Radeon 9250 and Vista aero interface

[Lee M.]

The MS site says this card is ok but the ATI site says it's not because the
pixel and vertex shader versions are not 2.0. There are no ATI Vista
drivers available for the 9250. Do I really need a better card (ATI says
9500 or higher) to run the aero interface acceptably? Will a more powerful
card offload the CPU for Vista or will the minimum capable card be ok?

Thanks.

 

[First of One]

The MS site says this card is ok but the ATI site says it's not because
the pixel and vertex shader versions are not 2.0. There are no ATI Vista
drivers available for the 9250. Do I really need a better card (ATI says
9500 or higher) to run the aero interface acceptably?

Correct. The Radeon 9250 cannot run Aero. If you install Vista, it will use
the preloaded drivers on the Vista disc and display the basic interface.

Will a more powerful card offload the CPU for Vista or will the minimum
capable card be ok?

On installation, Vista runs a series of tests on the system to determine
what visual features the video card can comfortably sustain. Upon detecting
a less powerful card, it scales back the visuals. "Aero" isn't a hard
switch. The OS can turn on/off individual elements like transluscent
windows, shadows, etc. The CPU won't do more work if the video card is weak.

To turn on all the styling elements in Aero you generally will need a Shader
2.0-capable card with at least 256 MB of video RAM. It will run you only
about $50 on eBay (Radeon 9800).