i need to buy a new video card for work. so what specs should i be looking at for the new card? which are the most important and what would good specs be considered for graphics & video editing (with a little 3d & gaming thrown in for good measure)? Core clock ? Memory Clock ? Memory Size ? Memory Interface Bitrate ? Memory Type ? DirectX ? RAMDAC ? Thanks in advance!
Well by looking at your sig, you should get new ram first. PC3200 is quite slow these days... I am not sure whether your mobo is AGP or PCI-e, so can you tell us that? And what is your budget? If you have PCI-e, then a 3870 from ati will do great, or a 8800GT from nvidia. They're both top of the line cards. If you have AGP, I would suggest you buy a new board, as AGP cards are not that great. They cost more and offer less performance. (I know, I am stuck with it right now, but not until Chritsmas!)
The RAM is fine, despite lower clock speeds, PC3200 still runs quite happily even with fast CPUs. I agree with Waymon's post about AGP, though. AGP is an old technology now, and if you're going to buy a decent graphics card, you'll want to get one with new technology, meaning something like an HD3870.
im working with a PCIE card... and my sig reflects my home pc (which is also pcie), but im trying to get a new vid card for my work computer which is an old Dimension 4700. 2 GB of ram 3200 tho which is ultimately the same at home. Anyway, like i said, this card is for work and my budget is around $200 (maybe a LITTLE over would be ok). what specs SHOULD i be looking at for a minimum? obviously more is better, but with my budget i cant really go there. so, whats a good mem core? ddr3 or is 2 ok? bit size 256 or 128? clock speed? etc. thanks for the help.
if I'm honest, clock speeds, memory buses and so on are kind of irrelevant figures, it literally boils down to "x is better than y", that's not obvious by the specifications, simply knowledge of the market. If the card is AGP, then try for this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130274 XFX make a 7900GS for AGP which is even faster, but they're very unreliable so not worth buying. Just bear in mind the work PC will need to have a strong power supply before installing a graphics card like this. A standard 300W Dell unit isn't going to cut it.
the card is PCIE (both at home and work).. the budget is around $200.. the power supply is this i think ive decided to move my home card (BFG 7600GT OC or my Powercolor x800GT) to my work computer (currently a geforce 6200) and then buy a new one for home.. so, with that said, and the specs of my power supply listed above, what do you think i should look to get? thanks again in advance!
Try for a Radeon HD3850. They offer good performance for a very low price. The HD3870 is pretty much king of the hill in that regard, but you'd struggle to find one for close to $200.
