The Right Video Card

[Katarn]

Frankly, "It all depends." Are you only going to be doing 2D? If so what software? If 3d, what software? etc... 16bit programs?, 32bit programs?

Those answers will make a huge difference.

Andrew Ku -->Editor In Chief
Explosive Labs.com

[ranger72]

Hello All!

Running p-4 850 Northwood chipset...768MBs of PC-800..Rhambus RD RAM..master HD..western Digital 120 gig ultra ATA 100..Slave HD..Seagate Barracudu 40 gig ultra ATA 100...Windows XP Pro..

My first Vid card on this machine was a GeForce 2 MX400...I liked it fine...Then I started learning about graphics..animation...etc..and I thought maybe I need a better video card..upgraded to GeForce TI 4200..nice improvement...three weeks later..the bearings in the cooling fan went poopie...brought it back..got a Geforce FX 5800 Ultra...a techie I talked to said for just a few more dollars I could have ATI Radeon 9500 PRO...well he talked me into it..

I installed it knowing that there were sometimes driver issues...

I did'nt have any...problems...
The card is fantastic....

Ive been running it now for 3 months and not one glitch...

128MB ddr memory
complete DirectX 9.0 support and the latest OpenGL functionality

8 Parallel rendering pipelines

4 Parallel geometry engines

128bit DDR memory interface

128MB DDR Memory

AGP 8X support

SMARTSHADER 2.0 technology

SMOOTHVISION 2.0 Technology

HYPER Z 111 Technology

TRUEFORM 2.0 Technology

VIDEOSHADER engine

FULLSTREAM Technology

DVD Video Playback

DUAL MONITOR SUPPORT

DVI-I Digital Flat Panel Support

Video output...monitor resolutions

Display Modes:

640 X 480

800 X 600

1024 X768

1152 X 864

1280 X 1024

1600 X 1200

1920 X 1080

1920 X 1200

1920 X 1440

2048 X 1536

Maximum 3D Resolutions

65K Colors.........2048 X 1536


16.7 Million Colors..2048 X 1536...

not all monitors support all modes...



Of course now they have introduced 64 Bit technology so we all have to start all over...






regards,

ranger72

[color:red]So much to learn;so little time to learn it in![/color]

[gidgit]

Wow, nice setup there Ranger

Hi Andrew... well, as it would seem, most serious graphic artist's eventualy take a stab at most everything to be had relating to grafx...

Many members here at TG use 2d to the max, be it painting, vectors or what have ya... and... as well are creat'n some fine 3d worx, using quite the variety of 3d apps.

Now, this said and all, it is this person's observation that...

a) there are many out there who have far more powerful systems at thier finger tips than they will ever manage to utilize through thier daily tasks... given that they could have done very nicely with a budget system, or even an ancient mid road Celeron for that matter... the only conciderations I would have regarding these functional systems would be in the area of monitors and printer/scanner options... other than that, hey... if it will run C4Dv8, and or the latest PhotoShop or what have ya then yahoo...

b) there are many out there who have the right amount of power for thier passions, and always make sure to continue this trend... this is the gamer and or very serious grafx fanatic... The industry depends heavily on this crowd, and ditto, this crowd depends on the industry to deliver the rush... for work and/or play

c) there are also those, who... will never have enough power... this group is scary, and we won't go there eh

and....

out of these categories... I fall into group a)...

running a ancient Celeron 400 (256 megs ram), with a equally ancient Ati 128 bit rage chip c/w a paltry 16 megs of ram, coupled with a middle of the road HD and uh, ok... it ain't a speed machine by any stretch...

but... here's the thing...

before this baby I was running an original 266 celeron and for all intensive purposes made out just fine... That is until the latest versions of some of my fav apps wouldn't run very well on said tiny 266 system...

thats when I found a Celeron 400 on the curbs during recycle days in our City...

C4D runs just fine now for my requirements at this stage, and this is just the point...

It's one thing to suggest perhap's that Gamers should have which ever system makes all go faster... ... but... as for 3d, the creative side, well... it goes like this, for me anyhoo...

Last winter season I found myself pouring into 3d in a big time way...In fact it was right here at TG, during the course of last winter season, whereby many members also applied the midnight oil with the thirst for 3D knowledge...and subsequently applied this new found knowledge for all to see and participate with...

and... as suggested, for all intensive purposes, in my particular situation, simply changing up from a 266 to a paltry 400 allowed me to have as much fun as any...

so, in closing, I would only suggest

I always have advised those newer users, friends, family and the like, who have asked me what system to get... I tell em to go as cheap as they can and practise as many hours as they can with what they have... and when they decide that, yup, this is just what they wanted to do, then... go and purchase the system which best suits thier needs at that time...

The rest is all hype

[Klaus Nordby]

Ah, gidgit, I fear I fall into your scary group. :-)

I just got a Sapphire Radeon 9700 All-in-Wonder card. It has all of the above, plus tons of video and TV stuff. It'll last me a few months, I hope, before I HUNGER again . . .

K
www.klausnordby.com/xara (big how-to article)
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/ (I was the first-ever featured artist in the Xone)
www.graphics.com (columnist, "The I of The Perceiver")

[gidgit]