I’m looking for a nice 2d card that can support 1680 x 1050 over DVI for my Dell 2005FP display. I don’t play games so I’m not looking for a gaming card. I just need a card that will work well with Windows, has good image quality, and can play DVDs pretty well.
Suggestions???
still dvds do require some performance if ur not a gamer but are into tv tuning and dvds and all that id reccomend an all in wonder card, but wat budget are we looking at here?
~ $100
Image/desktop/text quality is more important to me than performance. As long as DVDs play I’ll be happy with it.
With his budget and needs the 9600 might even be more than he’ll want, perhaps the 9000 All in Wonder if you can find it? Otherwise go with something like the ATI Radeon 8500 or 9000 (not 9000 Pro).
Might even look at a Matrox G450 or G550 card, especially since you’re not gaming.
I have the radeon 9600 pro and it would be excellent for what you need it for.
[QUOTE=Big B]
Might even look at a Matrox G450 or G550 card, especially since you’re not gaming.
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I was actually going to get a G550 but according to Matrox it does not support 1680 x 1050 over DVI.
I can get a G550 for really cheap on fleabay.
[QUOTE=Big B]
Might even look at a Matrox G450 or G550 card, especially since you’re not gaming.
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Absolutely, Matrox has the best 2D performance and clarity of any name in the industry. Also a great dual-head solution, and their MPEG2 accelleration is excellent. If you can get a Matrox for sub-$100, I say go for it.
[QUOTE=Anti-Trend]
Absolutely, Matrox has the best 2D performance and clarity of any name in the industry. Also a great dual-head solution, and their MPEG2 accelleration is excellent. If you can get a Matrox for sub-$100, I say go for it.
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I’m not sure which one I should get. The Matrox cards that are in my price range don’t appear to support 1680 x 1050 over DVI. At least the Matrox drivers do not support this. I guess it might be possible to use power strip but I’m not sure it would work properly.
[QUOTE=jermy4]
I’m not sure which one I should get. The Matrox cards that are in my price range don’t appear to support 1680 x 1050 over DVI. At least the Matrox drivers do not support this. I guess it might be possible to use power strip but I’m not sure it would work properly.
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Well, you’d need to get a Parhelia-series card, not an MGA.
Those cards are much more expensive …
If you don’t want to shell out the bucks, look for an MSI or Gigabyte card with a Geforce FX chipset, such as a 5200. Or, for a few bucks more, check out the AGP versions of the 6200 – very good bang for buck!
i agree with anti trend, if you want good performance on cheap get an FX card or an agp 6200
damn anti trend u already got 13 times helpful?
[QUOTE=zRoCkIsAdDiCtInG]
damn anti trend u already got 13 times helpful?
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I try hard 
I forgot to mention that my motherboard only supports AGP4X/AGP2X. Does that make much difference for these cards?
Also, I’m assuming that the FX5200 & 6200 have good 2d output? I have a MX200 now that is not very sharp with my LCD. It only has analog output which might be why.
[QUOTE=jermy4]
…MX200 now that is not very sharp with my LCD…
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Yeah, the MX-series were all around poor cards. Bad image quality, weak performance, didn’t support many effects. The only thing they really had going for them was price.
[QUOTE=jermy4]
I forgot to mention that my motherboard only supports AGP4X/AGP2X. Does that make much difference for these cards?
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As long as the cards are agp8x, they are 4x backwards compatible which works with your motherboard.
[QUOTE=Exfoliate]
With his budget and needs the 9600 might even be more than he’ll want, perhaps the 9000 All in Wonder if you can find it? Otherwise go with something like the ATI Radeon 8500 or 9000 (not 9000 Pro).
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Why should I stay away from the 9000 pro?
[QUOTE=jermy4]
Why should I stay away from the 9000 pro?
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Actually, the 8500 is better than the 9000 or 9000 pro. ATI has very confusing naming conventions. 
For some odd reason the 9000 pro showed up at more than $100 on Newegg, go figure, also surprisingly enough as AT said the 8500 proves to be a better card too, ATI went all out when they made that one.