---------Which is more important, Video Ram total, or Bus width?

[thatsright]

Recommending a video card to someone building a new PC. They DO NOT PLAY video games whatsoever. But they will be doing lots of PhotoShop, and some light video editing. They need a PCI-Express Vid Card, and I'm on the fence.

Should they get a Video Card with only 128MB of Ram and a 256bit bus, or a card with 256MB of ram and a 128Bit bus?

Is there a trade off? Looking on NE, cards with BOTH 256MB AND 256Bit Bus for PCIe Video is too much. $200 is the hard budget on a vid card.

Thanks

 

[BobDaMenkey]

More ram doesn't matter if you can't use it fast enough. It's like a drag racer just sitting there spinning his tires because he can't get a grip because he's running 13'' tires.

Let's start talking specific cards though. Something like a vanilla 6600 would be more than capable of what you're asking for it to do. Video editing is more about the processor and RAM than about what kind of a video card you have on it.

 

[Matthias99]

Recommending a video card to someone building a new PC. They DO NOT PLAY video games whatsoever. But they will be doing lots of PhotoShop, and some light video editing. They need a PCI-Express Vid Card, and I'm on the fence.

Should they get a Video Card with only 128MB of Ram and a 256bit bus, or a card with 256MB of ram and a 128Bit bus?

Is there a trade off? Looking on NE, cards with BOTH 256MB AND 256Bit Bus for PCIe Video is too much. $200 is the hard budget on a vid card.

Both are irrelevant for 2D-only work (beyond some bare minimums; even a 32MB card is fine for any desktop app). I would pick up a RADEON X300(SE), or maybe look into a board using the RADEON Xpress 200 chipset, which has very capable onboard video with dual monitor outputs. The GF6200 is also a decent choice, although apparently the video output quality can be somewhat iffy, and NVIDIA's DVI outputs sometimes have issues at high resolutions.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Recommending a video card to someone building a new PC. They DO NOT PLAY video games whatsoever. But they will be doing lots of PhotoShop, and some light video editing. They need a PCI-Express Vid Card, and I'm on the fence.

Should they get a Video Card with only 128MB of Ram and a 256bit bus, or a card with 256MB of ram and a 128Bit bus?

Is there a trade off? Looking on NE, cards with BOTH 256MB AND 256Bit Bus for PCIe Video is too much. $200 is the hard budget on a vid card.

Both are irrelevant for 2D-only work (beyond some bare minimums; even a 32MB card is fine for any desktop app). I would pick up a RADEON X300(SE), or maybe look into a board using the RADEON Xpress 200 chipset, which has very capable onboard video with dual monitor outputs. The GF6200 is also a decent choice, although apparently the video output quality can be somewhat iffy, and NVIDIA's DVI outputs sometimes have issues at high resolutions.

:thumbsup: yeah, if he's not doing anything 3d so an expensive videocard isn't going to get him anything.

 

[dwcal]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

:thumbsup: yeah, if he's not doing anything 3d so an expensive videocard isn't going to get him anything.

Same here. I'm always amazed by how many noobs who will never play a 3D game think they need an expensive video card (even IT people at work who should know better). If you were very picky about 2D image quality, it used to be better to get an expensive card with good quality RAMDACs. But now with DVI even that doesn't matter anymore.

 

[fbrdphreak]

If he plans on watching DVD's, maybe try a 6600; PureVideo will make DVD's look perty

Or if its just plain ol' work, aren't the Matrox dual head cards supposed to be devine for 2D use?

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
If he plans on watching DVD's, maybe try a 6600; PureVideo will make DVD's look perty

Or if its just plain ol' work, aren't the Matrox dual head cards supposed to be devine for 2D use?

What does purevideo do for dvd's anyway? I know right now it's doesnt do anything for anything at all, but all cards even as old as the original radeon had dvd acceleration, so he doesn't need a new card, and definitely not worth wasting money on purevideo if they ever enable it.

 

[VIAN]

More ram doesn't matter if you can't use it fast enough. It's like a drag racer just sitting there spinning his tires because he can't get a grip because he's running 13'' tires.

This only applies to games.

I agree with Matthias

 

[hans030390]

darn....i can't use my Sm3.0 stuff talkness....

either way, a 6600 or 6600gt will do great for what they want to do.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
If he plans on watching DVD's, maybe try a 6600; PureVideo will make DVD's look perty

Or if its just plain ol' work, aren't the Matrox dual head cards supposed to be devine for 2D use?

What does purevideo do for dvd's anyway? I know right now it's doesnt do anything for anything at all, but all cards even as old as the original radeon had dvd acceleration, so he doesn't need a new card, and definitely not worth wasting money on purevideo if they ever enable it.

untrue. dvd's are mpeg-2, and even in its current state, PureVideo coupled with the NVIDIA DVD Decoder filter will accelerate it.

 

[thatsright]

I recommended they go with a Radeon X700Pro 25MB Ram-128Bit bus. It goes for, bout $180. Its PCIe.

But, after hearing the good arguments above, thinking maybe to rec something in the sub $150 range. Photoshop will be the heaviest demanding app they will use. Will check some other cards out.

Also, recommended the Abit AN8 which is PCIe, Socket 939 DDR. Anyone heard if this board will be eligible to take the Dual Core A64 CPU's when the come out later this year?

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: thatsright
I recommended they go with a Radeon X700Pro 25MB Ram-128Bit bus. It goes for, bout $180. Its PCIe.

But, after hearing the good arguments above, thinking maybe to rec something in the sub $150 range. Photoshop will be the heaviest demanding app they will use. Will check some other cards out.

Also, recommended the Abit AN8 which is PCIe, Socket 939 DDR. Anyone heard if this board will be eligible to take the Dual Core A64 CPU's when the come out later this year?

Thats way more than they need if they are not going to play games or do 3D stuff.

 

[Pete]

I think all s939 boards should be able to go dual, but we'll know for sure in a few hours when Athlon64 X2 previews and benches are released from NDA.

$180 for a video card that won't be used for games is a complete waste of money. Find something for $100 or less, like maybe a "used" X300SE from one of the many people buying cheap Dell boxes then upgrading the bundled X300SE.