI-E video card. It needs to be rock solid under WinXP Pro and
reasonably quick. Cheap would be nice, but I'm prepared to spend more
than $150 if I have to.

I'm a software developer and spend a lot of time staring at Visual
Studio or Eclipse, and the machine also gets a lot of use as the main
household computer, with occasional use for Word and PowerPoint
documents. Nobody in the house plays video games of any sort.

I'm crossposting to the ATI and Nvidia groups because I've had good
luck in the past with cards based on both chipsets; I have no
religious feelings about either. I'll admit that I've paid no
attention to the field for the last few years.

Suggestions?

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
I'm getting ready to build another PC and am looking for a "pretty
good" PCI-E video card. It needs to be rock solid under WinXP Pro and
reasonably quick. Cheap would be nice, but I'm prepared to spend more
than $150 if I have to.

I'm a software developer and spend a lot of time staring at Visual
Studio or Eclipse, and the machine also gets a lot of use as the main
household computer, with occasional use for Word and PowerPoint
documents. Nobody in the house plays video games of any sort.

I'm crossposting to the ATI and Nvidia groups because I've had good
luck in the past with cards based on both chipsets; I have no
religious feelings about either. I'll admit that I've paid no
attention to the field for the last few years.

Suggestions?

You are not gaming or doing AutoCAD. I would consider upgradability to run
Vista Aero down the road at some point, but really this doesn't require a
whole lot of juice either. So you can get an excellent card for your needs
for less than $100. I would avoid cards with 64bit memory, and ones with
small amounts of discrete dedicated RAM. Something like an X1300 Pro from
ATI or the Nvidia 7300GT series with 128 or 256Mb. There's a lot of choice
in this range. Just avoid the 64bit memory and turbocache/hypermemory
variants.

Augustus wrote:
"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
I'm getting ready to build another PC and am looking for a "pretty
good" PCI-E video card. It needs to be rock solid under WinXP Pro and
reasonably quick. Cheap would be nice, but I'm prepared to spend more
than $150 if I have to.

I'm a software developer and spend a lot of time staring at Visual
Studio or Eclipse, and the machine also gets a lot of use as the main
household computer, with occasional use for Word and PowerPoint
documents. Nobody in the house plays video games of any sort.

I'm crossposting to the ATI and Nvidia groups because I've had good
luck in the past with cards based on both chipsets; I have no
religious feelings about either. I'll admit that I've paid no
attention to the field for the last few years.

Suggestions?

You are not gaming or doing AutoCAD. I would consider upgradability to run
Vista Aero down the road at some point, but really this doesn't require a
whole lot of juice either. So you can get an excellent card for your needs
for less than $100. I would avoid cards with 64bit memory, and ones with
small amounts of discrete dedicated RAM. Something like an X1300 Pro from
ATI or the Nvidia 7300GT series with 128 or 256Mb. There's a lot of choice
in this range. Just avoid the 64bit memory and turbocache/hypermemory
variants.



I've got a little very recent first-hand experience with several
computers and graphics cards. With the last few weeks, I've installed a
7300GT (fanless Gigabyte ~ $78 inc. shipping from ZipZoomFly), two
7600GS (one fanless Asus and one fan-cooled eVGA @ ~ $100 from newegg)
and a 7600GT (fan-cooled BFG from newegg ~ $144 from newegg). All were
256mb cards.

All cards were installed on Asus A8N-VM CSM boards as upgrades to
onboard video. Three of the four systems had 2 gig memory, the HTPC has
one gig memory.

The 7300GT went into a general use / student computer (browser, email,
MS Office applications, nothing "demanding") that sometimes plays DVDs
or streaming movies. Works great even though it may be a little overkill.

The 7600GS's were for a HDTV HTPC (fanless) and a second computer doing
a lot of CAD. Both systems work great.

7600GT went into a general use PC that also runs MS Flight Simulator
2004. Maybe a little overkill, but definitely no complaints.


Not much change in perceived "general" performance. Maybe a slight
improvement in image rendering, maybe not.

None of these cards share memory from the main system. So if the system
has one or two gig, its not shared with video.


I'm not sure I agree with the need to upgrade to Vista. It doesn't fix
anything that's broken.

I'm not sure I agree with the need to upgrade to Vista. It doesn't fix
anything that's broken.

I wouldn't upgrade to Vista until SP1 and other issues have been addressed.
But it doesn't hurt to get your budget card Aero capable. He may have it for
3-5 years.

Augustus wrote:
I'm not sure I agree with the need to upgrade to Vista. It doesn't fix
anything that's broken.

I wouldn't upgrade to Vista until SP1 and other issues have been addressed.
But it doesn't hurt to get your budget card Aero capable. He may have it for
3-5 years.

XP will be supported that long.

(Cessna 310) wrote in
:

Augustus wrote:
I'm not sure I agree with the need to upgrade to Vista. It
doesn't fix anything that's broken.

I wouldn't upgrade to Vista until SP1 and other issues have been
addressed. But it doesn't hurt to get your budget card Aero
capable. He may have it for 3-5 years.

XP will be supported that long.

Unless my employer loses its collective mind (they've done it
before), I'll be running XP for a long time :-)

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

In the ATI product line, you can get an X1300 based product for about
$100, or an X1600 based product for less than twice that. Really, the
X1300 with dedicated memory (at least 128MB if not more) is all you need
for typical desktop use, and it will support Vista's Aero interface (I
should add here to check that the BOARD has drivers for Vista with Aero
support (WDDM drivers) .... the chip is capable of doing it, but the
drivers can be come board specific rather than just chip specific).

Bert Hyman wrote:
I'm getting ready to build another PC and am looking for a "pretty
good" PCI-E video card. It needs to be rock solid under WinXP Pro and
reasonably quick. Cheap would be nice, but I'm prepared to spend more
than $150 if I have to.

I'm a software developer and spend a lot of time staring at Visual
Studio or Eclipse, and the machine also gets a lot of use as the main
household computer, with occasional use for Word and PowerPoint
documents. Nobody in the house plays video games of any sort.

I'm crossposting to the ATI and Nvidia groups because I've had good
luck in the past with cards based on both chipsets; I have no
religious feelings about either. I'll admit that I've paid no
attention to the field for the last few years.

Suggestions?

Hey, Sky King: It just doesn't make to get a card that's not Vista
(Aero) compatible when one that is doesn't cost any more. Without
regard to whether or not one has current plans to actually use Vista
(plans change).


Cessna 310 wrote:
Augustus wrote:
I'm not sure I agree with the need to upgrade to Vista. It doesn't
fix anything that's broken.

I wouldn't upgrade to Vista until SP1 and other issues have been
addressed. But it doesn't hurt to get your budget card Aero capable.
He may have it for 3-5 years.

XP will be supported that long.

"Barry Watzman" wrote in message
...
Hey, Sky King: It just doesn't make to get a card that's not Vista (Aero)
compatible when one that is doesn't cost any more. Without regard to
whether or not one has current plans to actually use Vista (plans change).

This is essentially my point.

Augustus wrote:
"Barry Watzman" wrote in message
...
Hey, Sky King: It just doesn't make to get a card that's not Vista
(Aero) compatible when one that is doesn't cost any more. Without
regard to whether or not one has current plans to actually use Vista
(plans change).

This is essentially my point.

I don't know what you people are on about. It's hard to find a
PCI-Express video board that is _not_ "Aero compatible". You'd have to
pretty much set out deliberately to find one. Seems to me that it's a
non-issue.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)