Graphics Cards

Hi all,

My PC has been crashing regularly for the last few days. It looks as though the onboard graphics chipset is about to go to the great silicon heaven.

I know I can pick up a new card for £20 that'll do the job, but as I'm putting in a new one anyway, is there any that you can recommend that render colour/contrast etc better than a general use card. It doesn't need loads of onboard memory for games (unless the odd game of tetris is going to work it too hard).

For instance, the following..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Boxed-ATI-Radeon-9250-128Mb-AGP-Graphics-DVI-TV-Out_W0...

and

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nvidia-GeForce-FX5200-128MB-AGP8x-Graphics-Card-TV-out_W0Q...

both come in at under £30, are brand named, and look as though either will do the job. Just thought I'd ask before buying (or before the chip has a complete meltdown.

Cheers

Liam

Liam,
You should be fine with either. My laptop has a GeForce FX Go5200 in it. There have been a few driver issues, but that's mostly because it requires Tablet PC functionality (things like screen orientation are built in), so I've had to stick the original Tosh drivers

The GeForce includes "digital vibrancy" - complete nonsense and a pain the rear for photography. But you can leave it all disabled.

Personally I'd be inclined to check out the ATI Radeon - the lack of fan is a good thing in my book. Check Google and Google Groups for any driver issues people might be having

As long as you can Spyder the monitor, that will resolve any issues with the card as well.

Matt

Of the two I'd definitely go with the ATI 9250.

I've had a 9200 and a FX5200 and the 9200 was then better of those two - the 9250 is a better card that a 9200.

Hi, and thanks for the advice..

I've bought the Ati 9250, but the 256mb version.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8823258338

Just in case Tetris bring out a more graphics intensive version..

It's the same spec except for the extra 128mb, a bit of future proofing, for a tenner more. Hopefully I'll have it my grubby little mitts by Wednesday, and should have it fitted by Christmas, or an hour after it arrives.. one or the other.

While I'm at it, if you need to find out any specs for your machine, you can use Belarc (which I've used for years), ASTRA32 or Aida32 which I used to use, and will give you far more info than you're ever likely to need, I seem to remember.

Obviously, this is me, so you know that they're freebies..

Cheers

Liam

Hi,

just thought I'd let you know that now I've fitted the card (it arrived yesterday, everything now works, and setting up wyziwig was a lot easier. The various programs I use tend to seem faster at rendering images.. sharpening in GIMP for instance. £30 well spent.

Cheers

Liam