Buying a Video Card

-The video card is one of those components you want to buy new and buy in the high end arena. Don't go cheap with the video card and expect to pay at least $70.00 for a good one. Now there are many to choose from and there are a few features that can be gathered from a good Video Card. First off you need to know again what it is you want to do with your computer? Do you want to play high end games or be able to manipulate Video from your handheld video camera? These are some important considerations when buying a Video Card. It seems that they come in all and one thing? Go figure.

-The newest trend is the 3D-FX chip set that features Voodoo Banshee. This is a really nice feature when running OpenGL Games and so forth. The chip is actually awesome and is the best around in the speed arena. The sad side to these chips are that most of the Vendors only offer the Voodoo Chipset and nothing else, no TV out or Video in. Kind of sucks to pay 125.00 for a Video Card that has nothing but just Video. There are however some Video Cards out there that have more like the ATI cards.

-ATI doesn't offer to much to the 3D FX arena but does offer an excellent Video card and good prices. The last card I bought from them was the Xpert @Play98 that was an excellent Video Card. If I remember correctly it had most of the belts and whistles, 8MB or Memory, TV out, Video in, DVD playback and so on.

Memory

-Look for at least 8MB of SGRAM or SDRAM memory on your Video card. The more the better, of course this doesn't come without price.

Expansion Bus

-Your Video card should be in either PCI or AGP format. The AGP is preferred and if you have the slot on your motherboard you should consider nothing less!

Brands

- Look for and go with the following when possible:

• STB System's
• Diamond
• ATI
• Guillemot
• Creative Labs

-The items listed below are not Stand Alone Video Accelerators. These are full fledged AGP Video cards.

More

• STB Voodoo 3500, 16 MB, AGP, TV, Video
• ATI XPERT 2000, 32 MB RAM, AGP
• ATI Rage Fury, 16 MB RAM, AGP
• Creative Labs 3D Blaster TnT, 32MB

Learn More About Video Cards

Video Card Basics

Troubleshooting a Video Card

Installing a Video Card

Back To Shoppers Guide