Please point me towards a LCD monitor & PCIe card

[kranky]

Haven't been keeping up and I see there are far too many choices for me to do a good job of researching. Need to use Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements (video editing) and my 6-year-old 17" CRT won't cut it at 1024x768. I need more screen real estate.

So I think I need a new LCD monitor, plus a PCIe card to replace the Intel GMA900 that's integrated on the mobo. For the monitor, I'm thinking 19" at 1280x1024 would give me the extra pixels I need and won't be too small to read. Is DVI essential?

I don't do a lot of gaming (and I'm not ultrapicky about gaming image quality) so I think a PCIe video card under $150 should do nicely. I don't want to fool with overclocking/unlocking anything. From reading the threads sounds like a 6600GT would be OK - do I care about the differences between 128MB/256MB memory, and 128-bit/256-bit memory interface?

Can I get a decent 19" LCD and PCIe card for $500 tops? Will a better video card speed up video editing at all (that would be a bonus)?

FWIW, system has a 2.8Ghz P4, Asus P5GDC-V mobo, 1GB RAM and a huge PSU.

Thanks in advance.

 

[xtknight]

Better video card won't affect video editing (unless the video editor uses DxVA; unlikely as far as I know).

For 19" LCD I'd say go with the VP930b if you want to spend $450 for that and $50 on another generic-esque video card.

 

[kranky]

Thanks for the insight. I wasn't sure going high-end on the monitor and el cheapo on the video card was the right answer.

Appreciate it!

 

[i4edge]

You might want to check out the Proview PL2072b or Sylvinia CL2072b 20" monitors 1600x1200 native 700:1 contrast 20ms response. Best Buy has them for $350 (after 150 rebate).

Using them for work and they so far seem to be real nice. Only one has two dead pixals (both stuck on grey) but you have to have your nose to the monitor to see them.

Can't speak for gaming but gives you tons of real estate.

 

[duragezic]

If you think widescreen would benefit your editing at all, the Dell 2005FPW is usually under $400 after coupons (not sure what the current deal is, if not good wait 2 weeks and likely will be cheaper).

DVI isn't necessary but any decent card in the past few years has a DVI output and most monitors come with the cable. USE IT!

So that leaves you with $100ish for a video card. 6600GT if you can swing it, otherwise 6600 would do. I doubt 256mb RAM helps, but definitely get the 256-bit interface. If the price diff between 128mb and 256mb is only a few bucks, you know what to do, but I doubt you get any benefit at all. A 6600 is a little faster then a 9800 Pro. In the case of a 9800 Pro 256mb does NOTHING, but 256-bit memory bandwidth vs 128-bit has a large difference.