Graphic Cards for any occaision.
Jun 11 '00
When purchasing a graphics card, you really need to know what you are going to be using it for. Will it be video capture and editing, gaming, high-end graphical design or maybe just casual usage.
There are many different video cards out there. I for one have always looked for cards that I was going to be able to game with. For this reason, I have never looked into anything with video ins or outs. But if you do plan on going that route, make sure that you get a card that is going to have both a video in, and a video out.
The next thing to look for, is how much on-board RAM the card has. Anything under 16 MB of Video RAM, is probably going to need to be overlooked when buying a new video card. There are many video cards out there with 32 and 64 megs of Video RAM, but 16 should really be your minimum requirement. You would be amazed at that speed upgrade from a 4 meg card to a 16, so make sure you have at least that.
If you are going into the gaming cards, you have to find your price point, then take a look at the Voodoo and nVidia chipsets. For gaming, if you don't have one of these, then you are just wasting your money. Almost all games today, will run with either of these two chipsets, and the graphics you will see will be stunning.
If you are into just casual usage, then you are primarily able to choose whatever you want. Whether it is AGP or PCI, 4 megs, 8 megs, or 16megs. You might as well get something that has higher RAM in your pricepoint, as this will not force you to upgrade right away. I would still recommend one of the gaming cards, as these will allow you to play any games, as well be a nice workhorse for your system.
But all in all, make sure you are buying a card for the features you will be using. If you don't do this, you will be wasting your money on something you may never use. It is always a good idea to do your research. Once you have the types of cards narrowed done, hop on uBid, eBay or computer shopper online, and start looking for the lowest prices you can find.
Additional note: if you buy an OEM card, this means you will not get any sort of documentation, bascially just the drivers you will need to install, so for the beginner, make sure you know what you are doing before you buy the cheaper OEM version.
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Epinions.com ID:
dkoepke49
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Member: Daniel Koepke
Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Reviews written: 66
Trusted by: 5 members
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