Which video card for me?

[Gameshow Host]

I've just bought a new monitor (Dell 2405FPW) which requires me to get a new video card to run it. I have no clue about video cards, so can anyone advise me?

I'm looking for a card geared mainly towards:
• Caputring video
• Running graphics programs like Photoshop

I won't be using it much to play DVDs (since I watch all my movies on my living room TV), or to play PC games (PC games bore me, personally). So video capture and graphics applications are all that matter really.

According to Dell, the following cards are suitable for my monitor:

DESKTOPS
ATI RadeonTM X800 XT 256MB DDR-SDRAM
ATI Radeon X800 SE 128MB DDR-SDRAM
ATI 256MB Radeon 9800XT
ATI 128MB Radeon 9800Pro
ATI ALL-IN-WONDERTM 9000 64 MB DDR-SDRAM
ATI Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition 256MB DDR-SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GTO 256MB
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 256MB
ATI Radeon X300 128MB PCI Express x16
ATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB DDR-SDRAM
ATI Radeon X300 SE 64MB DDR-SDRAM
Intel® GMA 900

WORKSTATIONS
ATI Fire GL V3100
NVIDIA® Quadro® FX 3400
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1300
NVIDIA Quadro FX4400

But which one to choose? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[Bodyslide]

Depending on how much you want to spend, I would get an ATI AIW 9200. Cost around 100.00 US.

[thecoalman]

Depending on how much you want to spend, I would get an ATI AIW 9200. Cost around 100.00 US.

That or get a regular graphics card along those lines and get a standalone capture card. You don't need a good graphics card unless you intend on playing 3-d games or your working with a 3-d application. For regular video it makes no difference.

There's numerous options depending on your needs, try the capture card section to the left.

BTW, any graphics card will be suitable for your monitor. I'm assuming that's what they list as options for the machine your choosing?

[MJA]

I bought the same monitor last month.it works on any card from my old 1998 pc (P2 400,on borad video with 4 mb) to my new nvidia 6600 GT.

[justinluck]

Personally, I would get a video card and a stand alone capture card. But if you decide to get a combined card, go with at least an AIW 9600pro. The card is DirectX 9 compatible, which is used by more applications than just games. It will also allow you to run the desktop of your 2405 at 1920 x 1200 without any visible lag when you scroll up and down documents.

[Gameshow Host]

I'm definitely interested now in the idea of getting 2 separate cards. This would mean I could buy the regular card now and think about the capture card later on when I'm ready.

But what's the advantage of using two separate cards? Do you get a better capture because the card is an independent processor, so there's less dropped frames? Or do they simply not make good capture cards that also run the system graphics?

If I'm going to get a separate capture card, what do you recommend as the 'normal' card to run my system? I don't want anything too basic because, as I said, I use a lot of graphics-intensive apps like Photoshop. Also, it does need to play all types of PC movies (mpg, avi, rm, mov etc). I guess that goes without saying though.

Oh, another thing I just thought of: I do a lot of high res photography, and I use ACDSee all the time. Will my choice of video card have any influence on the speed of previewing/displaying my jpegs? That is really important to me actually.

Justinluck, could you tell me more about this 'lag' in scrolling that you mentioned, and what causes it? I wasn't aware of this phenomenon, and I definitely don't want to come up against any problems like this!

As for my monitor, I have read that most older cards (before nVidia 6000 series) don't support resolutions higher than 1600x1200 on the DVI port, and the monitor I'm getting is 1920x1200. Hence the above list of compatible monitors, provided by Dell. Although I suspect that list isn't totally comprehensive.

[thecoalman]

BTW, any graphics card will be suitable for your monitor. I'm assuming that's what they list as options for the machine your choosing?

Who the hell said that.......because

As for my monitor, I have read that most older cards (before nVidia 6000 series) don't support resolutions higher than 1600x1200 on the DVI port, and the monitor I'm getting is 1920x1200. Hence the above list of compatible monitors, provided by Dell. Although I suspect that list isn't totally comprehensive.

-------------------------

But what's the advantage of using two separate cards? Do you get a better capture because the card is an independent processor, so there's less dropped frames? Or do they simply not make good capture cards that also run the system graphics?

The AIW's are very good graphics and capture cards so I wouldn't rule them out. It's just that your kind of stuck with both. It's like buying a TV with a VHS deck, what if the TV breaks or you want to get a bigger TV? I've never been a fan of any combo units for anything.

If I'm going to get a separate capture card, what do you recommend as the 'normal' card to run my system? I don't want anything too basic because, as I said, I use a lot of graphics-intensive apps like Photoshop. Also, it does need to play all types of PC movies (mpg, avi, rm, mov etc). I guess that goes without saying though.

Oh, another thing I just thought of: I do a lot of high res photography, and I use ACDSee all the time. Will my choice of video card have any influence on the speed of previewing/displaying my jpegs? That is really important to me actually.

Choice of a graphics card again makes little difference, anyone of the recent ones will be more than sufficient. Having sufficient RAM and CPU is more relevant than the graphics card for applications such as that. Applications not utilizing 3-D such as games won't be affected, the same for video. The software you use to view a video will have more affect than the card.

There's plenty of choices for capture. What to choose really depends on your budget and needs. The following suggestions would apply if you want to invest in some better alternatives.

If your just going to be trimming footage during your editing then a hardware based mpeg capture card is probably your best bet. I'd suggest the Hauppage 250, I don't have one but everyone that does raves about it. Another alternative is simply getting a DVD recorder to capture the footage then transfer it to HD for editing.

If your going to editing your footage heavily such as wanting to adjust brightness AVI capture id the preferred way to go. For that I'd suggest the Canopus 110, it's by far the easiest method for capturing AVI. Another alternative is if your in the market for a DV cam. Most come with pass through capability and perform similar to the Canopus.

[mikesbytes]

Is your monitor a LCD? If so you will probably find that it runs best at its "native" resolution, ie the pixels that the LCD comprises of.

What country are you in? This could impact which capture card to buy.

[Gameshow Host]

Mikesbytes,
Yes, thanks, I will be running it at its native resolution of 1920x1200. I've seen LCDs that were not set to their native resolution and it looked absolutely horrible! I'm in the UK, if that makes any difference?

Coalman,
thanks for the great info! I agree about buying things separately: I hate screens with built-in speakers, and I just bought a new speaker system and separate amp, because I like to be able to upgrade independently.

I'm going to worry about the capture card at a later date and just get something fairly cheap for now that will work as a graphics card. I'll probably just see what's available at the shop/store I look at.

As for capture card, I will want to capture in avi (uncompressed) because I want full control over the video when I edit it. This is how I've always captured in the past. I'll be capturing video from VHS tapes, in the PAL interlaced format. I've done a lot of experimenting with capturing and burning onto DVD but I've never really done anything final and proper to keep, so when I do get my card I want to take it very seriously.

[thecoalman]

As for capture card, I will want to capture in avi (uncompressed) because I want full control over the video when I edit it. This is how I've always captured in the past. I'll be capturing video from VHS tapes, in the PAL interlaced format. I've done a lot of experimenting with capturing and burning onto DVD but I've never really done anything final and proper to keep, so when I do get my card I want to take it very seriously.

One thing to keep in mind about either the Canopus or a DV cam is there is no options. They convert to full frame DV-AVI and that's it. That's one thing something such as the AIW has over them, you have many choices including AVI or mpeg.

[Gameshow Host]

Sorry, I don't know what DV cam or DV-AVI is. Is it a capture card, and a file format? The only file format I want to capture to is uncompressed AVI.

[thecoalman]

DV cam, as in a camera for taking video such as a digital 8 or a mini DV. The ones with pass through capability will take an analog signal and convert it to DV-AVI which is an AVI using the DV codec, a lightly compressed format. Capturing to "uncompressed" AVI is impractical, for all intents and purposes the only thing you create is larger file. If you did a side by side comparison it would be hard to impossible to tell the difference.

[mikesbytes]

What are you capturing from?
- Analog TV
- Digital TV
- DV camcorder
- Analog camcorder
- VCR

[Gameshow Host]

I'll be capturing from VCR. Everything I want to capture is on video tape. I don't have a video camera and I don't want to do anything like that.

[dcsos]

I'm going to suggest the ATI 9200
and
a FIREWIRE CARD & CANOPUS ADC device