AGP8 card advice needed, not for gaming

[nononono]

Hi,

I need a new budget AGP8 graphic card, as I have an unreliable
Matrox 450 in PCI slot at the moment.

Have TFT 17" capable of 1280x1024 at 75Hz with DVI but would
like to budget for 1600*1200 as that would be the next step up.
Another future feature would be TV and HDTV outputs but not as
a priority. I don’t need dual monitors that badly any more.

I usually do Photoshop editing and DVD editing and DVD playing.
I don’t do games apart from some basic ones. I value
reliability more than performance. Last year card will do if
reckoned trouble-free. The budget is up to £100 ($150).

Why ask and not Google? I did Google but all reviews and usenet
articles I have seen so far were written from gamers point of
view.

The system is P4 2.5G, Asus P4P800-E mobo, 1 Gb memory. Nothing
is overclocked but it could be if needed.

I use Zalman’s Reserator 1, silent water cooling system for CPU
cooling (excellent!). They have optional cooler bit for graphic
card processors, it would be bonus if it can be used with the
new video card.

I would value your opinions and experiences.

Thanks
ayosha

PS I see often similar card with 64, 128 or 256 MB, would more
memory make any difference for me?

 

[Guest]

Typically all you'll usually find are cards for gaming,but thats ok
too,gamers
are fairly demanding.A descent card that offers most options is the ATI
all in wonder-PCI or AGP.The card has more features than 95% of them,it
runs under 150.00

 

[nononono]

Thanks,

In the meantime I found a couple of informative sites that
would benefit others in the same situation, so there they are:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041110/index.html

and

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050302/index.html

Unfortunately nothing about reliability.

Another rumour I heard on the web is about bad drivers support
from ATI as compared to nVidia, but that could be only the
usual bitching between those two camps.

Any input about that anybody? But please not the usual war.

Your opinions are more than welcome, thanks.
a