Which video card should I buy?

[keith8]

Cost is not a big factor,
I have ordered a new Samsung 172T LCD . I would like to use the DVI .
I'm not a gamer but I like great clarity, I would appriciate any recomendations on whichVideo
card I should buy. I am running Windows XP AMD XP2400

 

[sechs]

Your best choice is going to be an ATi card. All of the recent ones come with a DVI connector, and they are known for their quality and 2D performance.

If you don't do any 3D work, then a Radeon 7200 or earlier card should work fine. If you do some 3D, the an 8500 is a better choice.

 

[88637]

A 9700 would also fit the bill if you just need absolute speed. If you dont have 3-4 hundred to burn the 8500 would be a fine choice though or maybe a 9500 if you can wait that long.

Note, the 8500 would limit the capability of your CPU.

 

[Mloot]

If cost is not a factor and if Keith8 desire's clarity above gaming performance, wouldn't the Parhelia be the best choice? I'm not sure how the Parhelia's 2D compares w/the 9700, but isn't Matrox known as the tops in 2D quality?

 

[88637]

They have been in the past but I have never seen a direct comparison w/ the 9700. ATI has always been good either way and the 9700 is supposedly better than ever.

Note- Also if he goes for the AIW line (dont know availibility yet) itll give him everything he could ever want in a vid card.

 

[Rand]

He's using DVI, so for the most part it should be a mute point as to which has better 2D visual quality... their pretty much assured to be almost identical.
Similarly DVI + LCD mutes the advantage of Matrox's GigaColor.

There isnt a whole lot a manuifacturer can do to improve the visual quality offered through DVI, as it's a purely digital interface.

Pick SiS, nVidia, Matrox or whomever you wish and they'll all be near identical with DVI.

Resolution scaling may differ slightly but that's about it, and in that respect ATi would probably be incrementally better but even there I can't imagine the difference would be much at all.

Given the above I'd be more concerned with what board offers the best feature set.
Matrox certainly has the most versatile and complete MultiMonitor implementation, so if that's of interest you may wish to consider the G400/450/500 for Dual Monitor or the Parhelia for Tri-monitor.
Perhaps even the pricey G200/400/450MMS series if you desire four monitors.
Appian also has quad-monitor boards, but thei implementation isnt quite up to par with Matrox's.

ATi's will provide you with the best TV-Out implementation on a driver level and a very impressive hardware level implementation as well. To back that up they've also got the most fully featured DVD playback implementation available, and it's also well supported by most consumer DVD apps.
If either of those features are needed you may wish to look towards ATi.

3D performance on a consumer/Pro3D basis is evidently a non-factor for you so I'll ignore that.

ATi's AIW 8500DV is worth mentioning as a multimedia board that offers almost anything you could desire.... SPDIF, DVI-I IEE1394, RF Remote, TV-In/Out, digital video editing, TV-Tuner etc.
It's got everything one could desire with a robust software suite to go with it.

Matrox's G450 e-TV, and nVidia's Personal Cinema are also viable alternatives but neither quite match the sheer breadth of options and versatility the 8500DV provides.

The Parhelia loses much of it's reknown if your using DVI, but shouldnt be ignored either.
It'll offer DVD playback quality that's arguably a notch above even that of AT.... though the performance and support isnt near ATi's level with DVD.
As mentioned above it'll provide for an extremely versatile and fexible multi-monitor implementation that can do near anything that's yet been conceived of.

nVidia... is well, nVidia.... they offer fine boards but when ignoring 3D they don't truly "lead" in anything at all so your best off passing on them.


All of my above comments are basically ignoring the cost factor, as you stated it's not a big concern.

If you just want a cheap board that will offer DVI and good quality and an all-around option the Radeon VE/7000 is hard to beat,
DVI, a good Multi-Monitor implementation, fantastic TV-Out and DVD playback capabilities, and will offer nice quality all around.
It's widely available and pretty cheap also.
It's not a gaming card, but if gaming doesnt factor in it does everything very well and it's quite cheap.

Has deservedly won a number of accolades, and OEM support.

 

[sechs]

Originally posted by: Mloot
If cost is not a factor and if Keith8 desire's clarity above gaming performance, wouldn't the Parhelia be the best choice? I'm not sure how the Parhelia's 2D compares w/the 9700, but isn't Matrox known as the tops in 2D quality?

While a Parhelia probably has better 2D quality and performance, the difference is certainly not worth the price.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Thanks for injecting some great info in to this thread, doesn't leave much else to say really. Of course Rad8500DV does a whole lot but it doesn't have dual display functionaility, and neither do any Radeon AIW cards inc the top Rad9700-AIW.

As already said when talking DVI+LCD there is no need to worry about variance, they should all be virtually identical. If gaming is a non-factor a Rad7000, Rad7500 or Rad9000 are all great cards, AIW versions add a lot of functionality if you're willing to trade in dual display (although you can still use the slight fudge solution of adding a seperate PCI card). GF4MX are also worth considering, as are the older Matrox cards, Parhelia would be an expensive waste even if you fancied trying out triple head display. You can't really go wrong, so tell us your other reqs and preferences.