Cheapest Aero Compatible Card

blighter · 31 Jan 2007 at 15:41

my first post in GC so hi to everyone!

i just installed Vista Ultimate on my main PC (not a great PC but nevermind!)
basically, i'm a college student on a low budget and was wondering what some of the cheapest cards are out there that will fully support Aero etc.
I hardly ever play games on the PC so don't need a top of the range one etc

sorry if it sounds n00bish but i am a newbie when it comes to graphics cards

Booner! · 31 Jan 2007 at 15:50

Edit:

I read up on it, here you go:
NVIDIA desktop GPUs
"Windows Vista Ready:"
GeForce 7900 GPUs
GeForce 7800 GPUs
GeForce 7600 GPUs
GeForce 7300 GPUs
GeForce 6800 GPUs
GeForce 6600 GPUs
GeForce 6500 GPUs
GeForce 6200 GPUs
GeForce 6100/6150 GPUs
GeForce FX 5900 GPUs
GeForce FX 5700 GPUs
GeForce FX 5600 GPUs
GeForce FX 5500 GPUs
GeForce FX 5200 GPUs
GeForce PCX GPUs

- Radeon® 9500, 9550, 9600, 9650, 9700, 9800, X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
- Radeon® X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900 series
- Mobility™ Radeon® 9550, 9600, 9700, 9800, X300, X600, X700, X800
- Mobility™ Radeon® X1300, X1400, X1600, X1800

Just found those lists if that helps at all

jaykay · 31 Jan 2007 at 15:51

i thought aero was dx9 not 10?

titaniumx3 · 31 Jan 2007 at 15:54

Are you sure? I ran aero glass on a 9800 pro perfectly.

Darkwave · 31 Jan 2007 at 15:56

Aero Glass requires DirectX 9, not 10.

MeatLoaf · 31 Jan 2007 at 15:57

A 6200 should be fine id think

melbourne720 · 31 Jan 2007 at 16:00

Agreed, I think Aero is DX9. So I think that it is 1GB of system RAM, 128MB of video card RAM, and dx9 as Aero requirements.

I would guess that the following would be the minimum:-

Leadtek GeForce 7100 GS Turbo Cache 512MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-103-LT

or on AGP

Leadtek GeForce 7300 GT 256MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (AGP)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-104-LT

blighter · 31 Jan 2007 at 16:57

so if i got a http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...rodid=GX-103-LT i could just plug it in and use a DVI-VGA converter to use it on my monitor? sorry just really don't know what i'm on about with graphics cards.
just noticed it says 1024MB memory required to use the 512MB to full extent... i only have 512MB ram atm so will this effect performance? :confused:

LoadsaMoney · 31 Jan 2007 at 17:22

Yup Aero is Dx9, Dx10 is only in Vista to run games with Dx10 features, thats all Dx10 is for.

LanceCrossfire · 31 Jan 2007 at 18:00

you'll find aero will even run on a lot of intergrated chips also

blighter · 5 Feb 2007 at 11:06

DOH, arrived saturday and didnt realise it was a express PCI card

is there any other aero compatible card thats cheap cos i really dont want to spend £50+

i have 1 x AGP and a few spare AGP slots

SinaiSound · 5 Feb 2007 at 11:11

Got a HP dx5750 on the desk next to me which uses an Ati Express 200 integrated graphics and that runs aero fine.

We did have to up the amount of RAM that the onboard graphics card uses though as the default 32mb wouldn't work.

Dureth · 5 Feb 2007 at 11:11

You have 1 agp slot and a few PCI slots.

From OCUK this is your cheapest option:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-009-HT
It's not a gaming monster but it is DX9 so should run aero ok.

Will_3rd · 5 Feb 2007 at 11:13

blighter said:
i have 1 x AGP and a few spare PCI slots

I think you mean the above

Damn beaten to it

posted a more expensive Nvidia card anyways

blighter · 5 Feb 2007 at 11:37

Dureth said:
You have 1 agp slot and a few PCI slots.

From OCUK this is your cheapest option:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-009-HT
It's not a gaming monster but it is DX9 so should run aero ok.

great, thanks a lot

will order as soon as my refund clears!

btw, OcUK customer service is the best i've seen in a long time... sorted out a refund in about 10 seconds :eek:

blighter · 9 Feb 2007 at 00:03

ok just installed it...

put it in, booted up, windows automatically installed drivers, reset, booted up, and wooo - full aero compatibility

thanks guys!

just a quick question... when a app is maximised it makes the start bar and window title black rather then transparent, is this meant to happen?

Vengance · 9 Feb 2007 at 07:37

Booner! said:
Edit:

I read up on it, here you go:
NVIDIA desktop GPUs
"Windows Vista Ready:"
GeForce 7900 GPUs
GeForce 7800 GPUs
GeForce 7600 GPUs
GeForce 7300 GPUs
GeForce 6800 GPUs
GeForce 6600 GPUs
GeForce 6500 GPUs
GeForce 6200 GPUs
GeForce 6100/6150 GPUs
GeForce FX 5900 GPUs
GeForce FX 5700 GPUs
GeForce FX 5600 GPUs
GeForce FX 5500 GPUs
GeForce FX 5200 GPUs
GeForce PCX GPUs

- Radeon® 9500, 9550, 9600, 9650, 9700, 9800, X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
- Radeon® X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900 series
- Mobility™ Radeon® 9550, 9600, 9700, 9800, X300, X600, X700, X800
- Mobility™ Radeon® X1300, X1400, X1600, X1800

Just found those lists if that helps at all

just dont expect to find any official drivers for the 5 series cards. Mate had one in his pc, had to get some modified .inf file to get the drivers to install ><

Griffyn · 9 Feb 2007 at 10:45

Aero is definitely DX9 as im using it

. Vista is pretty cool tbh the only problem I have had is the fact when I install new Adobe on it, it messses up with the gpu drivers :S Apart from that it all works well and is actually really stable. But defo recommend leaving an intact XP partition in case you need it.

However DX 10 can only be used on Vista, which is how MS plan on capturing the gaming market even though Vista for most games is slower. But if you have a decent setup games are all still playable on Vista, and some benefit like BF2142 which is my fav game atm RESULT!.

Vai · 9 Feb 2007 at 10:47

blighter said:
ok just installed it...

put it in, booted up, windows automatically installed drivers, reset, booted up, and wooo - full aero compatibility thanks guys!

just a quick question... when a app is maximised it makes the start bar and window title black rather then transparent, is this meant to happen?

Yes, unfortunately they think the black title bars look nice