Video Card

Ranging from $19 to $500 there is a huge price difference explained by their performance in games (we will leave the 3d rendering card out). There are 2 manufacturers we will focus on. AMD/ATI and Nvidia. Technically, Intel is the biggest video card manufacturer, but they mostly make integrated video cards targeting business environments, so we will leave them out. This might change in the future, however, as Intel tries to improve its integrated video card to compete with AMD/ATI and NVidia. However, the x3000 is the only Intel chipset that can somewhat rival in benchmark with competitive solutions, but is plagued with some compatibility issues, i.e.:  poor real life performance and poor video decoding capacity which cannot be recommended.

Whether it is Nvidia or AMD/ATI, each generation includes low end to high end video cards. The high end comes first because it is high profit hardware, then middle end and the low end. Usually the middle end of one generation performs as well as the high end of the previous one. With each generation being about 18 months old, the market is very fluctuant as each manufacturer tries to get new cards out to beat the card the other one released for a specific market segment. Some websites try to keep a performance chart to allow readers to sort through the usually 20+ models of video cards present on the market at any given time. Look for them to see the current good deal for your specific budget.

Modern video cards also have hardware decoding for high definition video content. With high definition video being more and more present, hardware decoding is becoming a necessity to be able to have a smooth read. The latest of NVidia and ATI offer full hardware decoding of h264 for example.

Depending on your budget, you will see shared memory to 1Gb of video memory. On a video card, memory is used to store data for processing before being displayed. For gaming, you need to use a lot more memory because the textures and all the information relative to 3d scenes are stored in that memory.

• Shared memory: This memory is used only in integrated video cards. That memory will not be available to use by any programs. With 2Gb of memory it is not a problem. However, with 512Mb of less of memory, it can pose performance issues.
• Semi shared memory (turbocache or hypermemory): The video card has some memory (from 32mb to 128mb) on board, but it will be able to use RAM if it needs more memory when used for gaming.
• Dedicated memory: The video card uses its own memory and nothing else.

Our advice is to simply not consider semi-shared memory video cards as they are too expensive for family/office use and do not provide enough power for gaming.

For gaming the current minimum is 128Mb of integrated memory, but you should be able to find 256Mb one at a very good price and that memory will make a difference. 512Mb and up of memory does not provide a lot of advantages for now, but as games comes out you can expect that it will be worth getting in early to mid-2008.

To plug your video card to your screen, there are two options that are offered.

1. VGA: This is the legacy plug. It is designed to provide CRT screen with an analogical signal. It is still found in video cards nowadays. It will disappear within 2 years by relying on an adapter to provide analog signals to users needing it.
2. DVI: it is a numeric output. LCDs are numeric and need a numeric signal. If plugged on a vga port they rely on a converter to convert vga analog signal to digital signal it can process. If you plug an LCD to a vga port the signal is converted from numeric to analogical on the video card and then from analog to numeric in the screen. For this purpose, it is always better to use dvi to connect an LCD.

Dual-link DVI: DVI is limited to what amount of information it can send. Because of that, it is impossible to display the native resolution of a 30” display with a DVI connection. Dual-link DVI is a specific port designed to work with 30” display.

SLI and Crossfire are proprietary technology by NVidia and AMD/ATI that do the same thing. They use several video cards to play a game. In theory, you have double the power allowing for higher resolution or more effect to be displayed. In real life, very few games allow for more than 50% to 75% increase in performance. SLI/Crossfire is only financially interesting in the very high end segment and because of that, we are not advising a new builder to use it.

• Family/office computer: integrated video card will provide you with a good quality images and enough gaming power to satisfy the casual gamer
• all around gaming computer: a $100-$120 video card should allow for more intense gaming
• media center: integrated video card should provide you with plenty of room to grow. However if you are planning to purchase a blue-ray or hd-dvd player you may want to invest $80 to $100 in a last generation video card that allow for full hardware processing to avoid to stress the CPU.
• gaming computer: except for hardcore gamer a video card around $200 will allow high resolution gaming at a good frame rate.