spamsquach wrote:
> Hi,
>
> i need to buy low$ graphics card for agp4x and 800MHz. I want to create
small files
> with cad plus minor 3d rendering (no motion video, tho maybe slides...)
For student,
> intern, entry-level type ****tfolio.
>
>
> Big question is POWER:
> Comparing power needs for gfx card with fans. i haven't found power use
specs for
> any fan cards.
> the two ati have adjunct power connectors, implying maybe even higher
power use,
> but waht's that in watts?
>
>
> PS is Sparkle atx-300gt. is it equiv or better to the "300W" often
recommended for
> these cards?
>
> choices and limits of graphics cards:
> $15-20
> MAYBE:
> NEW newegg bfg fx5500oc (rebate) has fan but new & solid warranty.
Does dx9.0b,
> opengl2.0
> used ati radeon 9500 pro. has fan Recent dx9.0, opengl2.0
> used ati radeon 9600 xt. has fan (best? but likely too high $) Recent
dx9.0,
> opengl2.0
> This compares specs one-on-one, tho some data are missing:
> http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=27&card2=158
>
>
> TIA
>
> _______________
> boredom alert: extra credit info :-)
> NO:
> quadro2. ok card, but vendor has r@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
reputation, website clues
suggest the
> cards are used/refurb, but the doesn't declare that.
> used gf4 ti, mx, which are too old (all have FANS. old fans likely burn
soon)
> various kyro, matrox, etc, but too old or inappropriate.
> Used nvidia fx5200 are overpriced.
> Better fx5's or gf6's, 7, etc are legit$ but too high for me now.
> similar for most old radeon (new 7000, etc)
> gf3 too rare. Quadro 256, DCC gone and too old.
> quadro4 nvs (2d for tickertape watchers?? needs lfh something??) $10?
> i'd settle for a $7 tnt2, but not avail.
> AGP has attained legacy pricing (rising), so not offered in fry's sales.
>
> __________
> Sparkle PS (bought ~2002) Label [is mounted upside down]:
> +3.3V==20.0A(ORG), +5V==30.0A (RED), +12V==13.0A (YEL)
> +5Vsb==2.0A(PURP), -5V==0.3A(WHITE), -12V==0.8A (BLUE)
> P.G. signal (GRAY), ground (BLACK)
> fuse rating 6.3A, 250V~ (+3.3v & +5v=175W max)
> other stickers: 'ball bearing fan' 'noise-killer' [yeah, sort of]
>
> other hardware:
> normal tower case, good cooling because the side is open with an
8"deskfan
> strapped 3" from the cpu :-)
> 800 MHz Duron, FIC AZ-11 KT133 vt8363, at 100 fsb with AGP 4x. 512
pc133
>
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Duron_microprocessors#Duron_.22Spitfire.22
> _.28Model_3.2C_180_nm.29
> shows 35.4 W (max?)
>
>
> one ATA 20gb hd. one floppy.
> liteon cdrw 52-48-52. one older cdrom.
> nic
>
> Winxp, no vista.
> i'm trying to upgrade from Rageiic (drivers v.good for win9x single crt
in 2d. Lacks
> win2k, winxp, linux).
> no gaming for me.
> double-wide agp card is ok ('eats' the adjacent pci slot's space), cuz
i've plenty open
> pci.
>
> Future preferred:
> 2 crt's , but power draw on card is question. Also some online pics of
gfx cards show
> two diff connectors on slot cover, not two (s)vga serial. what's that
about?
>
> future possible:
> Those (partial?) softmods to Firegl (i'm interested mostly if the mod
relieves Duron
> cpu of some work)
> Second or larger hd, maybe
> Linux (low priority)
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/ati-powercons.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/ati-vs-nv-power.html
Xbitlabs has been measuring power, in their video card reviews, on and off
since those two articles above. To find power, go to this page:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/search/
Enter something like this in the top line
7600 GS power
Note that they don't tend to abbreviate the part number to 7600GS, so it
is a good idea to put a space between the two parts of the name.
Set "Search Using" to "All Words".
You may have to look through a few pages, but eventually you'll find a
table with power numbers.
Another good pair of words to use for a search:
Contem****ary power
They like to use "contem****ary" when reviewing the current crop of cards.
This article is from July 2006.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/power-noise.html
There should not be a big difference in power draw if using two
monitors. If the card is in 3D mode, it should already be drawing
the power stated in the Xbitlabs measurement. Running another DAC or
running a TMDS interface won't make that much difference. Running
two monitors is more demanding of the video card memory bandwidth,
and so selecting the cheapest card might not help in that regard.
What will make a difference, is trying to run two monitors with
a Duron 800. The processor could well be the rate limiting thing.
To work through a reasonably modern example, I picked this card:
ASUS N7600GS SILENT/HTD/256M GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X
$87
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16814121064
The card has 256MB of onboard RAM. The interface to that RAM is 128 bits
wide, whereas a lot of low end cards only use 64 bits. The really
expensive
cards have 256 bits or more in width. Width helps with GPU to video
memory bandwidth.
That card memory is probably "true memory". The low end cards sometimes
use
Turbocache or Hypermemory, and you have to read more than one version of
advertising copy, to see an admission that the card uses something like
that.
You don't have a lot of system RAM, so sharing some for video is not
going to work well. It is possible, if the driver detects a small amount
of system memory, that the "cache" effect would be disabled, and the
card might work a bit speedier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbocache
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperMemory
The above Asus example card, has an aluminum heatsink. I would estimate
the power of the card at around 35W or so. (Allowing a couple watts for
the HSI bridge chip on the back of the card.)
The card has a disk drive connector on the end of it.
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-121-064-05.jpg
I have a couple fanless video cards here, and what I do is mount an
80mm case fan next to the video card. That keeps the card stable in 3D
mode. Both my cards are fine in 2D (desktop) mode, but one of them
overheats in 3D mode. Using a fan fixes that for me. Since it is a
case fan, if the case fan wears out, it is easy to replace. Not so
with some of the cheap fans used on video cards - they can be hard
to find a replacement for, and sometimes you have to use an
aftermarket heatsink and fan to do the job.
On the faceplate side, there are three connectors. Video at the top,
VGA in the middle and DVI-I on the bottom. Some combination of two of
three connectors can be used at a time.
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-121-064-09.jpg
The DVI-I connector has two sets of signals on it. There are digital
signals (TMDS) suitable for driving an LCD. Note that a lot of cheap
LCD monitors only have a digital connection on them, and the fact that
the 7600GS AGP card shown above has a VGA connector, means you could
potentially have a problem if you switched to two cheap LCD monitors in
the future.
The second set of signals on the connector, are suitable for driving
a VGA monitor. They are analog signals. The signals on the "cross" at
one end of the DVI-I connector, are 75 ohm RGB for analog VGA.
That video card also comes with a "DVI to VGA dongle". What the dongle
does,
is extracts the VGA signals and puts them on the familiar 15 pin
connector. Using that dongle, you can drive two VGA CRTs for example.
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-121-064-06.jpg
Some cheap video cards have DVI-I connectors, but no dongle is included
in the package. Having to buy it separately, adds to the total price.
You only have to buy a dongle, to convert a DVI-I to an analog VGA
for an older monitor like a CRT monitor.
So there is room to cut corners on video cards, but you may not end
up getting all the features you were looking for.
More info here. Non-quadro cards are listed as fine, as long as
the video card has sufficient memory for the number of open
windows. (click "tested" button.)
http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/videocardtesting.html
Paul
|
