Video Card Suggestions, Editing, Capturing, etc

[hokie91]

Well, I have done some checking around an am sturggling with what Video card to buy. I'd like to be under $100.

System P4 2.8 800 Mhz front side bus
512 Mb DDR
PCTV for TV and Capping
Firewire for Digital camera
Video, Integrted Intel Extreme

Now, I have read in some posts that AGP cards will not really improve editing performance / stability, others say they will simply by taking load of the processor. Also when you look to see the setups that people are using, they usually include high end Radeon or GF cards. Pinnacle reccomends a minimum of Radeon for their Studio software, which contradicts some of the info I have seen here.

I also have the basic understanding that the 3D cards will not really improve the 2D video editing performance, which is clear from a number of posts.

My primary video functions will include editing video to Author DVD's, which includes the transcoding process.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, I am currently usinf the integrated audio as well. Will putting in a basic sound card lessen the load on the processor to improve overall performance?

[disturbed1]

You don't need a blazing fast graphics card for video editing.

One with ~64MB of ram, agp 4x would be enough.

A good graphics card will help with overlay, higher resolution, and quicker screen redraws.

I play 0 games, and get by with a few 32MB Matrox cards, and Nvida MX400 (32&64mb) cards. I see no difference in performance between the Matrox and the Nvida card.

If you do play a game here or there, get one that supports the games you play.

It's easy to find an excellant graphics card for ~$100. Even a $50 card will give you a huge improvement over your Extreme integrated graphics controller.

[teegee420]

You can get an ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 7500 for under $100. I own one myself and it was probably the best piece of hardware I ever added to my system.

[FulciLives]

ATI RADEON 9000 and 9200 can be found for $100 or less but these are the plain video cards ... no built-in capture.

If you want an ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON that also does capture then consider the 9000 PRO although expect to pay around $120 to $150

I wouldn't get anything less than the 9000 series ... the 7500 is older technology.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[hokie91]

Thanks for the advice. Based on your suggestions, I am sure I'll be able to meet my price and performance needs. This is a great forum, and thanks again!