On Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:58:37 -0800, Father Kodak
wrote:
I’m starting to do my planning for my next system.
My next system will be 64-bit because that is clearly the future of desktop computing and my systems have to last me 3-4 years minimum, before I replace them. My current system runs Win XP but it’s quite clear from the lack of driver support that Windows XP 64 bit is NOT the way to go. So then I have to decide which of the many flavors of Vista-64 (separate issue …)
Here’s some free experience.
I added a Cintiq tablet. This required a dual monitor display. The HP a1723w comes with an onboard video card, but plenty of slots for other extras. Also required a NEW video card that could handle dual displays. What I actually settled on was a Nvidia 8500 GT w/1 gig ram. took my WEI from 2 all the way to 4.7, and it stuck at 4.7 because of the CPU limiting it there vs anything else.
for now the WEI max is 5.9. Take a look at the ‘what is your WEI’ website to see what sort of maxed out machines exist.
This card was becoming obsolete, but it was the ONLY board that met all the needs.. specifically: Dual monitor, PCI Express x16 [PCI express 2 now exists], Maximum Resolution: 2560 x 1600 (Digital) Video Memory: 1GB GDDR2
[ddr2 memory is not top of the line. there was/is better],
Connector(s): VGA (15-Pin D-Sub) required DVI (Dual Link) WANTED best type display
HDTV/S-Video nice to have
What no HDMI ? Again I was limited to the exact board I could install by the motherboard, and OS.
It was a 1 year old a1723w. A dinosaur in computer times. So I had to actually shop for a dinosaur video card.
This machine couldn’t take the newest Nvidia 9000 or better cards. They REQUIRED much stronger CPU’s and motherboards.
Size of board in inches is probably the #1 consideration.. Will it fit ? I had to replace the 100 watt Power supply with the 600 watt I had for the XP. Heat.. you wouldn’t believe the cottage industry in heat sinks for every card made, I have 7 fans in my case. And the www.epinions.com gripes about every card you consider. Noise another consideration, this one is supposedly noisy. I haven’t heard a peep from it.
Though I did ‘reconsider’ ATI, I spent 7 years as an ATI involuntary Beta tester. And them selling out ATI is just admitting what those using the ATI cards knew all along, ATI software was garbage.
IOW: Plan ahead. Gaming, video etc.. truth is you’ll want the fastest, cheapest, best card you can USE.
New thing with PS4, it uses the video cards GPU. I tested the GPU the other day on a 29,000 pixel x 37,500 image. Something like that you’d expect action from time to start to time to finish in the minutes or hours. with the new GPU usage, it was instantaneous..
This was a 2.8 gig image. It did take 15 minutes to save. But in memory with that 1 gig video ram on the card couple things to try if you think you can create an image that size.
hold the H key then mouse around the image to zoom in and out in different sections. it’s called the birds eye effect. zoom out find another part of the image, release the mouse and zoom in. All instantly.
Then try the R key and twirl the image. Again instantaneous with the new GPU thing in PS4.
add up all your needs.
1st consideration is OS MAC or Windows ? My prefs for graphics only would be MAC. For General purpose M$. Actually M$ is a monopoly sad to say. IOW, there’s really no choice in the matter. That could be a plus. All hardware and software is also designed to run on M$.
But PS does run on Mac, and very well.
2 speed = horsepower. If you’re going to do graphics, that’s a given. I’m with
2.8 ghz. dual D CPU’s. Wish I still had my 3.2 ghz XP machine.
3 Dual CPU or better.. Quad CPU’s is actually now. FWIW: They’re starting to listen to what Amiga taught them 20 years ago.
and finally make sure everything you want to use is compatible with everything else. ie: do I want a muscle video card ? or a muscle motherboard ? Can either or both work on the OS ?
I have found, that getting what you want with a machine is not as easy as getting what you need.
Not everything will work with everything else. which is why I settled on a video card going into obsolescence rather than WAIT for the hardware gurus to come out with something better for my 1 year old machine.
This shopping for the right card took way longer than I wanted it to [about 2 weeks], 3 choices I made were obsolete at online stores when I made my decision.
As for ATI, my personal opinion, you won’t get paid in anything but frustration keeping up with the monthly upgrades that are always worse than the upgrades from last month.
Though I haven’t had any upgrades for this card, I’m not griping. It works fine as is.
It did have 1 upgrade the day I installed it.
Look for separate monitor adjustment vs cloning, and none. The original setting was crap with clone. it took my 1280 x 1024 monitor screen and crapped it down to 800 x 600 16×9 display [the Cintiq’s display size] with the clone and none adjustment. This also cropped stuff on the main monitor. heads chopped off at the eyebrows, full length chopped at the knees.
Wacom told me don’t NEED the top of the line card, but you also don’t want the bottom of the barrel. mid range should have been the selection. At one time
[when this a1723w came out] the 8500GT WAS top of the line, but it was bottom
of the barrel when I needed a card. 1 year later.
and here’s something that’ll really roast your chestnuts. 64 bit vs 32 bit. It’s like the difference in M$ and Mac..
64 bit drivers don’t exist in the abundance 32 bit drivers exist.. IOW: That’s just one more thing you need to take into consideration. That will put a real throttle on choices for other hardware AND software.
re: 3 cards were obsolete when I went to buy them because they had all the specs I could use.
64 bit will put a lot of stuff out of bounds.
My XP machine was maybe 6 months ahead of the software curve. It actually took about a year to get things for that machine. The question is WILL they finally get around to making 64 bit drivers for EVERY 32 bit driver out there ? You’re looking at a huge cost, in that EVERYTHING will HAVE to be bought centered around 64 bit. Lots of hardware and software will become obsolete. 64 bit will definitely cost more than 32 bit stuff UNTIL the majority of the M$ sheep switch to 64 bit.. What is windows 7 ? 32 or 64 ? which do you want to bet your future on, windows 7 32 bit or 64 bit ? Adobe has thrown up their hands with M$.
Now add up all those decisions for EVERY piece of hardware and you see the problem. It’s not a simple question, OR a simple answer. Is money a factor ? You’ll probably spend $10,000 on everything. Make a list and sort it by hand in priorities as to what your WANTS are, then see how close you can find hardware AND software that will meet those wants.