Looking for a "pretty good" PCI-E video card ...

[Cessna 310]

More important is Direct X 10 compliant. Good luck finding one under $450.

$450? Either there are pretty many out there or I'm just, as you say,
lucky:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130082

 

[J. Clarke]

A trully Aero capable card is gonna cost no less than $400.

Lemme guess, you've never actually _seen_ Vista. All features of Aero
run fine on my Radeon 9600.

 

[J. Clarke]

More important is Direct X 10 compliant. Good luck finding one under
$450.

Why is DirectX 10 compliance "important" if one is not a gamer?

 

[J. Clarke]

I'll stick to XP, thank you.

What advantage does Vista offer that's worth the cost of upgrade? And
why does it require a $400 video card to run it?

For me it's the ability to join a domain without playing any tricks
while still being able to run Media Center.

For some folks it's the support for CableCard.

For some there's no benefit at all.

And it most assuredly does not require a $400 video card. "No One" is
clueless on that point.

 

[No One]

Why is it important to have a card that's DirX10 compliant? Won't the
current crop of 9 cards work?

No, they will not. Currently, only the nVidia 8800 line works with
Direct X 10.

 

[No One]

$450? Either there are pretty many out there or I'm just, as you say,
lucky:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130082

That's quite interesting since nVidia stated no 8800 line card would
have less than 512MB of RAM.

 

[No One]

For me it's the ability to join a domain without playing any tricks
while still being able to run Media Center.

For some folks it's the support for CableCard.

For some there's no benefit at all.

And it most assuredly does not require a $400 video card. "No One" is
clueless on that point.

Please reread the thread. I was not saying Vista requires a card that
powerful, just the Aero interface. Many people are running Vista on far
less vid equipment, but not the Aero interface. Vista steps itself down
quite nicely depending on how powerful your computer is. The more power
you have, the more it becomes a hog.

 

[No One]

Lemme guess, you've never actually _seen_ Vista. All features of Aero
run fine on my Radeon 9600.

Yes I have, but I still don't know why I want to rotate all my windows
and watch streaming videos sideways or backwards.

 

[J. Clarke]

Please reread the thread. I was not saying Vista requires a card that
powerful, just the Aero interface.

I read the thread. You're full of crap. I have all features of Aero
enabled on my laptop with a Radeon 9600, which goes for 50 bucks these
days. Of course it's less capable than any PCI Express card from ATI.

Many people are running Vista on
far less vid equipment, but not the Aero interface. Vista steps
itself down quite nicely depending on how powerful your computer is.
The more power you have, the more it becomes a hog.

Yes, it can step itself down, but it doesn't step down anything on my
machine. It tells you what is has enabled and what it hasn't and
everything is enabled.

And it is far less a "hog" than most people who have not used it seem to
think.

 

[J. Clarke]

No, they will not. Currently, only the nVidia 8800 line works with
Direct X 10.

Not this crap again. Went through it with DX 9--you must not have been
old enough to read then.

Just about any current video board will work with DX10. What it won't
do is provide hardware acceleration for new features unique to DX10.
The nVidia 8800 line has that hardware acceleration, but if it is not
present then depending on the feature DX10 will either use soft
emulation or will simply disable the feature. There's nothing in Aero
that requires that those new features be accelerated in hardware.

 

[J. Clarke]

Yes I have, but I still don't know why I want to rotate all my windows
and watch streaming videos sideways or backwards.

Oh, now all is clear. You saw a demo and now you're an expert.

I have no idea what you mean by "rotate all my windows". Are you
talking about Flip3d which has nothing to do with viewing things
sideways or backwards, or are you talking about support for pivoting
displays or are you talking about an undocumented feature?

I have it running on several machines, with Aero fully enabled, that you
claim are incapable of running Aero.

It's nice that you're willing to share more than you know in order to
help people but you need to learn the limits of your knowledge.

 

[Cessna 310]

No, they will not. Currently, only the nVidia 8800 line works with
Direct X 10.

You didn't answer the question. Let's try it again....

Why is it important to have (use) a card that is DirectX compliant?
Won't the current crop pf DirectX cards work? Will they not operate in
Vista and give desired results?

 

[Cessna 310]

That's quite interesting since nVidia stated no 8800 line card would
have less than 512MB of RAM.

Guess you're not keeping up with current events, eh?

 

[Cessna 310]

Yes I have, but I still don't know why I want to rotate all my windows
and watch streaming videos sideways or backwards.

No One, in your last message you wrote:

"Please reread the thread. I was not saying Vista requires a card that
powerful, just the Aero interface. Many people are running Vista on far
less vid equipment, but not the Aero interface. Vista steps itself down
quite nicely depending on how powerful your computer is. The more power
you have, the more it becomes a hog."


You've been saying that Aero requires a DirectX 10 compatible video
card. But it seems that all those Aero features that you say require a
DirX card run on a Radeon 9600.

So what's the story?

And bottom line, what advantage to Vista bring to the table that
justifies migration from XP?

 

[DRS]

[...]

Please reread the thread. I was not saying Vista requires a card that
powerful, just the Aero interface. Many people are running Vista on
far less vid equipment, but not the Aero interface. Vista steps
itself down quite nicely depending on how powerful your computer is. The
more power you have, the more it becomes a hog.

For your own sake, if no-one else's, read up on the Aero specs. Aero does
not require DX10 nor does it require a monster graphics card. The Geforce 5
series is Aero rated, for heaven's sake!

 

[Roger]

The GTX is usually around $600. Some versions of the FTS are showing
up around $the upper $300's.

No, they will not. Currently, only the nVidia 8800 line works with
Direct X 10.

And what works with DX-10? Some programs are slated to eventually
such as FSX.

I'm waiting until something comes out that uses it by which time there
should be more cards and better prices.
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

 

[J. Clarke]

[...]

Please reread the thread. I was not saying Vista requires a card
that powerful, just the Aero interface. Many people are running
Vista on far less vid equipment, but not the Aero interface. Vista
steps
itself down quite nicely depending on how powerful your computer is.
The more power you have, the more it becomes a hog.

For your own sake, if no-one else's, read up on the Aero specs. Aero
does not require DX10 nor does it require a monster graphics card.
The Geforce 5 series is Aero rated, for heaven's sake!

Minor nit here--the only way you can get Aero is bundled with Vista, and
Vista includes DirectX 10, so while from a purely technical viewpoint
Aero may not require DirectX 10, it's rather difficult to get it
installed on any machine that does not have DirectX 10 installed.

On the other hand, there's nothing in it that seems to require hardware
acceleration of the new features of DirectX 10.

 

[linux57]

The GTX is usually around $600. Some versions of the FTS are showing
up around $the upper $300's.

And what works with DX-10? Some programs are slated to eventually
such as FSX.

I'm waiting until something comes out that uses it by which time there
should be more cards and better prices.
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

I'm interested in some justification for getting upgrades that require
this level of performance. For most applications / home PCs, nobody has
shown that there is any justification for DirectX 10 or Vista.

 

[Cessna 310]

On the other hand, there's nothing in it that seems to require hardware
acceleration of the new features of DirectX 10.

That's a key point, but still does not get back to the basic
justification for migrating to Vista.

 

[J. Clarke]

That's a key point, but still does not get back to the basic
justification for migrating to Vista.

If you don't see anything in it that you need then there is no
justification. If you don't want it don't get it.

Asking people who have not the slightest clue what you do with your
computer to give you a justification for upgrading is silly. For all we
know your main use could be to run WordStar on a CP/M emulator.