What video card do I need for my setup....

[philtheskipper]

I'm thinking about upgrading from my old PIII. My main uses will be cd/DVD burning and some video convertions. I'm leaning towards these components....

Motherboard..........ABIT NF7-S
CPU......................AMD Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton" 333FSB
RAM......................(2)Crucial 256MB PC3200 DDR 400

What video card would you suggest? I'm not exactly sure what role the video card plays. I don't play games or anything like that.

Also, feel free to suggest other components than the ones I picked. Maybe I'm looking at more than what I actually need or less?

[pixel]

Well, just to clear up what the graphics card does, it is basically a seperate processor to control almost everything you see on screen like videos and games etc. The only real exception being Divx, which uses mainly cpu power.

If you are having a seperate PCI card for video converting or a firewire input, a cheap graphics card will do.

As an ati user I would suggest the 9200 as a good budget card and good stability with the ati drivers. The nvidia cards are good too, but stay away from the fx5200.

If you really don't plan on doing anything graphics intensive, possibly think about saving money with a built-in graphics solution. I wouldn't suggest this though because it will bring pretty bad performance if you ever want to do anything games related.

I wouldn't say there was anything wrong with your set up. I use abit motherboards because they're pretty reliable, and as the motherboard is the basis of the system you need a good one. 512MB of 400MHz ram is more than enough for a standard computer. The processor is what really matters with video editing, so if you find you have any extra money, try go for a as fast a processor as possible to decrease your conversion times.

[philtheskipper]

Thanks for the info. So once a video file is already on my hard drive, the video card has nothing to do with converting it, correct? The video card pretty much just deals with the graphics displayed on the monitor.

I could get a faster AMD processor. Any suggestions on which one? I would like to stay around $150 for the cpu.

[pixel]

Yep, the video card does no job in converting, it just deals with displaying the graphics on the monitor as you said.

I'm sorry, but I'm not an AMD user so I don't really know the difference between all their processors so hopefully someone else could help you with this.

As far as I know I think the barton range are supposed to be the best standard AMD's, so if you can get as fast a processor from the barton series as you can you should be fine. This is just from my knowledge so its probs best to get a 2nd opinion before you go buying one.

[redwudz]

I use the 2500 Barton and it works very well. As stated, faster is always better, but the higher end Barton CPU's are still pricey. If your MB uses dual channel memory, make sure you buy matched chips that are made for dual channel use. If non-dual channel, a single 512M is better than (2) 256M. Video cards. I use a MSI TI4200-VTD8X video card. I like the Nvida cards, plus my MB has Nvida chips. If you are planning to do any video capturing with your card, that is one choice. ATI cards also work well for capturing. If you don't plan any capturing, I would still recommend one of the lower end ATI cards, they are inexpensive and easy to set up. You didn't mention hard drives, but the 7200RPM 80G ones are common now, and well under $100US.

EDIT: The MSI TI4200-VTD8X video card is for 8X AGP slots. If you have 4X it is not a good choice.

[dragonsau1988]

pixel, what's wrong with the fx5200? i just got one as a gift...

[philtheskipper]

If your MB uses dual channel memory, make sure you buy matched chips that are made for dual channel use.

The Abit NF7-s has dual 400MHz DDR memory controllers and the Crucial memory sticks I listed are made for dual channel use.

You didn't mention hard drives, but the 7200RPM 80G ones are common now, and well under $100US.

I was going to use a second HD I just recently installed into my current computer. It's just a Western Digital 7200rpm 60gb but should be fine for now.

I guess if I'm going to invest in a video card I should get one that can capture. I'm sure I'll want to do that in the near future. There goes the budjet!

[Piccoro]

If you are just getting a video card that will not be used in games or capture then go with a Nvidia card (any Nvidia card) as they have the best 2D performance (desktop) and compatibility (less driver problems).

Go with ATI if you feel that you may game especially in DX9 (don't get below a 9500 model) or need a card that can capture as well (All-In-Wonder series).