What Gfx-Card/Combination to buy ?

[roussec]

Hi,

I am currently using a G400 DH. What I mostly need is the ability to use two independant resolutions because I am programming/debugging on one screen and running (what I am programming ) in fullscreen on the second. I am working with DirectX and OpenGL. Another thing I am using quite often is the TV-Out/Clone feature to see how effects look on TV.

I am using resolutions up to 1280x1024 (typically 1152x864 for programming) on a 17" and 19" monitor. The rest of my HW is a Athlon 700 with an NMC MoBo and 512 MB Ram. I am using Win2k as a development platform.

What gaphics card would you guys buy/recommend.
Since Matrox does not seem to sell a card in the next couple of years and the G400 is really getting to slow for my needs I am thinking of two alteratives:

Radeon 8500
GeForce3 Ti500+TV-Out + GeForce2 MX PCI
Wait for the Kyro III + Kyro II PCI (unlikely)


Does anybody of you have expericence with using these card(s) for the described purpose? Is the Radeon able to handle independant resolutions in Win2k/XP. What about drivers? Is it better to buy Nvidia because it is the de facto standard (and many customers use it)? What about the developer support?

I am planing to buy in the next two weeks.

Thank you,

Christian

[Gurm]

1. Your guesstimate for Matrox's next card is a wee bit long. Trust me.

2. Other cards are VERY limited as to what resolutions they allow on the second output.

- Gurm

[The PIT]

If you've got a via chipset and Xp kep clear of nvidea they've still got problems

[Indiana]

Originally posted by Gurm

2. Other cards are VERY limited as to what resolutions they allow on the second output.

Not the Radeon8500, though. It has dual 400MHz RamDACs so you can really use high res on both screens. Independant resolutions work in WinXP, but not in Win2k AFAIK (did not try it). 2D quality is just fine - you won't notice the difference to a Matrox card unless you have a highend monitor. TVOut quality is acceptable, what's reall good, however is the flawless TV-only operation. If you boot the computer with only a TV connected, you'll automatically get a display (which is not true with Matrox and NVidia). The HydraVision software is also quite nice and nearly up to Matrox DualHead.

Now to the downsides:
1. On the driver-side, it's stil a bit of a hit-or-miss thing with ATI - some people are reporting lots of troubles (esp. WinME and WinXP, Win2k seems to be the least troublesome). My card is working fine in Win2k.
2. You won't get real Fullscreen TVOut with the 8500, but here it's only a small (<0.5cm) black stripe at the bottom.
3. TVOut quality is a bit down from the old Radeon (and the G400).
4. The DVI->VGA connector that's coming with the card is said to be of quite low quality and deteriorate the signal quality, so if you want to use two CRTs you might have to buy a better one.


NVidia IMO still has the best drivers and the additional advantage that you can be absolutely sure that every new game will be tested on NVidia chips for compatibility. This WinXP/VIA problem only exists with one specific inofficial driver-set, so it's nothing to really worry about. Downsides of NVidia:
- expensive
- the cards I have seen up to now had lower 2D quality even in 1024x768 (I never could compare a Geforce3, though - those are said to be much better)
- bad TVOut with annoying black borders (there's a tool to eliminate those, but I found it a pain in the *ss to use, especially if you want a TV-Only system at times).
- you're supporting a near monopolist and we'll probably end up with gfx-card prices of >$500

Matrox, well they have the best 2D-quality, arguably the best TV-Out, good drivers overall (if you don't count in some OGL weaknesses, they might even be the best). Their Dualhead is the best (resolutions on the secondary are lower than with the Radeon8500, but you won't need those res with a 17" and 19" anyway).
Downside is that they don't have an actual card out - D'OH

[The PIT]

Originally posted by Indiana

This WinXP/VIA problem only exists with one specific inofficial driver-set, so it's nothing to really worry about.

Not true it seems to happen in any driver after the twelve 12.xx looking through the threads there doesn't seem to be one particular solution. This aspect is very similar to the 686b bug which is still occuring today.
The only firm solution is to ditch XP and use win2k instead or buy another video card or chipset.