Video Cards issue..............

[RAMWolff44]

Hi, inspiration from Sharone's post about monitors.

I have complained in the past about the program crashing and certian brushes crashing the program, and even though I have an
XP ready system with all the newest (well, WAS the newest) hardware, I am wondering if a different video card would improve the perfomance.

I have an NVIDIA TNT II Model 64 Pro. I love NVIDIA but from all the talk about the monitor, it occurs to me that the monitor is only as good at the video card and it's drivers. So I am asking you all to come forward and tell us what video cards you have installed on your systems. Preferably folks that have quick re draw, no crashes and can use all the brushes.

I had a problem again last night. I was working with the freehand tool. Is it normal for it to slow the whole program down if you have allot of lines going??? I also imported an '.ai' file (to extract a part of it for the design to go on the goblet, looks really good!!) and it really slowed down the program.

So I am curious if my vidio card needs to be changed to a different maker.

Come one, come all. Tell us your card types and your experience with it. Much appreciated.

RAMWolff [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

PS: FYI, I have a Pentium III, 1 Ghz speed and 524 Mgs of RAM.

[RAMWolff44]

Hi, inspiration from Sharone's post about monitors.

I have complained in the past about the program crashing and certian brushes crashing the program, and even though I have an
XP ready system with all the newest (well, WAS the newest) hardware, I am wondering if a different video card would improve the perfomance.

I have an NVIDIA TNT II Model 64 Pro. I love NVIDIA but from all the talk about the monitor, it occurs to me that the monitor is only as good at the video card and it's drivers. So I am asking you all to come forward and tell us what video cards you have installed on your systems. Preferably folks that have quick re draw, no crashes and can use all the brushes.

I had a problem again last night. I was working with the freehand tool. Is it normal for it to slow the whole program down if you have allot of lines going??? I also imported an '.ai' file (to extract a part of it for the design to go on the goblet, looks really good!!) and it really slowed down the program.

So I am curious if my vidio card needs to be changed to a different maker.

Come one, come all. Tell us your card types and your experience with it. Much appreciated.

RAMWolff [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

PS: FYI, I have a Pentium III, 1 Ghz speed and 524 Mgs of RAM.

[rheaton]

I've a 16MB G-200 in a 450MHz PII Compaq running WIN2000 here at work & a 32MB G-400 in a 500MHz Micron PIII running NT4SP5 at home. Zero problems. Matrox is not the fastest 3D card out there for gamers and such, but for 2D you cannot find a better one. ROCK SOLID drivers.

[Khazi]

I use an ATI Radeon 8500 here - very fast, very stable and, well, pretty good all round, really.

64 Mb on board ram, and supports up to 2408 x 1526.

Generally very pleased with it.

Monitor is an Iiyama Vision Master Pro510 (22")

Chris

[Peter Clifton]

Yep Matrox every time.

Millennium II
Millennium G200
Millennium G450 (Current card)

Never had a moments trouble. Still the best 2D quality in the business IMHO. Ultra High res 3D gaming is not my bag, but I have to admit 800x600 modern 3D games are a tad sluggish.

BTW you might want to check out www.matroxusers.com and look in the crystal ball forum, the regulars are getting very excited. It seems like Matrox might finally be just about to announce a totally new card architecture [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Just so long as they don't start optimizing their drivers for games [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

Peter

[Dan Huff]

My last computer had a Matrox Millennium G200 and no Xara crashes, Windows 98 and then 2000. My new machine I built 7 months ago(Win2000) has an ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon, 32MB, and NO problems with any brushes that have been posted so far, although I do notice a slowdown with some of them.

The monitor is just a few year old CTX 19", same for both machines.

Danny Huff
http://www.asherrocks.com
(I'm the guy who USED to have a lot of excess hair)

[gnurf]

Of all graphic cards I have tried, I (still) find Matrox products the best for 2D graphics. Also, the Dual Head feature is a geat feature if you cannot afford a big 21" display.

My current card is a Matrox G550 Dual head.

Also the 3D-games Max Payne and Need 4 Speed Porsche Unleashed work very nicely with the Matrox board, but mainly I use my computer for work (and no play makes Paul a dull boy [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] )

-Paul

[Klaus Nordby]

Matrox G550 Dual head here too - razor sharp. And before that I had a Matrox G200, also excellent. I've had several ATIs too, but they're not nearly as sharp as the Matrox ones. Matrox rules 2D! I hate all games and all 3D apps, so Matrox is all I need!

K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara

[RAMWolff44]

I just ordered my new Matrox G550, didn't get the dual head, I don't have 2 monitors (that's ALL I'd need, I'd never go to sleep) but the G550 and the G550 Dual seemed very similar. I watched the demo and looked over the tech stuff, looks wonderful. Bummer that Gateway doesn't carry any of the Matrox stuff. So it won't be covered by them, that kinda sucks, but I am after performance and quality here. AND the price, WOW!! I've seen cards that are in the $200.00 range and I can't believe that it was under $150.00 and that includes the S&H. Can't wait to rip the NVIDIA out of the AGP slot and really see what I can do here.

Thanks again, keep your fingers and toes crossed that it's the solution.

RAMWolff [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[gwpriester]

RW

Congrats on getting your Matrox card.

RE: Custom Brushes crashing your system. This may not be a function of your graphics card as much as it has to do with system resources (the first half of your forum nickname--RAM).

Brushes, especially when the brush shape is complex and the spacing is very tight, can put a strain on your systems resources and Windows 9X has never been very good at managing system resources. I used to get crashes all the time when I was creating and working with brushes even though I had adequate RAM and was not running other applications.

I experimented this morning (I'm running Windows XP now on a new machine with 256MB RAM) and I did a ton of complex stuff that did not kill the machine. So I can only assume that Windows XP manages system resources a bit better and more reliably.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


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