non-gamer choice?

Energize · 9 May 2006 at 21:10

A pci radeon 8500 would do fine.

Gaverick · 9 May 2006 at 22:48

if you are doing video conversion from one format to another consider one of the X1xx cards from Ati, then you can use AvivoXcode which uses the GPU to decrease encoding time. I can convert a 400mb avi to wmv in 6 minutes with a x1800 and 4400+ using avivoXcode, compared to just encoding with CPU in videora xbox 360 convertor which takes 20 minutes

Energize · 9 May 2006 at 23:06

Gaverick said:
if you are doing video conversion from one format to another consider one of the X1xx cards from Ati, then you can use AvivoXcode which uses the GPU to decrease encoding time. I can convert a 400mb avi to wmv in 6 minutes with a x1800 and 4400+ using avivoXcode, compared to just encoding with CPU in videora xbox 360 convertor which takes 20 minutes

You have to use their software though, which doesnt have many options and you cant edit video with it either.

Messiah Khan · 9 May 2006 at 23:18

Even something lower than a 7600 should do the trick. I do quite a bit of Photoshop work on 2x6600gt's. Even with just one switched on, it can more than handle a res of 1920x1200.

easyrider · 9 May 2006 at 23:29

Gaverick said:
if you are doing video conversion from one format to another consider one of the X1xx cards from Ati, then you can use AvivoXcode which uses the GPU to decrease encoding time. I can convert a 400mb avi to wmv in 6 minutes with a x1800 and 4400+ using avivoXcode, compared to just encoding with CPU in videora xbox 360 convertor which takes 20 minutes

What use is that dealing with MIni DV files?

Energize · 9 May 2006 at 23:44

easyrider said:
What use is that dealing with MIni DV files?

Well the op never actually said he was using dv for anything.

bisoner · 9 May 2006 at 23:57

Stelly said:
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-121-SP)

I think thats a great card

Stelly

I don't think this card will fit into the Dell 5150. I also have a Del 5150 and have just ordered a 7900GT because this will fit (according to reports I've read).

Thanks

Brad

Energize · 10 May 2006 at 00:13

Spending £300 gets you the same performance as £20 in video editing. Just get the cheapest one Ill say it again

easyrider · 10 May 2006 at 00:18

Energize said:
Well the op never actually said he was using dv for anything.

No but I'm suprised he wants to limit himself to encoding to wma.

DVD authoring for the win.

The guy is using pro tools so i think he he'll be looking at DVD quality digital encoding and editing.

Energize · 10 May 2006 at 01:01

easyrider said:
No but I'm suprised he wants to limit himself to encoding to wma.

DVD authoring for the win.

The guy is using pro tools so i think he he'll be looking at DVD quality digital encoding and editing.

I agree but it doesnt just encode to wma, it encodes to divx, mpeg 2, mpeg4 etc it supports most of the commonly used formats.

easyrider · 10 May 2006 at 01:06

Energize said:
I agree but it doesnt just encode to wma, it encodes to divx, mpeg 2, mpeg4 etc it supports most of the commonly used formats.

but it wont make any of those formats encode faster.

its the cpu and the codec not the gfx card

Energize · 10 May 2006 at 01:19

easyrider said:
but it wont make any of those formats encode faster.

its the cpu and the codec not the gfx card

The gpu adds its processing power to the encoding process and helps the cpu. The same way a lot of cards have onboard mpeg2 and 4 decoding. Encoding times for mpeg2 --> mpeg 4 can be reduced by 75%, though the quality is slightly less than xvid. Though the last review I read was the january beta.

Punce · 10 May 2006 at 10:41

thanks for the all so many replies, and the heated debate

The 5150 has the Pentium D dual core 2.8, so that would help a lot with the encoding speeds.

Yeah I heard too that some larger cards won't physically fit in the 5150.

I don't want to be busting the £100 point either.

Dual DVI isn't actually a necessity. as long as it has 2 heads with at least 1 being DVI would be sufficient, as the 2nd monitor (17") will only be used for tools pallettes etc.

Gaverick · 10 May 2006 at 12:03

easyrider said:
but it wont make any of those formats encode faster.

its the cpu and the codec not the gfx card

The whole point of this software is to speed up encoding using the graphics cards GPU

squiffy · 10 May 2006 at 14:15

Unless the videocard has a encoder, a more expensive standard graphics card is no faster, you certainly don't need a 512MB 7800GTX or similar :rolleyes:

from another site..

Meida Encoding performance is almost completely dependent on the CPU. This is particularly true with the AMD processor as the memory controller is part of the processor package. Here we see the performance with the same 4000+ remains virtually the same as other encoding results with the same chip. This demonstrates again that the video subsystem, in this case GeFroce 6150 Integrated Graphics, has no impact on media encoding performance.

Punce · 10 May 2006 at 15:54

So by that, you're saying that I could get pretty much any cheapo card and it won't affect what I want to use it for?

Energize · 10 May 2006 at 16:09

Punce said:
So by that, you're saying that I could get pretty much any cheapo card and it won't affect what I want to use it for?

Yes, how many time have I told you

A pci radeon 8500 will do fine.

A radeon x series can help speed up encoding times, if your just transcoding and not editing.

Codmate · 10 May 2006 at 19:24

I would still go for the ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express over the 3D cards. It has software and options for video editing (inputs, break-out box, VIVO, PVR functionality, TV Tuner etc).

Obviously the cheaper cards don't have these features either.

It can be had for around £100 to £130.

Energize · 10 May 2006 at 19:25

Codmate said:
I would still go for the ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express over the 3D cards. It has software and options for video editing (inputs, break-out box, VIVO, PVR functionality, TV Tuner etc).

Obviously the cheaper cards don't have these features either.

It can be had for around £100 to £130.

Id think he already has his own video editing software, and any hardware he needs by the sounds of things.

Codmate · 10 May 2006 at 19:27

squiffy said:
Unless the videocard has a encoder, a more expensive standard graphics card is no faster, you certainly don't need a 512MB 7800GTX or similar from another site..

Actually, some applications (Premiere Pro for instance) rely on good OpenGL support and having a decent amount of video memory for rendering.

We use Nvidia Quadra cards for video editing where I work and they speed up the process significantly (over standard graphics cards withno, or poor, OpenGL support and little RAM) when using Avid and Premiere.