Video Card

[Benjamin Gawert]

* Merrill P. L. Worthington:

I'm building a computer for my wife. Because of some of the CAD work
she does, its necessary to use a video card with accurate color
rendering. The build will use an ASUS A8N-VM CSM (939 board) with
on-board video. I know from first hand experience that the color is not
all that accurate

I'm not sure what you mean with "not accurate" colors. There is no
difference in color accuracy on all somewhat newer gfx cards.

Besides that, color accuracy is important for applications like picture
editing but it's one of the most unimportant things for CAD...

The bottom line is that I'm looking for a PCI-Express 16X video card for
her system. I'd like to keep the price of the card below $100 (newegg
or zipzoomfly pricing). I'm stingy and don't want to share memory even
though the system will have a gig. Other critical components include a
San Diego 3700 and a couple of WD2500KS drives (not RAID anything).

Any suggestions?

Without knowing what exact applications she runs and what the usual
project sizes are ("CAD" is a very wide field) it's difficult to say,
but if sh is not using lower end programs like AutoCAD and doesn't do
CAD just for a hobby then I'd recommend getting a Nvidia Quadro FX or
ATI FireGL card. There are several models with different performance and
price, recommending a particular model qould require more details from
your side.

Benjamin

 

[know code]

[purposely top-posted]

Yep, you're right. This is usenet. Its not the message that counts,
its the format.

.. .- --. .-. . . .-- .. - .... - .... .. ... .--. --- ... -

..-- . .-.. .-.. .. -.. --- -. .----. - --..-- ... --- - .... .
..-. . .-.-.

 

[Mitch Crane]

[purposely top-posted]

Yep, you're right. This is usenet. Its not the message that counts,
its the format.

.. .- --. .-. . . .-- .. - .... - .... .. ... .--. --- ... -

.-- . .-.. .-.. .. -.. --- -. .----. - --..-- ... --- - .... .
.-. . .-.-.

-. .--.

 

[Merrill P. L. Worthington]

* Merrill P. L. Worthington:



I'm not sure what you mean with "not accurate" colors. There is no
difference in color accuracy on all somewhat newer gfx cards.

Besides that, color accuracy is important for applications like picture
editing but it's one of the most unimportant things for CAD...

Her "CAD" application is for home machine embroidery design so it is
color sensitive. Its a small business for her.

As far as color accuracy, I have seen different shades of color from
different cards. Have not idea what causes this, but it seems that the
6150 video in the ASUS boards I've seen seem to have different tome
balance from other chipsets.

 

[Benjamin Gawert]

* Merrill P. L. Worthington:

Her "CAD" application is for home machine embroidery design so it is
color sensitive. Its a small business for her.

Ok, I see. In this case colors definitely are an issue.

As far as color accuracy, I have seen different shades of color from
different cards. Have not idea what causes this, but it seems that the
6150 video in the ASUS boards I've seen seem to have different tome
balance from other chipsets.

What display? CRT or TFT?

If you need color accuracy then you should be aware that there is no
"more accurate" gfx card. If color accuracy is needed then the whole
chain (gfx card -> monitor -> printout) has to be calibrated. That's
what the color calibration settings in the gfx drivers are for, and
that's where calibration tools like color sensors are needed.

Benjamin

 

[know code]

[purposely top-posted]

Yep, you're right. This is usenet. Its not the message that counts,
its the format.
.. .- --. .-. . . .-- .. - .... - .... .. ... .--. --- ... -

.-- . .-.. .-.. .. -.. --- -. .----. - --..-- ... --- - .... .
.-. . .-.-.

-. .--.

..- -. -.-- - . -- .

 

[know code]

Mitch Crane wrote:
[purposely top-posted]

Yep, you're right. This is usenet. Its not the message that
counts, its the format.
.. .- --. .-. . . .-- .. - .... - .... .. ... .--. --- ... -
.-- . .-.. .-.. .. -.. --- -. .----. - --..-- ... --- -
.... . .-. . .-.-.

-. .--.

.- -. -.-- - . -- .

Whoops! Should read
..- -. - .. -- .

 

[Mitch Crane]

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S_OK

 

[John Smithe]

I'm building a computer for my wife. Because of some of the CAD work
she does, its necessary to use a video card with accurate color
rendering. The build will use an ASUS A8N-VM CSM (939 board) with
on-board video. I know from first hand experience that the color is not
all that accurate, but OK for my own use. But IMO, not good enough for
the boss.

The bottom line is that I'm looking for a PCI-Express 16X video card for
her system. I'd like to keep the price of the card below $100 (newegg
or zipzoomfly pricing). I'm stingy and don't want to share memory even
though the system will have a gig. Other critical components include a
San Diego 3700 and a couple of WD2500KS drives (not RAID anything).

Any suggestions?

Take a look at this:

http://www.colorvision.com/index_us.html

To get good color accuracy a device like the above are what you need. No
card/monitor combination will do accurate color without some sort of
calibration. In other words, the card doesn't matter as much as calibrating
it does.

 

[Mark Cassino]

I'm building a computer for my wife. Because of some of the CAD work she
does, its necessary to use a video card with accurate color rendering.
The build will use an ASUS A8N-VM CSM (939 board) with on-board video. I
know from first hand experience that the color is not all that accurate,
but OK for my own use. But IMO, not good enough for the boss.

The bottom line is that I'm looking for a PCI-Express 16X video card for
her system. I'd like to keep the price of the card below $100 (newegg or
zipzoomfly pricing). I'm stingy and don't want to share memory even
though the system will have a gig. Other critical components include a
San Diego 3700 and a couple of WD2500KS drives (not RAID anything).

Any suggestions?

It sounds like its not so much the video card as calibrating the card and
monitor. I don't use CAD programs but use PhotoShop extensively. There are
a variety of devices that will help calibrate your video card and monitor
so, in theory, the colors you see on the screen are accurate. Just google
"computer color calibration" and you'll get tons of info.

With digital photos a color profile that defines the color space used in the
image is embedded in the file when it is saved. In theory another calbrated
system will show the same colors, and output devices (e.g. printers) will
also use the color profile to approximate the same colors. The main
limitation is that different devices have a different gamut (range of
colors) that they can display.

So you might want to look for a color calibration device. One simple
approach - Adobe includes a program called "Adobe Gamma" with PhotoShop. You
run it and visually calibrate the Red, Green, and Blue channels. It then
creates and saves a custom profile for your monitor that corrects for color
shifts in the monitor itself. It's very basic, but is vastly better than
nothing.

Lasty - you might want to check the basic monitor settings. I don't know
about CAD but for photo work setting the monitor to a warmer temperature
(e.g. 6500 K) vs a cooler temp (like 9500) is a first step.

HTH -

MCC

 

[No one]

I thought this thread was about a video card, not people fighting about
signatures!!!
I guess I should consider the source.......
Does anyone have anything to contribute to the video card question?

 

[Mitch Crane]

I thought this thread was about a video card, not people fighting
about signatures!!!
I guess I should consider the source.......
Does anyone have anything to contribute to the video card question?

Please try to stay on topic and read the entire thread before complaining
that the question wasn't answered. Your post did not contribute any usable
information in answer to the question at hand.