Good video card and monitor to go with-GeForce vs. Radeon

[MarkW]

I am undecided against getting one of the faster Radeon cards vs. the
GeForce cards. I don't do a lot of gaming but do a lot of video work
making DVD's, etc. What is better to go with?

As well, I want to get a LCD screen in the range of 17-19 inches. Are
the widescreen good? I can imagine they are mostly for watching dvd's
on the computer or are they good for general computer work?

 

[stacey]

I am undecided against getting one of the faster Radeon cards vs. the
GeForce cards. I don't do a lot of gaming but do a lot of video work
making DVD's, etc. What is better to go with?

As well, I want to get a LCD screen in the range of 17-19 inches. Are
the widescreen good?

For video work you'll want dual monitors..

 

[kony]

I am undecided against getting one of the faster Radeon cards vs. the
GeForce cards. I don't do a lot of gaming but do a lot of video work
making DVD's, etc. What is better to go with?

This type of 2D work doesn't benefit from a "faster" card, a low-end
modern card from either manufacturer is more than enough for video
work, but for whatever gaming you do, that'll dictate the speed the
card needs. The editing depends more on a healthy bus (for the
capture device), fast CPU & memory for processing, and fast HDD if
working with uncompressed video.

The ATI cards have historically had better MPEG, ie- DVD, support,
though nVidia has pretty much caught up. I'd still give the ATI cards
a slight edge in playback though.

 

[RanMan]

How much of a factor is the amount of memory on these cards as it relates to
this subject thread.

I have a Radeon 8500 64mb and am curious to know how much of a difference it
would make upgrading to 128.

I don't game that much or watch that many DVDs, but I do share a lot of mpeg
stuff.

Would I see a big improvement if I upgraded to 128 as far as clarity of
content? Especially if I wanted to watch in full screen?

 

[kony]

How much of a factor is the amount of memory on these cards as it relates to
this subject thread.

For video editing/work? Makes very little difference. You need
enough to display the current resolution and bit depth, which any
semi-modern card can do. 32MB would be plenty.

I have a Radeon 8500 64mb and am curious to know how much of a difference it
would make upgrading to 128.

For video work? No benefit.
Why do you persist in the idea that video card performance matters for
video work? It's 2D, typically 30FPS, isn't very demanding. An old
PCI 4MB ATI card worth $5 could even do it, but as I mentioned above,
having only 4MB of memory it'd be limited to 1024x768x32bpp.

I don't game that much or watch that many DVDs, but I do share a lot of mpeg
stuff.

Would I see a big improvement if I upgraded to 128 as far as clarity of
content? Especially if I wanted to watch in full screen?

No, there would be zero benefit.

 

[RanMan]

Thanks. You just saved me money!!

For video editing/work? Makes very little difference. You need
enough to display the current resolution and bit depth, which any
semi-modern card can do. 32MB would be plenty.


For video work? No benefit.
Why do you persist in the idea that video card performance matters for
video work? It's 2D, typically 30FPS, isn't very demanding. An old
PCI 4MB ATI card worth $5 could even do it, but as I mentioned above,
having only 4MB of memory it'd be limited to 1024x768x32bpp.


No, there would be zero benefit.