A computer components & hardware forum. HardwareBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » HardwareBanter forum » Video Cards » Ati Videocards
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Need advice to buy a new video card.



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old December 19th 08, 01:16 AM posted to alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati
Ar Q
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13
Default Need advice to buy a new video card.

This PC is used to do tax, email and browse the Internet. No
gaming. It is running Windows 2000 now. With most tax software not
supporting Windows 2000 any more, I have to upgrade to new version
of Windows this year.

I am thinking to upgrade to Vista, instead of XP. But right now
its video card has only 64MB video memory. I have to install a new
video card to meet Vista 128MB minimal requirement. The
motherboard supports AGP 2.0 (AGP 2x/4x). What new video card from
ATI can I put it to my PC safely? If the current generation of ATI
only support AGP 8X, I could buy an used one from EBay. Thanks for
any recommendation.


  #2  
Old December 19th 08, 04:01 AM posted to alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati
Augustus[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 266
Default Need advice to buy a new video card.


"Ar Q" wrote in message
...
This PC is used to do tax, email and browse the Internet. No
gaming. It is running Windows 2000 now. With most tax software not
supporting Windows 2000 any more, I have to upgrade to new version
of Windows this year.

I am thinking to upgrade to Vista, instead of XP. But right now
its video card has only 64MB video memory. I have to install a new
video card to meet Vista 128MB minimal requirement. The
motherboard supports AGP 2.0 (AGP 2x/4x). What new video card from
ATI can I put it to my PC safely? If the current generation of ATI
only support AGP 8X, I could buy an used one from EBay. Thanks for
any recommendation.


Vista does not require a 128Mb graphics card to run.....it only needs 128Mb
of video RAM and a WDM DX 9 card with Pixel Shader 2.0 support to run Aero.
The 64Mb card will be fine....as for the rest of your setup running
Vista....from what you're saying, a mainboard that supports AGP 2.0 sounds
like it's a PIII class board or AMD equivalent. Not exactly Vista
material.....WinXP would be more practical for an upgrade if you're sticking
to the old hardware.


  #3  
Old December 19th 08, 06:14 AM posted to alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati
Ar Q
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13
Default Need advice to buy a new video card.


"Augustus" wrote in message
news:A8E2l.881$Ve.341@edtnps82...
|
| "Ar Q" wrote in message
| ...
| This PC is used to do tax, email and browse the Internet. No
| gaming. It is running Windows 2000 now. With most tax software
not
| supporting Windows 2000 any more, I have to upgrade to new
version
| of Windows this year.
|
| I am thinking to upgrade to Vista, instead of XP. But right
now
| its video card has only 64MB video memory. I have to install a
new
| video card to meet Vista 128MB minimal requirement. The
| motherboard supports AGP 2.0 (AGP 2x/4x). What new video card
from
| ATI can I put it to my PC safely? If the current generation of
ATI
| only support AGP 8X, I could buy an used one from EBay. Thanks
for
| any recommendation.
|
| Vista does not require a 128Mb graphics card to run.....it only
needs 128Mb
| of video RAM and a WDM DX 9 card with Pixel Shader 2.0 support
to run Aero.
| The 64Mb card will be fine....as for the rest of your setup
running
| Vista....from what you're saying, a mainboard that supports AGP
2.0 sounds
| like it's a PIII class board or AMD equivalent. Not exactly
Vista
| material.....WinXP would be more practical for an upgrade if
you're sticking
| to the old hardware.
|

It is indeed PIII. But it is top of its class. Dual Tualatin
1.4GHz x 2. Video card is AIW8500DV. I think an upgrade on video
card may improve system performance because of more video RAM. I
do play game occasionally, but only the strategy games. No 3D game
at all.

Is ATI Radeon 1650 a good card for my system?

Thanks.


  #4  
Old December 19th 08, 06:49 AM posted to alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati
Augustus[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 266
Default Need advice to buy a new video card.

It is indeed PIII. But it is top of its class. Dual Tualatin
1.4GHz x 2. Video card is AIW8500DV. I think an upgrade on video
card may improve system performance because of more video RAM. I
do play game occasionally, but only the strategy games. No 3D game
at all.

Is ATI Radeon 1650 a good card for my system?


Upgrading this system to an X1650 Pro to get better performance will result
in basically no increase in overall system and application performance
unless synthetic benchmarks and 3D games are your main purpose. Increased
video ram past the very low amount needeed for 24/32 bit 2D display only
benefits 3D games and other 3D apps. And these will be very CPU limited
with twin 1.4 Ghz PIII processors. AGP functionality with the X1650 Pro and
Catalysts past 7.5 is hit and miss. Still hasn't been fixed for many. Dual
1.4 Tualatins are fine for your productivity and limited gaming needs. Put
Vista on that box and you'll regret it.Win XP SP3 is what's desirable. I
would not bother switching out that AIW 8500DV for what your needs are.
To get an idea how Vista Home Premium would run on that PIII dual
Tualatin 1.4Ghz box, think about how your current system running Windows
2000 feels and then imagine that your system was Windows 2000 running on a
single PIII 733EB with 256Mb of RAM. If you think this is an exagerration,
please feel free to try it out and see.....


  #5  
Old December 24th 08, 10:53 AM posted to alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati
Benjamin Gawert
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,020
Default Need advice to buy a new video card.

* Ar Q:

I am thinking to upgrade to Vista, instead of XP. But right now
its video card has only 64MB video memory. I have to install a new
video card to meet Vista 128MB minimal requirement. The
motherboard supports AGP 2.0 (AGP 2x/4x). What new video card from
ATI can I put it to my PC safely? If the current generation of ATI
only support AGP 8X, I could buy an used one from EBay. Thanks for
any recommendation.


AGP is dead for over three years now, and only few AGP cards are made at
all. With just an dual P3 1.4GHz Tualatin, buying a new gfx card is just
a waste of money. And on such a slow and old setup, the amount of video
RAM is probably the smallest problem.

Benjamin
  #6  
Old December 24th 08, 10:59 AM posted to alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati
Benjamin Gawert
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,020
Default Need advice to buy a new video card.

* Augustus:

To get an idea how Vista Home Premium would run on that PIII dual
Tualatin 1.4Ghz box, think about how your current system running Windows
2000 feels and then imagine that your system was Windows 2000 running on a
single PIII 733EB with 256Mb of RAM. If you think this is an exagerration,
please feel free to try it out and see.....


While I agree with your comments regarding a video card upgrade, Vista
on P3 hardware is not as bad as it sounds. I had (and have) Vista
running on different P3 hardware. It runs fine (not really slower than
Windowsxp) if enough RAM is available, especially if Aero is disabled.
With 1GB RAM, Vista is a bit slower than Windowsxp, with 1.5GB or more
the performance is around the same. While most single processor P3
systems were limited to 1GB or even less, dual CPU setups usually use
chipset that supports at least 2GB.

One problem is ACPI support, though. Unlike Windowsxp which can fall
back to the old PnP BIOS standard Vista requires full ACPI support.
Lots of P3 computers come with crap or no ACPI support at all.
Especially standard mobos of these days don't support ACPI very well, I
found that brand name systems from the P3 generation (IBM Aptiva, Dell
Optiplex/Precision/Dimension etc) usually come with much better ACPI
support.

So if the dual P3 Tualatin setup has enough memory (at least 1.5GB) and
supports ACPI, I'd go for Vista over Windowsxp any time.

Benjamin
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Need video card advice Alfred Einstein[_2_] Ati Videocards 1 November 14th 07 12:28 AM
Video Card Advice Peter Harrington Overclocking AMD Processors 10 September 16th 05 07:16 PM
Need Video Card Advice PawsForThought Nvidia Videocards 8 February 29th 04 11:26 PM
Need Video Card Advice Jim Fox Homebuilt PC's 5 January 10th 04 09:56 PM
Video card advice grendel Ati Videocards 11 June 30th 03 02:07 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 08:00 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 HardwareBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.