help me buy a video card...

[MikePanic]

my requirments -

256meg memory
1 dsub
1 dvi
under $75 shipped

im not gaming, i will b running 2 sun 21" crt's - one w/ an adapter...

newegg has a saphire raedon for like $51 plus shipping, why shouldnt i just use that??

 

[ddogg]

which radeon is it?? well u can go for the 6200(non TC). do u require AGP or PCI-e. since ur not into gaming the 6200 should serve u well.

 

[MikePanic]

SAPPHIRE 579 Radeon 9250 256MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail

Text

thats the cheapest - as im doing photo editing work, will i gain anything from going w/ a more spendy card?

 

[MonkeyWrench4000]

Not really. It seems to me thats the best choice. Although, take note that the radeon 9550 256mb is only a few dollars more, and is nearly 3x as fast.

 

[Keysplayr]

Why do you need 256MB memory for photo editing? You do know that the video card has nothing to do with photo editing right? You can use the simplest of cards as long as it meets your dual monitor needs with Dual RAMDACS and dual vga/DVI outputs.

A 16/32 MB Matrox card would be more than enough. You would only need that much memory on a vid card if you ran CAD apps or play games. And another thing, there arent too many video cards that are powerful enough to utilize that much RAM in the first place.

X800 series for ATI or better can use 256
6800 series for Nvidia can use 256.

The card you mentioned "ATI 9250 256MB DDR AGP" is a marketing gimmick. Although at that cheap price, it doesn't matter.

For the BEST 2D experience I would suggest Matrox for your needs. They have always been the 2D champ. Maybe a G550 would serve you well.

 

[Preti9cboi]

Listen to the man with 4000+ posts.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Yep, keysplayr2003 has it right. Unless you're going 3d rendering work or games, a powerful videocard with a lot of ram is not going to help you.

Another vote for Matrox for excellent 2d image quality.

 

[ddogg]

lol for photoediting even 32mb is more than enough!!! a matrox is supposed to be really good at 2D though!!

 

[fstime]

Matrox 2d is suppose to be the best in apps like photoshop.

 

[MikePanic]

i found a bunch of matrox 32meg g450's on ebay for the real cheap - so i'll prob just pick one of those up

 

[imported_Kensai]

Good.

 

[cbehnken]

Are you guys sure 32MB is enough? I thought you needed the 64MB card to run two monitors at high resolution.

 

[ddogg]

yup 32MB is enough

 

[carlosd]

Radeon 9200SE.

 

[kmmatney]

ATI's 2D quality has always been very good. You can also get the 9550 model. here's a good one:

MSI ATI 9550

The 9550 is the best bang for buck in the $60 and less price range. The MSi model has no fan, so its nice and quiet. Here's an even cheaper model. However it only has a 64-bit memory interface. You want the 128-bit interface like the one linked above.:

Amigo 9550 (64 bit)

 

[doan]

There's a blurb on Adobe's website about poor performance in Photoshop CS2 if your video card had less than 128mb ram. Doesn't make sense to me why you'd need more than 32mb.....Anyone have an idea?