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A graphics card for a DAW

Woody Aki

Woody Aki

Woody Aki

Associate
Joined
27 Sep 2005
Posts
15
Location
York (UK)
Hi all...

Now I know that most of you might scoff at what you're about to read here, but since I'm no gamer, I don't have the need for a high-end graphics card. On the contrary, what I'm looking for is a graphics card that gives me the option to use a CRT monitor as well as a LCD monitor in dual mode. It also should be no more than 128 MB in the onboard RAM stakes, and doesn't use any of my actual RAM at all, and fits into an AGP slot. Of course, Matrox seems to be the immediate answer, but I wondered whether I can pull all of this off without having to fork out that much for a card.

I also want to know how to suss out whether a graphics card uses your mobo's RAM or not. What should I look for when choosing a graphics card that's completely reliant on its own RAM?

Cheers in advance!
 
Woody Aki said:
I also want to know how to suss out whether a graphics card uses your mobo's RAM or not.
Click to expand...
Very few modern cards do.

What should I look for when choosing a graphics card that's completely reliant on its own RAM?
Click to expand...
How much are you willing to spend?
 
The only proper graphics cards (if people will excuse me using proper in the same sentence) that use your main memory are the 6200 turbo cache cards... no other graphics card that I know of directly uses your main memory in the place of having its own...


All you need is a GPU with 2 outputs - which are quite common now even on budget cards - just make sure it has dual DVI or 1x DVI + 1x VGA (D-SUB) in the specs...
 
ATI's card with 'Hypermemory' do the same thing as the turbocache cards. Although I'm not sure that any AGP cards used it. Nest bet is to pick up a second hand AGP card, most will have 2 outputs.
 
A radeon 9550 would probably suit you. Has DVI and CRT outputs (so one for each) and costs about £30. Unless you need anything specifically good at something, seems like a cheap and good solution for you. Just turn off AGP aperture in your bios and the card will never so much as look at your ram, and you can use the second monitor to mimic the first, or use it as a wider desktop in windows, which is what I presume you're doing, for music/photo work or something.
 
As a 9800Pro user for years I can guarantee that you will be happy with these cards and I have many times used both a CRT and LCD for graphics work. You should be able to pick one up second hand for less then £50.
 
Another vote for the 9550 here. OCUK sell a 128MB version for a princely £26 + VAT.
The Matrox G550 isn't very expensive these days but the 650 is considerably better but pricier (and harder to find).

Jonathan
 
get a 6200 agp. very cheapo, has purevideo hd video acceleration, also has on die temperature monitoring, passive heatsink, dual outputs - one dvi one vga, full dx9 and shader model 3.0 support, and will run vista areo view fine.
 
I have used the 6200LE PCI-E card on my girlfriends rig and it's a decent enough card that can run most things at low settings. I would still reccommend the slightly pricier 9800Pro as that has roughly twice the grunt of the 6200 in my opinion.

6200 played FEAR at lowest settings (only textures up at medium size) on 680x420 just about playable but looked hideous. Got the res up to 800x600 with a lot of overclocking.

9800Pro played FEAR at 1024x768 medium settings at a better frame rate then the above.

All in all it's down to how much you're willing to spend. The 9800Pro will have you much better future-proofed then the 6200 or the 9550. It will also be a lot smoother if you move to Vista in the future. From my experience with the 6200 I can see it be very stuttery with any kind of shiny vista graphics.
 
Thanks y'all...looks like I'm going for the GeForce 6200 256Mb then, as the GPU speed is faster than the Radeon 9550's.
Your input is much appreciated!
 
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You'd be best to check some benchmarking sites rather than just GPU MHz mate, its like comparing apples to oranges. They're designed diffferently. Best to check benchmarks to make sure you're actually getting the faster one.
 
Hmmm...point taken.
Do you know the right place where to check these benchmarks? Tom's Hardware has a VGA chart, but there's no mention of the Radeon 9550.
 
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Like I said above the 6200 was a terrible card. I'm sure the 9550 is better then it. If you are going to get the 6200 then just make sure you don't get the turbocache version as that will use your system RAM.

Do try looking for a second hand 9800Pro on the auction site. If I weren't giving my old one to my gf I'd sell it to you cheap ;)
 
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