Need help finding new graphics board

[vlakslee]

Can anyone give me some input on a good graphics board for video editing ? I currently have the original one that came with my PC and it only has 16 MB RAM. I'd like to put one in that has 32-64 RAM. Do I hear some recommendations?

[jgl24]

it depends on what you're going to be doing....

I am a fan of the ATI All-in-Wonder 128 Pro or
other All-in-Wonder models. You can capture
directly (from analog) to MPEG-2 or 1 or just
uncompressed. You can get the RAGE or RADEON
models, depending on the kinds of 3D or gaming
you want. It has worked great for me and lots
of others. (Lots of great features)

go to http://www.ati.com

[cruffino69]

Ok vlakslee, it sounds like you're under the impression that having more RAM on your video card will help you edit video better. From what I know, that's not the case at all.

Only a minor portion of the video card's RAM is actually used as a frame buffer (e.g. the place where the actual information is stored before it actually appears on the screen). The actual amount used for this purpose depends on your resolution and color depth.

The remaining portion is only used for 3D acceleration (for storing textures, etc.), though I may be wrong about the ATI boards when performing video capture.

If all you're doing is taking video files that someone else has created and editing them, then just about any video board will do. The best thing you can do to enhance your experience in that case is to get a seriously fast CPU and a RAID-0 hard drive setup.

I hope this helps.

[Macros746]

They are having a GREAT sale on Radeon AIW over at BestBuy online right now. After rebate you are paying like $120 for a GREAT card.

hope that helps.

Mark

[tinmancp]

The amount of RAM on a video card is only dependent on what you want to do. If you want to play games that requires DirectX or OpenGL, then you would want 32MB or more, but for just regular video stuff, 16MB would suffice.