when does onboard video make sense?

[RobCur]

when money is tight? cooler operation? some video card puts out more heats then others card, onboard video runs cooler. most motherboards that have onboard video have problems getting it to work correctly with drivers, it would not function at all. witht the exclamtion mark? ! next to the driver? don't you just hate that? the reliability of onboard video is much less then a video card because it is more likely to fail in a short period of time
if you looking for dead onboad video, look in the refurbish section of newegg. it's guranteed not to fucntion at all... bought like 4, either bad board or bad onboard video, other defects such as bad usb, onboard ide.

 

[TankGuys]

Originally posted by: RobCur
when money is tight? cooler operation? some video card puts out more heats then others card, onboard video runs cooler. most motherboards that have onboard video have problems getting it to work correctly with drivers, it would not function at all. witht the exclamtion mark? ! next to the driver? don't you just hate that? the reliability of onboard video is much less then a video card because it is more likely to fail in a short period of time
if you looking for dead onboad video, look in the refurbish section of newegg. it's guranteed not to fucntion at all... bought like 4, either bad board or bad onboard video, other defects such as bad usb, onboard ide.

I think onboard video is a fine way to go for web surfers, e-mail checkers, and other limited users. They can even play some basic games. Essentially, it makes an excellent "Grandma and Grandpa" computer. It can fit the needs of others as well, but it's really best suited to very basic users who really don't need graphics power.

Anyone who plans to game to any degree, or do any other video intensive application should usually steer clear.

 

[RobCur]

i think onboard video have performance crippled so it encourage people to buy video card seperately so they can make extra money?

 

[twitchee2]

onboard is not that terrible....i can play cs at 800x600..not very well but it plays it. great for surfing and stuff

 

[DanDaMan315]

I think almost everyone out there would benefit from a X300. Then there digital photos might actually look like there supposed to .

 

[imported_Kensai]

Onboard video is great for penny-pinchers who want some kind of upgradability in the future at a low cost.
It's also good for a server, that's why you see alot of server boards coming with a RageXL chip and 8MB of VRAM.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Originally posted by: RobCur
i think onboard video have performance crippled so it encourage people to buy video card seperately so they can make extra money?

No that isn't the reason. The reason is cost. If motherboard manufactures tried to create modern onboard video the cost of the motherboard would go up greatly and destroy what little margins are left in the motherboard arena. Also, the amount of logic involved in a complex gpu in a northbridge/southbridge makes me shudder. Onboard video is great for servers and workstations that don't require fancy 3d graphics. You will find many server boards that have a small onboard video option.

 

[RobCur]

:lips:i wonder if its just me, the 2d performance onboard video is slow as well. I'm running at 2ghz here using AMD XP. I benchmark with performance test V5.0, motherboard pcchips
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813185036
scored 42, 27,15. a sis 315_E 16mb 4x agp card does 85, 47, 37
some of you said good 2d, bad 3d but its both bad 2d and 3d :eek;

 

[Kogan]

Usually all onboard video chips are bad in 2d and 3d - like the sis or intel onboard video. Some motherboards use geforceMX onboard chips which are actually very good in 2d and don't do entirely that bad in 3d..

 

[L00PY]

Originally posted by: RobCur
i wonder if its just me, the 2d performance onboard video is slow as well.

It's just you. S3 Graphics ProSavage8 would be slow as a stand alone video card too. Try a more modern IGP and you might squeeze out over 30 FPS in HL2 and UT 2004 -- nothing to brag about, but still a barely playable DX9 on-board video. Keep in mind that Cats have been updated and you can find boards with 32 MB of SidePort now, so numbers today are likely to be a wee bit higher than the review.

 

[Lord ZipLoc]

onboard video makes sense in laptops

 

[RobCur]

Originally posted by: Lord ZipLoc
onboard video makes sense in laptops

they do don't they? where performance is nonexistent

 

[knothead34]

only way i would use onboard video if it was a business machine. though i would still consider an agp/pci e card because you can get a low end model cheap.

 

[RobCur]

true dat, true dat... it's convenient for the lazy who doesn't like to install an extra card just like onboard ide, lan, sound, usb, have made life really easy. maybe one day agp card will be obsolete and onboard will be the only thing that everyone uses due to convient and just as fast.

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

As I understand it, integrated graphics solutions perform similarly to low-cost standalone graphics cards for simple video playback: http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040619/socket_775-54.html

If true, it means that only gaming taps the benefits of a dedicated card. So, if you don't game, integrated graphics would make the most sense, provided you don't require additional features (like a TV-out port).

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Originally posted by: knothead34
only way i would use onboard video if it was a business machine. though i would still consider an agp/pci e card because you can get a low end model cheap.

Why spend money for something that won't improve performance?

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Originally posted by: TankGuys
I think onboard video is a fine way to go for web surfers, e-mail checkers, and other limited users. They can even play some basic games. Essentially, it makes an excellent "Grandma and Grandpa" computer. It can fit the needs of others as well, but it's really best suited to very basic users who really don't need graphics power.

Anyone who plans to game to any degree, or do any other video intensive application should usually steer clear.

I agree with you about gaming, but what do you mean by "other video intensive application"? According to benchmarks I've seen, integrated graphics are quite capable of rendering even HDTV without a hitch. And of course video editing has nothing to do with the graphics chip.

 

[GregMal]

I currently have 3 home built computers. All are running integrated graphics without
any problems. One day a family member will want/purchase a program (game?) and
the integrated video won't be able to handle it. I will then look at an AGP card. (All my
motherboards have AGP slots). Until then...............
.
Oh....I would never get a motherboard with integrated graphics and without an AGP
slot (Intel).