New Video Card Purchase

[sherritp]

I've recently dropped a nVidia 7300 into my new Vista Box (AMD X2) to better support my high-definition habit. I was getting some jerky video and had to optimize my setup but I finally got things to look good on my HD set.

However, I was surprised that on such a fast box I had to do any tweaking at all. Since I have my HD set upstairs and my PVR box downstairs, I'd like to be able to use my new 19" widescreen LCD when I'm on the treadmill. The nVidia video doesn't look good on both screens--it only looks good on the primary display. In my previous PVR box I had an old, mid-range ATI PCI video card, and didn't have these issues.

Wondering whether I should get a different video card, I started to do some research. I found this article at ExteremeTech and some info at Wikipedia.

From these articles, I'm giving a significant edge to ATI. Has this been proven out in your experience?

ExtremeTech 2D comparison of nVidia and ATI
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1916994,00.asp

WikiPedia articles (look at the "Shortcomings" section of nVidia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_Technologies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia

What should I look for in the $100 range that will make me happy?

Thanks!

Tim

[yle]

The consensus seems to be 7600GS or higher on the Nvidia side, or a X1300 or higher (basically anything that supports AVIVO) on the ATI side. On the onboard side several people have been happy with onboard Intel GMA950s. I saw an XFX 7600GS PCI-E with passive cooling at Sam's Club for $99, which is probably about as cheap as you'll find. You are likely looking more in the $125-150 range.

[Bigbird999]

If you are looking for dual display output, and your post indicates that you are, ATI cards have and edge in the way way they handle it.

BB

[tscales]

Don't know which 7300 you have, but most use system memory in addition to limited on board memory. I've had nothing but problems with the 7300LE that came in my Dimension 9200. With it in, I have MAJOR hard drive performance problems.

With a better card, the problems go away.

[NewtoThis]

sherritp, did you find a solution to this?

[sherritp]

NewToThis,

Yes, I took the advice above and went with an ATI card (Radeon x1650). I tried both an nVidia 7300 and 7600 before doing so. The nVidia cards were solid on one monitor and jerky on the secondary display.

If you intend to use both monitors (cloned, in my case) for video, then you should really look at an ATI card. I can see a difference between the two monitors, but one is rock solid (use Snapstream's overlay, not 3d settings) and the second is very good.

I'm now looking to upgrade to put audio on my HDMI cable. I picked up an ATI HD 2600 Pro at my local Fry's for $119 after rebate. I'm mostly happy with this decision--check out this post:
ATI Radeon x2600 pro and HDMI challenge

Tim