Graphic card ?

[Dash1]

I am getting a new rig . It will be used for some
writing, surfing and family video editing [Most likely start with Premire elements 3/4 ?
with Premire pro installed for the future. I may also use 2 LCD's later].
I am spending ~1500 on it all and cant decide on the card.

What card do I need [was reccomended 1950 or 8800] ?
Should I get one with DirectX10 eventhough I am installing now XP ?

[Baldrick]

One topic is enough. I removed your other post with just a link to this one.

[Soopafresh]

Save your money and get the 8600 GT - you don't need anything faster for video editing.

[Krispy Kritter]

As Soopafresh stated, video editing isn't video card dependant. Any of the last several generations (6x,7x,8x) of nvidia cards will work fine and they all have dual output (2 monitors).

[Alendri]

Tomshardware is a very good review site, and they continually update what they consider be the "best vga card for the money".
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09/05/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/page2.html here is a link to the page in the article about low price PCI-E graphics cards.

To come up with which is the best buy their use their charts, which can be found at http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=854&model2=724&chart=310, i have selected the recommended $100 card (it is the card that was suggested by Soopafresh) from the previously mentioned price article as well as the the recommended $200 card.
Remember to look at many different charts to get an accurate impression of how good the different cards perform, it might good at one thing, better at something else.

And as a last note, even if you have already selected the rest of your parts I would suggest you have a look at http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09/18/sbm_mid_cost_system/, and article where they put together a computer for $1500. It might not suite your specific needs, but knowledge is never wrong right

If you don't plan on doing anything more than writing and editing, I agree very much with the 8600 idea. However the tomshardware-$1500 PC does include quad-core AND a 8800GTX, which makes it powerful encoder/gaming machine. Modify their list a bit and add more RAM and you got a kick-ass system for editing.

//Alendri

[Dash1]

For home editing [HD on 22" LCD] and general use : 8600GT OR 8600GTS ???

[ofbarea]

If you do play games get an 8800 GT.

If you do not play games 8600 GT will be good.

[Krispy Kritter]

For editing, it's irrelevant. Whichever one you can get cheaper, unless there is another option/use you have in mind.