Are Video Cards worth... (PC Related)

[cjm]

Are Video Cards worth the money they sell for? I bought a Video Card from Staples. 256 MB G-Force for $160. It says it improves the color of your pictures but I am unsure as I have yet to see a real difference in image quality, except for games (which I don't play). My Computer already has a intergraded 64 MB chip and I would rather not spend money on something I don't know. So does anyone know if a Video Card makes one bit of difference? If they don't I think I am going to return it.

Please share your knowledge on this one please. Thanks.

[Jemmind]

hey, I found this which may help you a little bit
http://forums.techguy.org/t337520.html
Basically from this discussion I got that the higher end cards do wonders for 3D (games) but not that much more for 2D (photo and video). HOWEVER if it has dual monitor capability it may be worth the extra expense.

Julie

[Ogrt48]

Which card is it exactly? Please don't tell me it's the FX series =(

[cjm]

Hmm sounds like I am pulling out my video card and taking it back. I have (oversized Xbox) called a Compaq sr1120nx which has been absolutely perfect for the net and adobe photoshop with its 64 intergated (meaning nonexistant) video card. So although $160 isn't that much, it can be used for other things more useful.

Besides I finished Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and then remebered how much I hate video games (because they waste so much time but they are pretty cool).

[mdm]

But you don't need to pay that much and go that far. I would say a g-force or radeon at least 64 meg. You can catch these on sale like a place like frys electronics for 27.00 up to 45.00 for the 128 meg chip. Of course the higher priced ones are taking advantage of the agp speed. If your just wanting to upgrade go with on-sale 64-128 meg cards. They will do all the other things for a fraction of the cost. Really unless your playing games I believe the onboard video 64meg will do just fine.

[cjm]

So I pulled out the Card and I do notice a bit of a difference between the card and no card. Enough to warrent (wasting) $160 on? Nah. Thanks for your help.

[CyberDyneSystems]

All that horsepower on Video cards these days,. and for the last 5 years in fact,. since the dawn of 3D gaming with the 3Dfx "VooDOo cards...

All of it is for 3D games only.
There is no 256MB Gaming 3D card that will render photoshop filters like gausioan blur, or display 2D images as well as a 16MB Matrox G400.

In fact I have 8 MB PCI based Matrox MilleniumII cards that date back to the pre VooDoo era that still make images look better than my 128MB G-force4 ...

If Gaming is your thing,.. well then go for it,. but if Photoshop and your digital images is all you are concerned about and won't ever be playing any Video games,.. then get thee to a MAtrox Dealer! :) :)

[CyberDyneSystems]

So I pulled out the Card and I do notice a bit of a difference between the card and no card. Enough to warrent (wasting) $160 on? Nah. Thanks for your help.

In your case specifically,. you may want to find a used or refurb Matrox card...

[Kiernan]

nVidia drivers have a setting called "Digital Vibrance" that increases the saturation on anything 2D. This is what they're talking about when the box says it improves the color of your pictures. Turning it on a tick does make things look more vibrant, but distorts the actual color of things if you're doing any editing at all. Good for viewing, horrible for editing.

For mid-range or high-end cards, ATI arguably has the best 2D image quality. But, any video card is an upgrade if you go from a VGA connection to DVI. That's where you'll see a big improvement in all applications.

[Moppie]

If Gaming is your thing,.. well then go for it,. but if Photoshop and your digital images is all you are concerned about and won't ever be playing any Video games,.. then get thee to a MAtrox Dealer! :) :)



Is it possible to run two cards on the same PC, each one running its own monitor?
So you have one card for games, and one for editing?

I mean you can run anyother device in multiple forms.

[Citizensmith]

But you don't need to pay that much and go that far. I would say a g-force or radeon at least 64 meg. You can catch these on sale like a place like frys electronics for 27.00 up to 45.00 for the 128 meg chip. Of course the higher priced ones are taking advantage of the agp speed. If your just wanting to upgrade go with on-sale 64-128 meg cards. They will do all the other things for a fraction of the cost. Really unless your playing games I believe the onboard video 64meg will do just fine.

Except they'd suck as bad as the onboard whatever the hell it is.

The 64mb of your onboard card is likely stolen from your system RAM so if you don't have too much than that will have an effect on general use. As has been mentioned cards can include things like dual video and TV tuners which can certainly be good if thats what you need. For $160 I hope it was something like a GF 5700 ultra which would certainly offer dual video.

And if you are into gaming a PC with a decent graphics card (in my case a GeForce FX5950 overclocked till it bleeds) will cream any console out there.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Is it possible to run two cards on the same PC, each one running its own monitor?
So you have one card for games, and one for editing?

I mean you can run anyother device in multiple forms.

It is possible,. but no one supports it,. MS recomends two cards from the same manufacturer.

Driver issues and conflicts could be quite interesting.,.. and then there would be problems with primary Vs. secondary display.. your gaming card would have to be the primary,. as you can't tell a game to use another display...

No at that point it may be far easier to have two differnt PCs ;)