Stupid questions

[Jerboy]

This is a repost. A MODERATOR has unintentianally deleted my account so everything i posted disappeared..


So I'm running an ATI Xpert AGP 2x 8MB. I'm doing 1184x864, 85Hz 16bit color. 85Hz refresh rate is pretty nice when I have to look at the screen for a long time. It displays color photos fine, I can browse the net fine, I can do many tasks without any problems. This is my COMPUTER and not a game machine. If I wouldn't be playing games what do I benefit from getting any other video cards? The CPU is P3 600MHz btw.


I. Here are some quesitons:

What is the diff between;

1. 128MB SGRAM "Apollo" video card you can buy for $60 compared to GeForce3 64MB costing over $250?

2. What are some inherent limitation of pretty much unpractical card such as VisionTek GeForce 3 compared to 3D Labs Oxygen and other professional cards?


II. Even a Silicon Graphics system doesn't brag about their videocard like GF3 does. http://www.sgi.com/workstations/o2plus/. Those system can handle medical images, high end CADS and visual simulations. Does it give my computer an ability to handle these tasks by adding a mega expensive consumer grade vid cards?

III. What kind of benefit does GF3, VooDoo6, etc etc. give, beside as an unpractical game accelerator?

 

[richleader]

You're a little late, the Voodoo6 is dead and I don't think you could afford the preproduction models selling on ebay.

1. The Apollo video card might have lots of very cheap and very slow memory, but in most scenarios it would go completely unused and when it might be used, it would have no advantage over a geforce 3 with real video memory instead of PC100 strapped on.

2. The geforce series really lacks in triangle setup compared to pro cards, however it can completely slaughter them when it comes to texturing. It depends what is more useful to you, if you work with complex models in wireframe mode, a firegl type card is clearly superior. However if you work with full previews with textures, it's more of a tough choice.

III: The feature set of the card is pretty much whatever you want. VIVO (vid in/vid out), tv out, Digital Video Interface ports for LCD screens, and dual monitor support are both availible on Ati and Nvidia (mx) cards. They also offer DVD acceleration (Avi slightly more so) if you're interested in that. The benefit of high bandwidth cards like the Geforce 3 and Radeons, are not only that they have very fast Ramdacs, they they are able to actually update the screen at the full potential, especially in multi monitor situations, a feat that a Matrox despite it's clear picture cannot handle nearly as well. Plus, you always have the option of using it for games.

In your situation with an aging processor, I'd reccomend either a Radeon 7500 if you *don't* do 3d work (but you're questions seem to imply that you do?) , or a Gainward Geforce 2 Mx if you're more interested in CAD.