KVR Audio

Linde · Post by **Linde** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 6:24 am

Lunch Money wrote:Now, assuming (correctly) that I NEVER want to EVER do any 3-D gaming or rendering. Would something like THIS be sufficient? They sell for peanuts on eBay with great frequency. I know that one's instinct (ie. MY instinct!) is to say "ick.. maybe that's too old", but is it really?

Greg

Yes it's (too) old. Does it have a dvi output?
The successor was the P450 and the most popular one. In my previous DAW, build, I think 3 years ago, I had a P450, it's still doing some services in my network. A great card, dual monitor support and crt and dvi. There was an adapter for doing crt on the dvi.
Maybe you should look for that one.

When you are planning to work with multiple monitors you have to check what is possible in terms of resolutions.
For instance the P750 can only work with three TFT's and DVI at a max resolution of 1280 x 1024, so we are here talking about max 3 17" tft's. With two monitors you can do higher resolutions. Two 1600 x 1200 are then possible.
I don't know how that is with the P450. I had then two crt monitors 17" 1024 x 968 and a 19" 1280 x 1024.

Henny

Lunch Money · Post by **Lunch Money** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 8:29 am

Thanks for the reply:

I'm not going TFT anytime soon, so for $24, I won't be missing out on anything. I agree that I should look into the resolution, though-- I hope to run 2 17" (or 19" if I find them cheap enough) monitors at 1280 X 1024 (for 17") and possibly the same for 19", or I may give 1600 X 1200 a try if I get a pair of 19".

No 3-monitor setups in my forseeable future, especially not TFT/LCD. By the time I can afford such things, I'll probably be able to afford a different video card.

I'll look into the P450 to see what it's like... I don't remember a P-series from back in the day, so it's likely new enough to handle what I need and more-- the tricky part will be finding it on the cheap.

Greg

Linde · Post by **Linde** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 9:15 pm

I'll look into the P450 to see what it's like... I don't remember a P-series from back in the day, so it's likely new enough to handle what I need and more-- the tricky part will be finding it on the cheap.

Greg

Don't bother. It's the G450. Mistake.

Henny

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 9:39 pm

Well if you're going for the Matrox its a bit redundant to say so, but for ATI or NVidia-based systems, its always worthwhile checking what the cooling situation is for a particular manufacturer's version of a board... passive heatsinks maketh no noise!

Lunch Money · Post by **Lunch Money** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 9:52 pm

Agreed. I'll never be getting a fan-cooled vid card.

Greg

Armoor · Post by **Armoor** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 10:13 pm

I have this card - no fan!

http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.a ... X&switch=6

It comes with the DVI to analog converter. I got mine for $90US, but since it's now discontinued it may be cheaper elsewhere. nVidia drivers are very good, stable and the nView drivers for dual monitors are great. ATI cards are tweaked for games and have traded off better processing algorithims for speed. nVidia cards process OpenGL and most DirectX data better due to 32bit calculations(ATI is 24bit).

Anyway, you want a cheap good card but remember drivers are important. The Matrox G450 cards are good for business - but I've had some weird funk happening with multimedia applications demanding a lot of redraw and DirectX usage.

Bottom line: I would try and find a cheap nVidia based card. Since you're not playing games the 440 should be plenty of power. If not try a 5200FX (if it comes in dual config.??) They're about $50US.

Scotty · Post by **Scotty** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 10:22 pm

I have had significant issues with Matrox drivers. occasionally blew out drivers after a crash and had issues getting it to remember the various modes I had it set to. ( I had to go in and reset the hotkeys) each time I wanted video mirroring. I have a matrox g400 with video capture add on (dual head) I removed it and replaced it with an ATi VE7000 dual head. YOur mileage may vary but the ATI has been great. - Scott

Lunch Money · Post by **Lunch Money** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 10:57 pm

My VE7000 has been great, too, but it's not the dual-head flavour. I'll look into those other suggestions-- thanks!

Greg

japut_99 · Post by **japut_99** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 8:54 pm

I reread my post here today and realized that I must've typed geforce 5500 five hundred times (insert emotican here)when in reality I have the 5200. There most probably is a large difference in the performance of these two cards in fact comparing the 5500 to the ati 9200 isn't even a class comparison. I have the 128 meg 5200 not the 256 meg 5500. Big difference. What I say in the context of my posts is true just substitute 5200 for 5500. Sorry for those looking for the deal of their lifetime.

Lunch Money · Post by **Lunch Money** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 10:55 pm

Cheers for that.

Greg

DevonB · Post by **DevonB** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 4:14 am

Robert remembers correctly. There is issues with the G450 and the UAD-1 that I experienced first-hand. I switched to a G550, and all is well again.

But before that, I've had the G450 in my box for about 2 years was it? Even the G550 has given me *NO* issues on my box. The G450 is probably one of the most popular DAW cards around because of its lack of a fan, and dual head. I've rarely heard about problems with it aside from the UAD-1 issue, and have read mostly people raving about the card.

Devon

Video card question - LM miscellany part 2