Integrated Video vs Standalone Video

[keving98]

I recently built a computer based on the Asus M2A-VM motherboard and
the AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ processor. The motherboard is equipped
with the ATI Radeon X1250 chipset, 2GB Corsair Memory and I'm running
Windows Vista Business. I just added an Asus EN6200TC512 video card
hoping to boost the performance of Vista a little bit. The card is a
PCIExpress with 256MB DDR2 memory. I don't play any games or video
intensive applications whatsoever.

My question is: after adding the card my Vista "Graphics" and "Gaming
Graphics" performance scores dropped slightly from 3.6 and 3.1 to 3.6
and 3.0 respectively. I only paid $45 dollars for the Asus video card
so I wasn't expecting a huge boost but I was expecting some kind of
boost. Is it possible the integrated ATI chip is slightly better than
the Asus card? Do I need to spend $200 on a video card to see any
performance improvements with Vista?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin G

 

[keving98]

I'm not an expert when it comes to Asus and ATI cards (I'm more of a
GeForce person) but I can say that it may be possible that the
integrated gfx card had some features your stand-alone card doesn't.
E.g. GeForce 2 didn't have 'water reflection effects' while GeForce 3
(and above) has.

Although since you stated that you don't use graphic-intensive
applications, as long as you aren't encountering any problems, stick
with the cards. I don't think it will lessen the performance of Vista.

This card is actually a GeForce 6200 LE if that helps.

Kevin G

 

[keving98]

This card is actually a GeForce 6200 LE if that helps.

Kevin G

Correction:

It's a GeForce 6200TC.

Kevin G

 

[JW]

What is the integrated card and how much memory does it have?
And how much onboard mememory does your 6200 TC have on board.
For Vista Aero you need a 128MB of graphics memory and if a TC card I
believe that 64MB of it has to be on the card.
I have onbard Intel 945 graphics and they are as powerfull as 6600GS card
and work with all 128MB of memory coming from shared memory.

 

[keving98]

What is the integrated card and how much memory does it have?
And how much onboard mememory does your 6200 TC have on board.
For Vista Aero you need a 128MB of graphics memory and if a TC card I
believe that 64MB of it has to be on the card.
I have onbard Intel 945 graphics and they are as powerfull as 6600GS card

The "Max. Shared Memory" of the integrated ATI is 256MB. The 6200 TC
has 256MB on board (512MB Effective Memory).

Kevin G

 

[keving98]

The "Max. Shared Memory" of the integrated ATI is 256MB. The 6200 TC
has 256MB on board (512MB Effective Memory).

Kevin G

The integrated video chip is an ATI Radeon Xpress 1250.

 

[JW]

AFAIK the ATI 1250 actully is based on a ATI X600 chip which is a lot more
powerfull chip and fully capable of processing HDTV programs with MC then a
Nvidai 6200 which can not process HDTV programs with MC you need a 6600GT
chip to handle HDTV.

 

[keving98]

AFAIK the ATI 1250 actully is based on a ATI X600 chip which is a lot more
powerfull chip and fully capable of processing HDTV programs with MC then a
Nvidai 6200 which can not process HDTV programs with MC you need a 6600GT

I ended up returning the Asus video card and sticking with the
integrated ATI. I have no need for a high performance video card and
so far Vista is not perceptibly slower on my machine than XP.

Thanks.