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hazmat12

hazmat12

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I'm in need of a new video card to replace the on-board video from the Intel 915 gev mother board I currently use. I'm not a gamer so there is know need for those effects. I strickly do Photo Shop CS2 work and use MS office programs.

With that said, I know the a matrox 650 pci express card would be the number one choice if money were know issue. But since it is, what would be the number 2 PCI express card to get?
--
Rich
 
There are other things to consider besides what is #1 or #2. If your CPU is not up to snuff, you will not be able to use the full potential of a good vid card.

That being said, I cannot tell you what is #2. I CAN tell you, as you already know, almost anything is better then onboard vid.

Just for reference, I've been using my old, outdated, Radeon 8500 agp card since I bought it, and haven't had problems with PSPX, nor most games. Using it with a AMD xp2500 and 1 gig or memory.

Mr_Pither
 
if you’re not a gamer the card is not all that important, if you have a good MB even they are good enough. the monitor, and good color calibration is more important. as for what card, get a good one for value sake (shouldn’t have to go more then $100 to $150) but after that "one that fits your PCI slot". Have you checked newegg?
 
richard hudes said:
I'm in need of a new video card to replace the on-board video from
the Intel 915 gev mother board I currently use. I'm not a gamer so
there is know need for those effects. I strickly do Photo Shop CS2
work and use MS office programs.

With that said, I know the a matrox 650 pci express card would be
the number one choice if money were know issue. But since it is,
what would be the number 2 PCI express card to get?
--
Rich
Click to expand...
Well as you dont seem to be even a casual gamer...would not be really much point in getting a top or even mid level card.

One advantage of having a dedicated card is that it wont steal normal ram, and this is a help. It depends on what else you do also..do you do 3D stuff at all? CAD? Rendering? Some video editing software supports cards to assist in encoding etc..so it can be of some use in that front....consider what you want to do now, or may do in the future.

Nvidia seems better mid and up...though ATI have a good budget X1300 card...a 128mb one wont cost a lot at all, and is even ok for 3D stuff too...thats the one to go for if you want..else pick up a s/h card on ebay.

--

 
You may also want to consider if you want to run dual monitors, and whether a low-end card with (typically) DVI and VGA outputs is sufficient, or if you want a card with 2 DVI outputs...You may also want to ensure that the card/driver set you get supports dual LUTs for monitor calibration/profiling, etc.
 
There are other valid uses for a quality video card than gaming. If you create or play hardware rendered slideshow programs you also need a decent video card.

One of the very best video cards you could purchase is an old, outdated ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 meg RAM. This card is often available for around $100 U.S. and will consistently perform with the very best of the new cards. The originals were very expensive but since the card is no longer manufactured you can find them on the web for bargain basement prices.

Best regards,

Lin
richard hudes said:
I'm in need of a new video card to replace the on-board video from
the Intel 915 gev mother board I currently use. I'm not a gamer so
there is know need for those effects. I strickly do Photo Shop CS2
work and use MS office programs.

With that said, I know the a matrox 650 pci express card would be
the number one choice if money were know issue. But since it is,
what would be the number 2 PCI express card to get?
--
Rich
Click to expand...
 
If you have a motherboard with an Intel 915 chipset, then chances are your only choice for video card expansion would be a PCI video card. This is very different from PCI Express (PCIe), which is also very different from PCI-X (which is actually backward compatible with PCI). AGP is the older equivalent of the current PCI-Express. With that said, if you have neither AGP nor PCI Express slots (either one is to be desired for video cards), then you'll have to get a PCI video card. Since I've not used one of those in ages, I'll leave the recommendations of individual products to others.
 
"Description: The Intel Desktop Board D915GEV can help your digital life with support for Pentium 4 processors, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900, PCI Express graphics, DDR2 memory, and Intel High Definition Audio. The Intel 915G chipset is compatible with Pentium 4 processors with front bus speeds up to 800MHz, and can accommodate up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM. It features six available PCI slots, a PCI x16 graphics card slot, eight USB 2.0 ports, three IEEE 1394a ports, four Serial ATA interfaces and an Intel 82562EZ Ethernet controller. Minimize"

Lin
jliechty said:
If you have a motherboard with an Intel 915 chipset, then chances
are your only choice for video card expansion would be a PCI video
card. This is very different from PCI Express (PCIe), which is also
very different from PCI-X (which is actually backward compatible
with PCI). AGP is the older equivalent of the current PCI-Express.
With that said, if you have neither AGP nor PCI Express slots
(either one is to be desired for video cards), then you'll have to
get a PCI video card. Since I've not used one of those in ages,
I'll leave the recommendations of individual products to others.
Click to expand...
 
Description: The Intel Desktop Board D915GEV can help your digital life with support for Pentium 4 processors, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900, PCI Express graphics, DDR2 memory, and Intel High Definition Audio. The Intel 915G chipset is compatible with Pentium 4 processors with front bus speeds up to 800MHz, and can accommodate up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM. It features six available PCI slots, a PCI x16 graphics card slot, eight USB 2.0 ports, three IEEE 1394a ports, four Serial ATA interfaces and an Intel 82562EZ Ethernet controller. Minimize

Lin Evans wrote:
\
Member said:
Looks like that board only has PCI Express 16 slot....

Lin
Mr_Pither said:
He needs a PCI card. The 9800 is an AGP card.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the info.....But I'm still looking for a FEW Suggestions for specific Cards....

So if anyone can recommend a decent pci express card I would be forever grateful

thanks

--
Rich
 
Thanks... I thought the 915 chipset sounded old, hence the assumption that it was like an old Intel system I worked with that had no PCIe or AGP expansion.
 
Ok, so we figured out you need a PCI x16 card. As Barry F. asked, do you have any other requirements for this card besides graphics, such as video editing, CAD, 3d modelling, computer slide shows, etc.
Do you need dual monitor support?
What type of monitor are you using?
What is your budget?

I'm partial to ATI cards for no real reason. ATI Fire GL cards are comparable to Matrox in the fact that they are more for 2d workstation applications than gaming, BUT, an all around gaming card will suit your needs just as well, if not better. Most people here I believe, use a standard graphics card and look at some of the great stuff posted in these forums.
Here's a PDF explaining the Fire Gl series cards.
http://www.ati.com/products/workstation/FireGLvsRadeon_Datasheet.pdf

I can't give you a specific card to buy, but looking at the Matrox 650, it looks as though it tops out at 64mb of memory. At least the few I looked at. You may want to go with something with more memory than 64mb.

As I've stated above, I have an old outdated ATI 8500 that works just fine, though at multiple layers, 20 or so, it gets a little bogged down, but that could be due to my CPU and/or PSPX.

Mr_Pither
 
If you're not running a dual-monitor set up (you only have and will have one monitor), I would strongly reccomend you get one of the ATI All-in-Wonder cards. They have a cable decoder that allows you to watch TV on your monitor as well as do video editing. They have one DVI slot on the back, and the cable hookups. Great for video watching/editing and PSing and anything else you might need. Only $120+S&H at newgg. This of course is just my suggestion. YMMV. Have fun!

Justin

BTW, here's the link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Category=38&N=2010380048+1069609641+1305520549+106790809+1067918673&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=48

--

'I know you believe you understood what you think I said but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.' -Anonymous
 
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