Video card 2D performance ratings?

[Doug Warner]

Getting ready to build first new system in about 5 years.
(Currently 2.4G P4 on Soyo P4S Dragon & ATI Radeon 9800 Pro)

All the comparisons I see for video cards are all about gaming, frame
rates, rendering, etc. Now, while I appreciate good game performance,
I spend most of my time looking at text on the screen. Sharp. crisp
analog video performance is probably a non-issue in high speed gaming,
but for high resolution text, fuzzy video is definitely a strain.

Has anyone rated current cards for 2D video quality, or are they all
so perfect in this respect that it doesn't really matter.

(I have two 21" CRT's, no need to go LCD at this time.. )

 

[Dave]

Getting ready to build first new system in about 5 years.
(Currently 2.4G P4 on Soyo P4S Dragon & ATI Radeon 9800 Pro)

All the comparisons I see for video cards are all about gaming, frame
rates, rendering, etc. Now, while I appreciate good game performance,
I spend most of my time looking at text on the screen. Sharp. crisp
analog video performance is probably a non-issue in high speed gaming,
but for high resolution text, fuzzy video is definitely a strain.

Has anyone rated current cards for 2D video quality, or are they all
so perfect in this respect that it doesn't really matter.

(my reply)

Pretty much. I use newish 3D cards, ATI at work, nvidia at home. Text is
crisp and clear. If you still need a vga output, make sure your video card
has that. It WILL have DVI connector, which you will use eventually. Some
of them have two DVI, others have both DVI and VGA. -Dave

 

[gooooaaallllll]

Getting ready to build first new system in about 5 years.
(Currently 2.4G P4 on Soyo P4S Dragon & ATI Radeon 9800 Pro)

All the comparisons I see for video cards are all about gaming, frame
rates, rendering, etc. Now, while I appreciate good game performance,
I spend most of my time looking at text on the screen. Sharp. crisp
analog video performance is probably a non-issue in high speed gaming,
but for high resolution text, fuzzy video is definitely a strain.

Has anyone rated current cards for 2D video quality, or are they all
so perfect in this respect that it doesn't really matter.

(I have two 21" CRT's, no need to go LCD at this time.. )
--

Matrox used to have the advantage in 2D display quality,
but not any more. You won't see any difference among
current video card designs from Nvidia, ATI, Matrox etc.
Virtually all of them use 400MHz RAMDACs, and the
exact same output filters on their analog signals.

With CRT/analog monitors you should invest in good
quality cables, especially if they have BNC inputs.

If you do mostly text work, you're better off making the
move to a good quality digital LCD, and keep one of
your CRTs for gaming and video.

 

[gooooaaallllll]

crisp and clear. If you still need a vga output, make sure your video card
has that. It WILL have DVI connector, which you will use eventually. Some
of them have two DVI, others have both DVI and VGA. -Dave

I recently moved to a 7800GS+ card with dual DVI, even though
I'm still using a 21" CRT. Even with the VGA adapter there's no
loss of 2D display quality (but I run at 1280x1024, which is
probably not stressing it too much).