video card question

[racronus]

can someone explain to me what specifications to look for when buying a video card?

[Jimstep]

The specifications would depend on what you intend to do with your computer.

For a high powered, fast machine, I would go with a high powered fast graphics card (a good combination for gamers).

For a moderately fast machine that would be used for business uses, such as word processing, database management, or spreadsheet calculations, you can get by with a much cheaper graphics card.

I always go after the best graphics card that will fit in my budget at the time of purchase.

Some specifications would be:
pixel resolution - dependent on monitor used
refresh rate
compatibility with current software
RAMDAC speed - for 2D, 350Mhz is standard
Amount/type of Ram - 64Mb of DDR on the newer cards
Support for DirectX and OpenGl - if your a gamer
memory bandwidth
number of graphics operations per second
Color depth - 32bit vs 16bit

You really need to do some research. The two competitors in the industry are nVidia and ATI. Go to their websites and look at the specifications. See what they have to offer.

Personally, I like the nVidia chipset for gaming. ATI has been around longer, but not in the 3D acceleration arena (to my satisfaction).

Good Luck on your research.

[honkwomp]

It depends a LOT on what processor you are using, and I have found that out first hand.

I have an old machine I am trying to keep alive till sometime next year (k6-2 450) and I just got one of those
Geforce 2 Mx 400-64 mb cards from EVGA that have been floating around for around 60-70 bucks. I can tell you, its way too much card for my system, even though I have gotten a performance increase over my Voodoo3 2000 pci. My processor is just too weak to move the amount of data the card produces. that being said, I will be ready when I do get my mother board next year, and its a decent card. I do know that someplace on the boards here, I have seen the same question as yours and they advised not to get the MX200 version of that graphics card

On a side note, my motherboard only caches 128meg of ram, and I have 384meg in it. Wasted money, I dropped back down to 128meg got a 50 percent increase in performance from the new card, and overcloked my 450 to 505 and got another 30 percent (almost doubled my 3d 2001 test benchmarks just making those two changes)

[racronus]

i'm not a heavy gamer, and I play mainly RPG games, so video cards have kind of aluded me for a while. But new games require some moderate video card to get good performance. System:
900mhz Athlon with 128 SDRAM.