Do I Need A New Card?

[@home]

I have at the moment an Nvidea GeForce 7100GS Graphics card.

I was looking to replace it but wasn't sure if it would be worth the money. Maybe you can advise.

I don't play games on my PC but I really do like a good picture, I have a HP monitor running on DVI with a 1680x1050 resolution. I am Vista Ultimate & XP Home. Core 2 Duo Processor

I have my eye on these two card but haven't decided which one to go for if at all...
1 ~ http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

2 ~ http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...DTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GV-NX85T512HP)

Any help & advise much appreciated on whether I need a new card or not?

Cheers

 

[Pilky01]

what do you do on your computer? films? tv? just web browsing?

 

[Pilky01]

actully just read your running vista, does vista areo work with your card?

 

[@home]

I do mostly Web Browsing, yes. I do a little photo work & some films.

Cheers

 

[Dark_Angel]

I am actually running the same card for work, there is a little difference in Aero performance and Photoshop redrawing between that and my 8800 GTS, but you certainly don't need anything amazing for just 2d work.

I would possibly be tempted with an ATI card (as I seem to mention a lot recently) the 3450 is very popular with media based systems or those that use a lot of photowork.

For example http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-078-MS

Is even passive to save on noise, DVI, HDMI and 256 MB of ram for about 25 pounds.

Up to you if you want to buy it though, it really depends if a bit of extra speed in windows redraw and faster rendering photoshop (not a massive difference BTW) is worth 25 pounds. Personally I would get it, but more because I think an updated card generally looks better in terms of image quality. But that is just me

 

[@home]

When you say you are running the same card...Do you mean the Nvidea GeForce 7100GS Graphics card?

 

[Dark_Angel]

Yes, at work.

 

[Trunks9486]

i reccomend the 3650 (GDDR3), its not too expensive and offers considerably higher performance to 3450.

 

[@home]

Anymore help?

 

[theforce]

If you don't play games at all get the ATI 3450. ( can still play old games decently).
If you plan on doing some casual gaming then get the 3650 as Trunks said.

 

[Dark_Angel]

No games really means a low power usage card, which has its own ram of course and good image quality, which the 3450 fits the bill for.

If you want to play games though, something more powerful will be the better choice.