OT-ish: Need Video Card (Non-Pro) Advice

Soniclight wrote on 7/7/2011, 6:12 PM

Some clarification on my situation:

While I just built my new 6-core AMD 3.2 Ghz/16 Gb DDR3 Win7 64-bit system, I am not a professional editor and don't even own an HD TV. I edit stuff in 1920x180 .veg when I can, but most of my stuff is Net-platform, i.e. Flash or .WMV.

My video interface is still VGA due to needed extension chords to my dual 19" LCD monitor system -- both of which have digital I/0 as well as VGA out. So I have VGA out of them since the chords are VGA, then an VGA>digital adapters on the end of the chords since the card has digital in only.

But I don't play or need HD on my system-- with the exception of test renders of master .avi files before I downrez to Net format. There I see a definite out-of-sync thing going on in almost all players (Windows Media, VLC, etc.) But I usually do a WMV test too, and those play fine.

I don't have any problems with my video card as far as I know and drivers are current.
However...

Unlike XP 32-bit, I cannot use the forceware nVidia "Desktop Manger" that came with this older (circa 2005) video card -- a very useful app that allowed one to add a send-to-other-monitor button next to Min/Max/Close buttons at top of windows. nVidia has mostly discontinued this extra app but it seems that some newer cards have or may have it.

Reason I bring this up:

I was used to extending the taskbar across all monitors in XP + having that send-to feature, but neither are available in Win7. So I'm using a trialware version of Display Fusion that rectifies tha plus adding some other nice tweaks. USD $25, I have a week or so left to decide.

Which brings us to...

Do I

IF I can find one for around USD $100 that does have the "Desktop Manager" (another if), I wouldn't have to spend the $25 to get back the send-to feature. But I will probably still lose the across-monitors taskbar.

Yes, technically speaking, the newer cards are better, faster, of course. Mine has only 256 Mb. memory, most current cards have 1024 or 1 Gb. Other specs are probably also better, but again, I don't "do" HD and my interface is still VGA. And...

... working or rendering in Vegas (currently 8c) doesn't sink or swim according to GPU work as I understand it (Vegas uses CPU and RAM for those). I also don't know if higher specs would help work in Particleillusion 3 either.

Last but not least, I basically wiped out almost 40% of my entire financial funds rebuilding this computer (+/- USD $800 for it). I need to build my savings back up. I don't want to have to buy stuff I really, really,don't need.

Anyway, below are the specs of my card. Defined as "cheap mid-range" but has served me well so far.

Thanks for input.

_____________

XFX version

Series: GeForce 6
GPU: NV41
Release Date: 2005-09-30
Interface: PCI-E x16
Core Clock: 325 MHz
Memory Clock: 350 MHz (700 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 22.4 GB/sec
Shader Operations: 2600 MOperations/sec
Pixel Fill Rate: 2600 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 2600 MTexels/sec
Vertex Operations: 325 MVertices/sec
Framebuffer: 128,256,512 MB
Memory Type: DDR
Memory Bus Type: 64x4 (256 bit)
DirectX Compliance: 9.0c
OpenGL Compliance: 2.0
PS/VS Version: 3.0/3.0
Process: 130 nm
Fragment Pipelines: 8 (12)
Vertex Pipelines: 4 (6)
Texture Units: 8 (12)
Raster Operators 8

Comments

Steve Mann wrote on 7/7/2011, 10:20 PM

Try this:
http://www.displayfusion.com/

Soniclight wrote on 7/8/2011, 1:23 AM

As stated above, I already use it :o)

Soniclight wrote on 7/8/2011, 12:37 PM

And it looks like this is one dead-thread - lol.
Anyone care to toss in some wisdom?
Thanks.

TheHappyFriar wrote on 7/8/2011, 1:28 PM

I can't stand the task bar on my second screen so I've never even tried it. I also use ATI cards so I can't help with your situation. Sorry.

John_Cline wrote on 7/8/2011, 2:17 PM

Nothing wrong with the 6800 card for editing in Vegas, it's an older card but fast enough. You won't be able to take advantage of CUDA accelerated h.264 encoding, but since your using WMV, it doesn't matter. If your LCD monitors have DVI in, then they will look much better using DVI cables from the video card rather than the analog VGA cables you are currently using. DVI cables are quite cheap and will produce noticeably better looking images on your monitors.

Also, in order to send programs from one monitor to the other in Win7, just hold down both the "Windows" key and the "Shift" key and then use the left and right cursor keys.

Soniclight wrote on 7/8/2011, 10:02 PM

Thanks for responses.

John

Due to my setup, then I'm going to have to get 2 x 12 feet worth of DVI extension cords. But before I do, could you describe what better image quality will actually look or act like?

Thanks for the Win+Shift <> trick. Maybe I don't need DisplayFusion for I could use some floating docker instead of needing an across-monitors taskbar. Since you seem versed in Win7...

--- Do you know of anyway to revert it back to the old copy-replace mode when replacing multiple files from one folder to another, i.e. a backup folder? Used to be simple - click "replace all" and have it over. Now one has to basically cajole it to "get it" to do that now with a few clicks.

I tried a free shell called ClassicShell that does that and a few other things, but I uninstalled it for it may or may not have caused some VB errors on my desktop when dealing with shortcuts.

--- Is there a way to knock down the number of "error shakes" (I don't know the technical term) on windows when one hits a wrong button, etc. -- the "hey, wrong move, dude" symptom? As I recall, in XP one could reduce it down to one or two jiggles.

I know I'm having a pet peeves pout here, but some "improvements" in Win7 irritate me since I never used Vista, came in from XP and before that Win95/98. I like the sexy Aero look, but I also like lean and efficient and don't like bells and whistles (literally -- no sounds for anything).

Thanks.

LReavis wrote on 7/9/2011, 4:16 PM

"could you describe what better image quality will actually look or act like?"

I have 4 monitors, two for my studio, and two in front of a couch where I prefer to sit for computer work.

The two in my studio use VGA ports for my newest computer, and DVI for my older computer. I MUST use VGA if I want to split the signals for 2 pairs of 2 monitors each.

But image quality? I don't see any significant difference with GOOD CABLES. Good VGA cables are fat and unwieldy - and a bit expensive. But worth all of it. I bought the last pair directly from China on ebay. Good price, good image, and all of the pins are used so that my VGA card can recognize them correctly as 1920x1080 (they also work on my pair of 1920x1200 monitors, which I no longer use). All of my cables are at least 12' long, but I've used up to 20' or so with still good quality image. Get good VGA cables and you'll not miss a thing by not using DVI.

If you can't see each individual pixel sharply defined, you need better VGA cables.