2003 Video Card Buying Guide

We try to help you with your video card purchase by giving you information so you are prepared.

In today’s world it seems as though faster is commonly touted as better for most things and the video card market is no stranger to this. For some people faster is better and higher quality is best; more money however is not. So where do you find the balance in a world that seems to offer bigger and better cards and mega performance with a matching price tag?

We here at Digital Trends have come up with a partial solution to the dilemma of the masses in our 2003 Graphics card buying guide. We will attempt here in these pages to provide enough information to give you a pretty good idea of what you can expect of the current crop of graphics chipsets as well as the ability to balance pricing options to suit your particular needs.

We have created 3 primary categories which video cards fall into:

• Gaming: Players of current and popular video game titles

• Digital video editing: Since we are concentrating on the consumer market today, we can define this category as home user’s personal editing needs.

• All around performance: This category will include maximum features and flexibility brought to the user as an all inclusive package.

We will be concentrating on video cards with an AGP interface and at least 64 Megabytes of memory or more. The video card standard is rising and we don’t see any end in site in regards to performance capabilities and speed. We do however believe that faster speeds will give way to higher quality and more realistic rendering technology in the near future; possibly with the next product release cycle, which tends to run in 6 month increments. AGP 3.0 will soon be the standard interface, and we think that the technique behind that particular set of standards will eek out the promise of higher quality and performance for your pixilated pleasure in the days to come.

Also in this column we will focus on DDR memory boards as that too is the evolving standard today and our colleagues in the industry are hinting at the fazing out of SDRAM completely as well as less than a 128-bit interface even in integrated VGA chipsets in low-end motherboards. High-end cards already have their own subsystem BIOS, Processor and Memory as well as a system bus which rivals that of today’s motherboard, but that is another article for another day.

Features:

What features or unique things do you need to fulfill your basic needs? Are you planning on purchasing an LCD monitor soon? How about the latest game titles and still need to run PhotoShop from time to time? Seriously consider all the options you want and take them into consideration before purchasing a new card. You probably do not want to give your hard earned cash to someone else unless you are filling some basic needs.

Such as:

• What are your requirements as a user
• Finding a good price for your hard earned money
• Feeling confident and good about your purchase

A little bit about compatibility

Today’s bumper-crop of graphics cards and available technology has been thankfully whittled down to a select few, and compatibility issues are pretty much a thing of the past for your standard video card and its hardware. However, there are other issues to resolve in the form of DirectX and other software driver configurations. Some cards are not compatible with DirectX 9 for instance, and getting a few different benchmarks to run on that killer bargain of a card you bought last month might pose a problem if a screaming 3D machine is your cup of tea.

Also in regards to this topic is the consideration of DirectX issues for the video editing crowd, and if you want to build a system that will include that particular capability then a serious decision as to the drivers and overall software will surely be in order. DirectX is compiled primarily to drive gaming interfaces including game controllers and 3D surround sound functions as well as Video 3D conversion, not necessarily the top priority for your average 2D videophile and their movie sessions.

Certain updated driver versions need to be considered as to their necessity and added functionality versus a system that already works well, or the whole thing could come to an abrupt halt. Most driver updates include new features, options and a better interface to play with. This is generally a good thing especially for the gaming crowd. The casual user though probably will not need a lot of added features and the video editor will possibly regret the installation entirely. Be wary and decide if you need what new updates offer. Some newer drivers can be near impossible to revert from once they are installed.

So with that bit out of the way, let us begin shall we?

First off, let’s begin with some basic truths. Faster clock speeds in the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and more RAM generally equals faster rendering and less overall system overhead for the CPU to a point. The point comes where the video signal has to pass from the 128-bit wide bus on the video card, to a smaller 32-bit bus for the PCI or 64-bit for AGP bus on the system board. This will tend to be the bottleneck in the video sub-system when the card is too fast for the system board and consequently the CPU; a problem that is becoming more common with today’s graphics cards. The recent increase of Memory speeds and system buses lately are a testament to mother board manufacturers recognizing and dealing with that problem.

Regardless, we will always encourage the purchase of the best video card for the amount of money that you have to spend. You are buying for the future so to speak and low end technology today will be all but obsolete tomorrow. So buying big now is a chance at having serviceable hardware for some time to come. That is not to say that newest is best or that a bargain card will need to go into the trash can next month. Simply stated, it behooves the consumer to look into the purchase with an eye on the future. Longevity can bring its own bargain in time.

Thought should be given also to the amount of memory that comes soldered down to your new board as well as the speed at which it is clocked. Faster and larger amounts will generally provide smoother performance especially in 3D intensive applications. CAD not withstanding, as that is a card for another article.

Memory should be a deciding factor in your Graphics card purchase.

We would like to state here that we are making no attempt to neither single out nor ignore one brand of video card or another. This guide is based on our own experiences here as a review site and the general consensus of the masses in the form of the buzz rating. Buzz rating is the mean of ratings that we have collected off of other sites as well as our own opinions. Collectively we have determined performance and all around features that we feel gives the product it’s deserved reputation among our peers. As it is not possible to rate all available cards on the market today in the space we have available here, we will do our best to provide what insight we do have and come to a satisfactory conclusion as to what is a good choice in regards to available hardware. That is all.

Where to draw the line for your specific needs? Let’s figure that out.

Gaming:

A subject so dear to my heart would naturally be first in line. Generally you do not have too much to worry about with the current trend in bus and system speeds being too fast or slow with today’s games, even though the technology behind it differs from chipset to chipset. However, some thought should go into building a video editing machine in regards to bottle necks and potential performance needs. Games are playable at around 30 FPS generally and even 20 FPS will do in older titles from a couple of years ago. Eye candy is what gamers want and speed and processing power are the things that accomplish that. So for gaming, we tend to believe that faster is better; though not always necessary. Also, if you have to spend a lot on a card for gaming, the technology should be useful for some time to come as systems and memory get faster.

Here is a listing of what we consider the top of the line gaming cards on the market as of now. In this list we would speculate that the Gainward card is the lower end of the newer technology but comparable in performance and features to the other two. But, if you gotta be last in line, it’s best to be in front of everyone else!

All information herein is courtesy of pricegrabber.com.

Manufacturer/ Chipset	AGP Support	Output	RAMDAC Speed/ Size	Max Refresh rate	Max Res.	Best Suited For	Buzz Rating	Best Price
Gainward GeForce4 Ultra/750XP Golden Sample Ti4600	4x 2D/3D Video w/TV Supp	W/TV-out, S-Video, DVI, VGA	350 MHz/ 128MB DDR	60 Hz	1600x 1200	High end Gaming	8.5/10	Check Now!
Asus V9280S GeForce4 Ti4200	8x 2D/3D Video w/TV	VGA DVI (Analog) DVI (Digital)	350 MHz/ 128MB DDR	75 Hz	2048x 1536	High end Gaming	9/10	Check Now!
ATI RADEON 9800 Pro	8x 2D/3D Video w/TV	VGA S-Video DVI (Digital)	380 MHz/ 128MB DDR	85 Hz	2048x 1536	High end Gaming	9/10	Check Now!

Here is a listing of what we consider the mid range of Gaming cards on the market as of now. All of the cards on this list are great performers and still up to the current tasks doled out in the games of today. In a year or so though age could be creeping up on them!

Manufacturer/ Chipset	AGP Support	Output	RAMDAC Speed/ Size	Max Refresh rate	Max Res.	Best Suited For	Buzz Rating	Best Price
ATI Radeon 9500 Pro	8x 2D/3D Video w/TV and Video Capture	VGA S-Video DVI (Digital) BNC	400 MHz/ 128MB DDR	60 Hz	2048x 1536	Mid Level Gaming	9/10	Check Now!
Chaintech GeForce4 Ti4200	8x 2D/3D Video w/TV	VGA S-Video DVI (Digital)	350 MHz/ 128MB DDR	75 Hz	2048x 1536	Mid Level Gaming	7.5/10	Check Now!
Asus GeForce4 Ti 4200	4x 2D/3D Video w/TV	VGA S-Video DVI (Digital)	350 MHz/ 128MB DDR	70 Hz	2048x 1536	Mid Level Gaming	8/10	Check Now!

Gaming cards that we consider to be a great deal for the money. Both cards listed can be had for less than $100.00 and are kin to the mid level gaming cards above, and built around the same technology that runs the big boys. As you can see, each carries 64 MBs of video memory, but each has certain qualities and features all it’s own. The bargain here is in buying the card that best fits your all around needs and not just one or two things. And let’s face it, a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks!

Manufacturer/ Chipset	AGP Support	Output	RAMDAC Speed/ Size	Max Refresh rate	Max Res.	Best Suited For	Buzz Rating	Best Price
ATI Radeon 7500	4x 2D/3D Video	VGA S-Video	165 MHz/ 64 MB DDR	75 Hz	2048x 1536	Bargain Gaming	8/10	Check Now!
Guillemot 3DProphet 4500 Kyro2	4x 2D/3D Video	VGA	300 MHz/ 64MB SDRAM	75 Hz	1920x 1200	Bargain Gaming	6/10	Check Now!

Video editing:

Video capture is a little harder to define. The capabilities of the cards tend to be similar, but the technologies differ to a degree that a fair comparison is difficult to say in the least. Since we are concentrating on video cards here and not add-on cards (as in PCI Mpeg cards) we have a mixture of items available to us. The ATI card included is in no way a lower end card by most standards, but this is a highly specialized and complicated field in which the technology is vastly different from the video that we play games with or surf the Internet.

Easy, she’s only a cartoon!

The typical add-on card for video capture is actually a whole new sort of animal than is covered here in this guide. Since video editing can be quite the expensive hobby, and some cards with the capabilities of a Hollywood picture studio can run up to $4,000.00 so they are not included here. Ratings for them have proved difficult or impossible to get as they are typically not popular due to price and the added features are not appealing to the general public. Overkill as it were.

Manufacturer/ Chipset	AGP Support	Output	Max Res.	Memory type	Best Suited For	Buzz Rating	Best Price
Matrox RT2000 Realtime DV Editing System Matrox Millennium Flex 3D edition AGP display adapter and RT2000 PCI-bus video editing card	4x IEEE 1394 Video Capture Still Image Capture NTSC (analog) PAL (analog) SECAM (analog) NTSC (Full) NTSC 4.43 PAL SECAM MPEG-2	Video – RCA Composite Video Audio – RCA Stereo	(Not Specified	(Not Specified	High end Digital Video	7.5/10	Check Now!
VisionTek Xtasy XCESS Personal Cinema GeForce2 MX400	4x TV Output Video Capture AVI MPEG-1 MPEG-2	VGA S-Video	2048x 1536	64 MB SDRAM	Mid level Digital Video	9/10	Check Now!
ATI All In Wonder 9700 Pro	8x Audio – Line Out (1/8″ Mini) Video Capture Dual TV-tuner	VGA S-Video RCA	2048x 1536	128 MB DDR	High end All Around or Low end Video.	8.5/10	Check Now!

All around performance:

Some cards are defined by the fact that they cannot be truly just one thing. Perhaps we tend to think of video cards as something to show us a picture of what our program is doing on the system board. The general populace tends though, to have one or more general purpose for the video sub-system and that is where these cards fill the bill. Each is a bargain at $60 to $70 and will do in all but the most stressful of circumstances. (For instance, Playing Everquest2).

Manufacturer/ Chipset	AGP Support	Output	RAM DAC Speed/ Size	Max Refresh rate	Max Res.	Best Suited For	Buzz Rating	Best Price
ATI Radeon	4x 2D/3D Video w/TV Support	VGA S-Video RCA HDTV	/64MB DDR	75 Hz	2048x 1536	All around	7.5/10	Check Now!
XFX GeForce FX 5200	8x 2D/3D Video w/TV Support	VGA DVI (Analog)	350 MHz/ 64MB DDR	-	1600x 1200	All Around	8/10	Check Now!
Asus V9180TD GeForce4 MX440	8x 2D/3D Video w/TV Support NTSC (analog)	VGA S-Video DVI (Analog) Twin view	380 MHz 64MB DDR	75 Hz	2048x 1536	All Around	9/10	Check Now!
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro	4x 2D/3D Video w/TV Support	VGA S-Video DVI (Digital)	400 MHz 64MB DDR	85 Hz	2048x 1536	All Around	9/10	Check Now!

We hope you have found our little guide helpful in some way. Our purpose being to guide and not to decide, for you and give our readers something with which to gauge the current state of the Graphicscard offerings today.