it's kind of strange. First, my monitor becomes dim yesterday. I left the computer that way and today, I checked e-mail and burned a couple of CDs. Then, I shut the PC down to see if it'll make a difference, and now the video card's completely dead. The monitor's fine, I checked by connecting it to my powerbook. So, I guess the video card served its life on earth and has gone to meet its maker.
So, the question is what to get next. I want to keep down time to a minimal, so I'm hurrying off to get a new one. Probably tomorrow or the day after. I'm looking at some Asus cards with GeforceFX 5800 or 5900 chips with dual VGA support. (or DVI) Are there some other options I should keep in mind? The radeon boards are also attractive, but I couldn't find one with dual monitor output at the moment. They support simultaneous VGA and DVI but not dual VGA. Or atleast that's what I've seen so far. Most of the big names are available in Japan, so what would you suggest?
video card kinda "blew out"
I would probably opt for DVI myself instead of dual VGA, and use a DVI>VGA adapter, The power & space savings (and lesser comb filtering from monitors) of LCD is attractive to me, when I can afford to replace both of mine. The only caveat is you should support the cable well enough so that the dvi connector doesn't warp the graphics connector/board (but you should do that anyway especially with thick graphics cables imo).
Matrox is a classic for our purpose. Also they have the best service I have ever recieved from a hardware manufacturer (most custommers are bussiness people). They have a forum (closed in the weekends though, but apart from that open 24/5 (I think)) with people hirred to answer questions. This is not like the other fora though. First time, I was impressed to get help form a guy with 6000+ posts. Next time it was a 22000+ guy! Very swift response and a great way of getting support, as such stuff often includes rebooting.
Information for new readers: A forum member named Braincell is known for spreading lies and malicious information without even knowing the basics of, what he is talking about. If noone responds to him, it is because he is ignored.
The VGA out is analog, wich means, that the signal has been converted to analog by the card.
An LCD needs a digital input. Therefor it will convert the signal back to digital.
So, by using a DVI interface, you skip two conversions. How noticeable it will be depends on the converterquality of your card/monitor.
(in the end the signal get converted to analog (again) before going into the transistors)
An LCD needs a digital input. Therefor it will convert the signal back to digital.
So, by using a DVI interface, you skip two conversions. How noticeable it will be depends on the converterquality of your card/monitor.
(in the end the signal get converted to analog (again) before going into the transistors)
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kensuguro
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good explanation. I think I got the idea.
I only have a VGA monitor right now, so I guess I'll stick with VGA. Ot perhaps, something that supposrts VGA and 2X DVI out. not sure such a thing exists.
I'm also wondering about the matrox line. I've used matrox before, for single monitor and I think their quality was superb. That was a quite a while back, but I'd guess that their modern boards are still of good quality. I guess it's definitely worth a look. I used Matrox Millenium, back in the pre 3d acclerator days. hehe. that's a LONG time ago. Ahh, the nostalgia.
I only have a VGA monitor right now, so I guess I'll stick with VGA. Ot perhaps, something that supposrts VGA and 2X DVI out. not sure such a thing exists.
I'm also wondering about the matrox line. I've used matrox before, for single monitor and I think their quality was superb. That was a quite a while back, but I'd guess that their modern boards are still of good quality. I guess it's definitely worth a look. I used Matrox Millenium, back in the pre 3d acclerator days. hehe. that's a LONG time ago. Ahh, the nostalgia.
If your DAW is also used for other purposes then you might want to grab one of the newer cards but if not why not stick to the trusty old matrox cards?
Running a Matrox G450 16MB dual head here on 2 x 21" screens. It has 2 x VGA connectors which I like (no need for adapters).
Desktop set to 32bit and the graphics are snappy and fast.
As a test I tried out a GF ti 4200 128MB dual but there was no noticeable increase in performance and the 2d image/colour was not as good so the G450 will stay for now.
Running a Matrox G450 16MB dual head here on 2 x 21" screens. It has 2 x VGA connectors which I like (no need for adapters).
Desktop set to 32bit and the graphics are snappy and fast.
As a test I tried out a GF ti 4200 128MB dual but there was no noticeable increase in performance and the 2d image/colour was not as good so the G450 will stay for now.
All DVI outs can be converted using one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.a ... 201&depa=1
Basically don't let DVI connector types on the graphics card dissuade you from getting the card as the adapter solves that issue for you, and you'll have a 'true' digital connection in the future by removing the adapter before connecting an LCD monitor. DVI is definately not a 'requirement' but I still have graphics cards that date back to 1997 which actually work fine so buying something that won't be as obsolete is something to consider.
Now Matrox for audio work alone won't present many disadvantages outside of the fact that they're pricey. $90 for the g450 and $100 for the g550 doesn't seem like much but you're only getting 32Mb ram and an older chip--meaning that the Matrox cards are still inflated in cost compared to other hardware due to the 'brand' name (ie, matrox payed for the chip fabs LONG ago and still charges higher prices because they can). However the reason they can get away with this in the ~$100 price range is because gaming cards use cheaper components on their hardware offset the additional cost of 64/128Mb of DDR ram and a faster 3d chip so that gamer's needs will be satisfied.
Also, I might add that on the matrox you CAN disable busmastering which makes a difference at high cpu loads on older systems, this may be reason enough to buy one for you (it is for many still even with modern systems).
Before I come off as a Matrox fanboy let me say that for people that don't want to spend a lot of time finding an adequate 2d card they're fine, but honestly I've been using regular gaming cards for a few years now and they also work fine if you're willing to do a bit of research on them. I do a lot of music as well as professional graphic design (photoshop/illustrator/print/web/3d/etc). There are still a few matrox cards lying about here (g400/g450/g550) but they tend to get used in older machines that are doing file sharing duties and the occasional softsynth backup box where the busmaster disable will actually make a difference (old p3's).
A modern 3d accellerator is useful for more than just playing games. Many of the features in the WindowsXP theme manager rely on a modern graphics chip that can do transparency and accelerate shading algorithms on the card. Yes, most audio tweaks recommend disabling the XP gui for better speed, but from what I understand the same engine is still parsing the calls even with the theme manager service disabled, you just get an older Win2000 theme that has simple graphics with basic filled areas ('ala win2000) and hence it tends to perform better on older systems/cards than the default WinXP candy look (which I think is ugly anyway). I personally use StyleXP http://www.tgtsoft.com/prod_sxp.php to allow use of 3rd party themes then install minimal ones like this:
http://sz1.desktopninja.com/themes/adv4-2/adv4-pro2.jpg
and this:
http://sz1.desktopninja.com/themes/minu ... nus4-2.jpg
The trick to finding an Nvidia/ATI based graphics card with high quality output is knowing the manufacturers. Matrox still manufacturers their own cards and that allows them to guarantee quality on components that affect image quality. ATI also made all their cards up until this year, but now they follow Nvidia in only offering a hardware 'specification' that they suggest graphics card companies follow. Just as a general rule ati cards tend to have slightly wider gamut (better color) while Nvidia cards tend to have a sharper image. But as many companies (especially cheaper ones) cut costs on components and this affects image quality, you really must know what you are buying. Gainward and GUILLEMOT/HERCULES are 2 brands that tend to have relatively good components in my experience.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.a ... 201&depa=1
Basically don't let DVI connector types on the graphics card dissuade you from getting the card as the adapter solves that issue for you, and you'll have a 'true' digital connection in the future by removing the adapter before connecting an LCD monitor. DVI is definately not a 'requirement' but I still have graphics cards that date back to 1997 which actually work fine so buying something that won't be as obsolete is something to consider.
Now Matrox for audio work alone won't present many disadvantages outside of the fact that they're pricey. $90 for the g450 and $100 for the g550 doesn't seem like much but you're only getting 32Mb ram and an older chip--meaning that the Matrox cards are still inflated in cost compared to other hardware due to the 'brand' name (ie, matrox payed for the chip fabs LONG ago and still charges higher prices because they can). However the reason they can get away with this in the ~$100 price range is because gaming cards use cheaper components on their hardware offset the additional cost of 64/128Mb of DDR ram and a faster 3d chip so that gamer's needs will be satisfied.
Also, I might add that on the matrox you CAN disable busmastering which makes a difference at high cpu loads on older systems, this may be reason enough to buy one for you (it is for many still even with modern systems).
Before I come off as a Matrox fanboy let me say that for people that don't want to spend a lot of time finding an adequate 2d card they're fine, but honestly I've been using regular gaming cards for a few years now and they also work fine if you're willing to do a bit of research on them. I do a lot of music as well as professional graphic design (photoshop/illustrator/print/web/3d/etc). There are still a few matrox cards lying about here (g400/g450/g550) but they tend to get used in older machines that are doing file sharing duties and the occasional softsynth backup box where the busmaster disable will actually make a difference (old p3's).
A modern 3d accellerator is useful for more than just playing games. Many of the features in the WindowsXP theme manager rely on a modern graphics chip that can do transparency and accelerate shading algorithms on the card. Yes, most audio tweaks recommend disabling the XP gui for better speed, but from what I understand the same engine is still parsing the calls even with the theme manager service disabled, you just get an older Win2000 theme that has simple graphics with basic filled areas ('ala win2000) and hence it tends to perform better on older systems/cards than the default WinXP candy look (which I think is ugly anyway). I personally use StyleXP http://www.tgtsoft.com/prod_sxp.php to allow use of 3rd party themes then install minimal ones like this:
http://sz1.desktopninja.com/themes/adv4-2/adv4-pro2.jpg
and this:
http://sz1.desktopninja.com/themes/minu ... nus4-2.jpg
The trick to finding an Nvidia/ATI based graphics card with high quality output is knowing the manufacturers. Matrox still manufacturers their own cards and that allows them to guarantee quality on components that affect image quality. ATI also made all their cards up until this year, but now they follow Nvidia in only offering a hardware 'specification' that they suggest graphics card companies follow. Just as a general rule ati cards tend to have slightly wider gamut (better color) while Nvidia cards tend to have a sharper image. But as many companies (especially cheaper ones) cut costs on components and this affects image quality, you really must know what you are buying. Gainward and GUILLEMOT/HERCULES are 2 brands that tend to have relatively good components in my experience.
Just think, if MS's 3d interface actually materializes in longhorn we'll all need $300 cards (of 2005+ vintage) to keep our music apps from screaming to a halt and curling up into a puff of ASIO OVERLOAD.
And don't you mac users think you're exempt from this, osX already requires OpenGL support for its vector-based GUI features. All the rasterized vectors are treated as textures and transformed on grids.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: valis on 2003-11-28 09:04 ]</font>
And don't you mac users think you're exempt from this, osX already requires OpenGL support for its vector-based GUI features. All the rasterized vectors are treated as textures and transformed on grids.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: valis on 2003-11-28 09:04 ]</font>
although i really like asus motherboards, i have had 2 asus video cards die on me. one was a ti4200 and the other was its replacement ti4800
now i have an ATI 9600 pro which is just as fast but the big difference is it is the first of the high performance cards to be built on a .13 micron process, this means it runs much cooler and does not need an annoying high speed fan.
that is on my general purpose computer. the creamware DAW has a trusty g400 in it. although creamware interface is much beter with the better cards now i left the matrox in for now because it runs cool
now i have an ATI 9600 pro which is just as fast but the big difference is it is the first of the high performance cards to be built on a .13 micron process, this means it runs much cooler and does not need an annoying high speed fan.
that is on my general purpose computer. the creamware DAW has a trusty g400 in it. although creamware interface is much beter with the better cards now i left the matrox in for now because it runs cool
