Good card for snappy Aero, no gaming

[RandomFlux]

My work PC currently has a Phenom II X4 / 945, 4GB of RAM on an AMD785G chipset motherboard with a passively cooled GeForce 8400 graphics card and Windows 7/64 Ultimate (because it's free in my MSDN sub). Overall performance is fine but screen updates are a little sluggish and I'd like to improve that.

What I'm looking for is a good, quiet card that provides the best possible support for Windows Aero and other 3D-assisted UI elements, plus the possibility of enough 3D grunt for programs that may use the graphics processors for number-crunching in the future. This is a coding and editing machine so games will never be installed on it -- that makes finding a card difficult because 99.99% of all reviews (also on AnandTech) seem to focus on gaming only. I've heard that the HIS Radeon cards with the larger fans are just as quiet as passively-cooled cards, for example.

My motherboard can do hybrid crossfire but AFAIK that is really a waste of time.

Any suggestions?

 

[evolucion8]

Its odd, Aero can run smooth even on an old ass 9600 PRO, heck, even my laptop with an integrated X300 and 64MB of RAM can run it smooth with no slowdowns, try to update your drivers to see if there's any issues, the same goes with your chipset drivers.

 

[RandomFlux]

Thanks -- there are not really any "issues", everything is OK in terms of performance, the UI is just not as snappy as I'd like it to be. I just thought that Windows 7 used the 3D engine of the card for rendering the UI and that there might be some cards that delivered better performance for that. Not so?

 

[evolucion8]

Yeah it does use the 3D rendering engine of your card to render Aero, there's no way to run in on the processor without significant drop in performance. You may want to turn off some eye candy to see if it improves. Or update your drivers, or change your theme, or assign at least 128MB of video memory (If its integrated)

 

[heyheybooboo]

Yeah it does use the 3D rendering engine of your card to render Aero, there's no way to run in on the processor without significant drop in performance. You may want to turn off some eye candy to see if it improves. Or update your drivers, or change your theme, or assign at least 128MB of video memory (If its integrated)

If the OP has not dedicated additional system resources to the IGP video this may well do the trick (an 8400 GS has less 'jam' than the on-board Radeon HD 4200).

edit: I fergit ...

should probably go at least 256MB (can go up to 512MB) and consider a bump in IGP clock speed (stock is 500MHz --- IIRC 700MHz-790gx territory- would not be out of the question /// but watch those temps!)



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[Scali]

Well, I have a laptop with an Intel GM965 chipset... Granted, it only does 1280x800, but I don't notice a difference in snappiness with my desktop machine which has a Radeon 5770.

So I don't think the IGP is the problem here (yours is faster than mine)... Lack of memory or poor drivers could be a problem though.

 

[lopri]

Shoot for GT220/GT240 or Redwood variants. Aero desktop can feel sluggish under many circumstances where GPU acceleration is utilized. Some may not notice it, but it all depends on one's usage. Many will be fine with IGP level acceleration but everyone has different thresholds (and resolutions).

I like to run "Bubbles" screen saver to determine desktop acceleration performance. It comes with Windows Vista/7 so you can easily see how smoothly bubbles bounce. If you have Fraps you can see the FPS difference as well.

 

[fuzzymath10]

Check your CPU and hard drive utilization. Sometimes it doesn't feels snappy because of a CPU bottleneck and other times it's because your hard drive is thrashing away.

All of my Win7 machines use Aero and range from crappy GMA 950, 3100, x3100, GeForce 6600 GT, Radeon HD 3450 and the only ones that feel a tad slow also happen to have P4 or Atom CPUs.

 

[evolucion8]

hehe, even my Pentium 4 3.40GHz coupled with HD 2600PRO never slowdowns, I can't feel a difference in GUI performance compared to my current setup. Aero is the best thing that Microsoft has done for a while.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Yeah, the load on a GPU to run Aero is very minimal. An SSD would probably be a better choice to make your computer feel more snappy.

One thing I discovered today, is that you can turn the Win7 UAC down to setting 2 and it still provides the protection/warning that level 3 does, but it doesn't do the stupid screen dimming thing. I have pretty top of the line computers (home and work) and the screen dimming thing always makes me feel like there's something wrong with my computer because it takes so long. I don't know if that applies to you, but it may be applicable if this is what you may be talking about or including in when you say "screen updates".

 

[zagood]

One thing I discovered today, is that you can turn the Win7 UAC down to setting 2 and it still provides the protection/warning that level 3 does, but it doesn't do the stupid screen dimming thing. I have pretty top of the line computers (home and work) and the screen dimming thing always makes me feel like there's something wrong with my computer because it takes so long. I don't know if that applies to you, but it may be applicable if this is what you may be talking about or including in when you say "screen updates".

It's actually turning off the Secure Desktop (screen freeze/dimming) feature of UAC. Whether you think that's important or not is up to you.

Back to Aero - I agree with some of the previous posts that state that something else may be holding Aero back. I seriously doubt it's the 8400, at least if it's operating properly.

May try the built-in troubleshooter, directions here:
http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-fix-windows-7-aero-problems/

Also do some torture tests to see if the computer's stable in the first place...Prime95, FurMark, etc.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

It's actually turning off the Secure Desktop (screen freeze/dimming) feature of UAC. Whether you think that's important or not is up to you.

Does this actually increase my vulnerability or is it just a "make the user notice" thing? I thought it was the latter, and I have no problem turning it off. I notice those popups just fine without the whole screen dimming thing.

 

[zagood]

It prevents any malware etc. from interacting with UAC. If the window pops up because some virus is running, but the virus can hit the "ok" button without your interaction, yeah, that increases your vulnerability.

However, a lot of people feel confident in turning UAC off completely. It's up to you if you want to put lock the bathroom door even when you think you're alone in the house...

 

[LokutusofBorg]

I don't want to disable UAC completely (I did in Vista, but Win7 is much better with it) but I really, really like the improvement of not having the screen dim all the time. This is especially essential when I remote in to my work computer. I have dual 24" monitors, so the screen dimming thing would bring my Remote Desktop connection to a screeching halt for like 20 seconds at a time. Very liberating to be able to turn that off.

I'll quit hijacking this thread now.

EDIT: Just read up on Secure Desktop, and understand the implication here. Thanks for the heads-up zagood. I'm still leaving it off though.

 

[nenforcer]

Why not use the integrated video built in to your motherboard? That IGP is more than powerful enough to power AERO along with the average 3d game at low resolutions.

I assume you already have it disabled in the BIOS.

It would even be quieter than having a passively cooled 8400GS as well.

 

[JimmiG]

Its odd, Aero can run smooth even on an old ass 9600 PRO, heck, even my laptop with an integrated X300 and 64MB of RAM can run it smooth with no slowdowns, try to update your drivers to see if there's any issues, the same goes with your chipset drivers.

My old Laptop with a Radeon 9600 Mobility (not the much newer GeForce 9600) had no trouble with Aero in Vista. Of course, the resolution was pretty low.

My current laptop with Intel 4500HD graphics is very snappy with Aero. However, when I have many windows open and use the Windows key+Tab to cycle through them in 3D, there's some lag/choppiness. Nothing that makes me feel I need a faster GPU or anything, but it's noticeable.