Is there a guide to chipsets out there?

[NogginBoink]

I'm going to be in the market for a new video card shorly. I've been out of the market for so long that I have no clue what the current generation chips are and how they rank.

Is there a dummies guide anywhere that lists the current chipsets and how they compare against each other?

 

[furie27]

If you're looking for PCI-E, here's a decent set of benches. For AGP here's a less recent article, but should acquaint you with what's out there now.

 

[kylebisme]

A chipset is a collection of microchips used together for a specific purpose, such as a motherboard's use of a north and south bridge, hence "chip set." On the other hand graphics cards are generally built around a single main "chip." Sorry about the nitpick, it is a very common missunderstanding and just one that tends to irk me.

 

[VIAN]

Well, to be nitpicky, different graphics cards come with different chipSETS. Such as having more or less memory with the same GPU. A different set of chips on the same card. Or having a multi-media chip on there for tv tuning.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
I'm going to be in the market for a new video card shorly. I've been out of the market for so long that I have no clue what the current generation chips are and how they rank.

Is there a dummies guide anywhere that lists the current chipsets and how they compare against each other?

First things first, is your motherboard AGP or PCIe, what will you be running on the card and how much would you like to spend?

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: VIAN
Well, to be nitpicky, different graphics cards come with different chipSETS. Such as having more or less memory with the same GPU. A different set of chips on the same card. Or having a multi-media chip on there for tv tuning.

That all goes beyond the bounds of the defintion of chipset. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=chipset

 

[VIAN]

Does not the GPU need the RAM to perform any purpose?

Don't the chips on a graphics card produce the graphics (a specific task)?

 

[kylebisme]

I'n that very loose use of the term 'specific', I suppose. 😉

 

[CrispyFried]

Ive never heard of memory included in a "chipset" designation.

"Chipset" usually means 1 (or more) chips designed to interface between a CPU and the rest of the computer subsystems (sata/pata, usb, agp/pci busses, sometimes memory).

IE they act as a bridge between a specific processor family and the "generic" components found in rest of the computer.

 

[VIAN]

the definition states otherwise.