PNY
Verto GeForce 8500GT 512MB Video Card
Value priced power house video card. 512 MB of 128-bit DDR2
memory. Full support of Microsoft Direct 9.0 and 10.0. HD-DVD
and Blu-ray movie playback with dual digital DVI monitor capability.
SLI, run two of these cards in tandem if motherboard and power
supply permits. |
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Black patches on your screen or ragged image rendering
when running screensavers usually means at the least your video
card drivers need to be updated. Given the state of rapid technology
advances, more than not the card should be replaced with ones with
newer graphics engines and more memory. The average video cards
that come with mainstream retail computer systems are unvaryingly
low end products. The anemic performance becomes quickly pronounced
with time as applications and games continue to grow more complex.
The profit margin of computer manufacturers being thin, cutting
corners with the video card seem to be the favorite tactic for keeping
costs down for mainstream and value systems manufacturers. Many
systems do not even have a video card and that function is built
into the motherboard as an on-board video solution.
Those are fine for general use but inadequate for playing games,
watching movies and other home entertainment functions. The main
problem being that the system memory is shared between the video
system and the processor which usually results in not enough for
both. Most mainstream video cards come with 256 MB
of dedicated memory. A decent system can be purchased new for $600
to $800 and usually all it will need is a video card upgrade to
make it into a solid all around system.
A word of caution in upgrading is compatibility. Many major brand
computer systems, especially older models, use proprietary hardware,
such as motherboards and power supply that cannot be substituted
with commonly available industry standard components. See Dell
Upgrades.
Some motherboards with on-board video solutions provide a slot
for a video card. The ATI RADEON XPRESS 1100 Series
is one of these that comes with the popular Compag Presario
SR217ONX model. It provides a slot for a PCIe16 video card,
the current mainstream video card like the ones above. When the
system recognizes the new card it should automatically disable the
on-board video unit.
Since almost all new computer systems ship with Windows Vista operating
system and their dominance inevitable, it makes sense to look for
hardware that is compatible or better yet Vista Certified.
Unless money is of no object and you can upgrade constantly, it
is futile to spend the premium for the fastest or the latest hardware.
A top-of-the-line product becomes a mere middling within a year
and so on at an accelerated rate. For the average person, it is
best to look for the "sweet spot", the "best bang
for the buck", between the Jetsons and the Flintstone solution
when looking to upgrade hardware. Currently the nVidia 7 series
video cards offer some of the best price performance combination.
If your system has Vista or an upgrade to it is in the future, you
must get the 6000 series and above models. Higher the number means
newer the model and ones below 6000 are not and will not be Vista
supported. Vista compatible drivers will not be
available for those models.
We use the EVGA nVidia 7900
GS which I believe is about four or five models down from
the top but is plenty fast for us. It is only slightly higher in
price than a 7600 GT but is purported to run cooler
and quieter with gains in performance. You can also get the factory
over clocked version called the 7900 GS KO from
EVGA which is even faster. Beyond it the price climbs steeply and
is not cost effective in my opinion.
Make sure your system motherboard can accept a video card upgrade
and that the particular card is compatible with your system and
will physically fit on the motherboard and in the case. If your
system is more than two years old, installing a high end card may
require a bigger power source. If the motherboard has to come out
of the case for the switch, it is probably worth paying a professional
to do it.
If you do not already have a LCD monitor you should consider getting
one. The prices have fallen to where a 19" wide screen
is about $200. A monitor with both digital (DVI)
and analog (VGA) input connections is best for
versatility. You can use it on older machines and you will be ready
when everything becomes digital. We were sold on the Hanns
G. 19" wide screen with its unbeatable price performance
combination and have no regrets. Quite a difference between a LCD
and CRT (tube type) monitors, the most noticeable being the brightness
of the LCD screen. Wide screen makes working with spreadsheets easier
since you can see more of it, the same with games, movies and all
other applications.
Newegg.com is an excellent retailer of computer hardware you should
check out.
tomshardware.com is a great site for computer
hardware information.
extremetech.com is another great site for computer
hardware information.
Interactive video card comparison chart at Tom's Hardware Guide
VGA Charts www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
Interactive CPU comparison chart ar Tom's Hardware Guide CPU
Charts www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html
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