Video card recommendations

[Rick Lipkin]

To All

I only have loaded build 5744 and the Vista Basic theme here ( unfortunitly
... on-board video is only 128 mg sharable 82915g\910gl express chipset ) and
would like to run Aero. In searching the recommended Vista specs .. I see
mentioned 128 mg or greater supporting directx9 or greater.

I have a nice system .. but the on-board video is weak. This is a relatively
new system p4 dual core 3.0 ghz with 1mg memory. Unfortunitly the
mothreboard does not have an agp slot nor does it have any pci-x slots .. so
the only option I have is plain ole pci.

I have been looking thru the 'Best buy' video cards on line and nVidia and
Ati seem to be the most available, nVidia seems to have a broader selection
of pci cards where Ait is agp or pci-x ..

I am looking for a modest video card that will run Aero ( pci, 256 mg mem )
and would like to hear some suggestions before I go out and make a possible
mistake.

Your comments are most welcome.

Rick Lipkin

 

[Travis King]

If you're willing to spend over $100 for a PCI video card with 256MB of
video RAM, here's a really good option...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103016
If you're on a budget, here's something else to try with 256MB of video
RAM...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133007

 

[Rick Lipkin]

Travis

As it just so happends .. I went to three places today and I did see the
nVidia card for around 89.00 but was skeptical it would run Aero .. however
the box had all the specs .. I went down the road to Circuit City and found
the ATI x1300 Radon card. Did not realize just how hard it was to find a
plain ole pci card. Down-right amazed my ( new ) computer did not have pci-x
or agp .. I guess the 800 dollar price, processor and memory caught my eye.

Just to let you know .. I took a chance on the ATI card and it was a WINNER
... for those of you that add or change video cards .. you have to update the
performance rating .. and in doing so it sets up the Aero scheme. When I
first plugged in the new card .. Vista found the driver without me inserting
the cd .. ( good news ) .. but I had 'no aero'. For hoots and grins .. I
re-ran the performance index .. re-booted and there was Aero.

Granted .. pci is not very speedy .. but for those of you without agp or
pci-x .. the x1300 Ati Radon card is a winner .. prox 120.00 with a 20
dollar rebate.

Rick Lipkin

 

[Travis King]

I've got an Ati Radeon X1600 PRO (AGP 8x) 256MB GDDR2 video card and runs
Glass without a problem. Getting an Windows Experience Index rating in the
4's with this video card.

 

[Gary Mount]

I would replace the mother board. You could probably get a cheap one that
supports agp video and your current processor.
It might support your current ram as well.
What's a p4 dual core? Is that p4 with Hyper Threading? If so, that's what I
have in my 3 year old system (my best system I have at the moment).
I am running RC2 (build 5744), and every thing works great. Video is ATI
Radeon 9600 AGP 8x running with Aero on, and two 1600 x 1200 pixel monitors.

 

[Guest]

ATI or NVIDIA, it is your choice. As far as a good video card for Vista, for
Aero and such, I can tell you that I originally had an onboard NVIDIA 6150 LE
and it worked, but not well. I upgraded by going to best buy and got a PCI
Express 7300 GS ($104)
And it solved most of my video issues. the WEI isn't much higher, but the
perfoemance of it is outstanding.

Hope this helps.

 

[Rick Lipkin]

Gary

This pc is a HP Pavalion a1040n .. not really a dual core but emt64 P4 ht
630 chip .. it will run xp64 and Vista 64 if I like .. I just have no real
reason right now to dip into 64 bit.

I manage IT for about 400 people for Dept of Health and bought this "off the
shelf" pc and I really had no idea what the motherboard supported.

Very shocked when I opened the 'hood' and did not find an agp slot .. and
even worse .. no pci-e slots... severly limiting my video options .. and ya
know .. I knew better.

Anyway .. I was 'thrilled' to find this Ati card .. been all over town and
was resigned to buying an nVidia card off the internet. Circuit City gave me
a money back guarantee that if it did not work I could return it ..

Just thought I would pass on my experience to the group .. there ( still )
is a pci solution out there and as long as it meets the 256 mg and direct9x
requiments .. you can run 'aero'.

Thanks
Rick Lipkin