Best 2D Video Card for Business User?

[Guest_imported]

I see lots of 3D video card information, but almost nothing on 2D. I spend hours looking at the screen for programming and internet browsing and I'd love to have my screen be as readable as hardcopy. My current setup, Dell 2000FP (20" LCD)& Matrox G-400, is quite good but I'd like to improve it. The Matrox G-550 using DVI gave me the same results as my G-400. This may be overkill, but would a hi-end card like the ATI 9700 Pro answer my needs? A reveiw commended this card for its outstanding 3D detail, the best they had seen. I wonder if this might make it the most readable 2D card. I welcome your feedback and suggestions.

 

[paparazi]

Yes traditionally Matrox have been very strong for 2D and have a good fan base of users for 2D aplications.
ATI are also renowned for image quality 2D and 3D, some might say the Radeon 9700pro is overkill because you simply won't use it's powerful 3D potential, but when you consider the price of professional 2D cards I don't see a problem.
I have to pose a question given you want the card for 2D applications, wouldn't the Radeon 9000 or 9500 be just as good? and alot cheaper.
Stick with DVI, also how old is your TFT? it seems that they are improving at a rapid rate and a newer model maybe more of an image improver than a new card, just a thought.
Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[Guest_imported]

ATI just announced a business version of the 9700 Pro for delivery in April. This sounds promising to me since the price will be lower and I don't need the 3D stuff. To answer your question my display is one year old and is still top rate. However I think I can find a better video card.

 

[dakota81]

Sounds like someone's got the case of the upgrade-bug. =) It's a pesky little guy, and we all know how tempting all those sleek new hardware and flashing new ads can be, and how ever-so-many frames per second of Quake they can pump out. But I've gone so long without getting anything new, could I be missing out on all this new and exciting technology?

Nope.

The Matrox G series video cards are the best quality and best performing 2D cards out there.

 

[dakota81]

Actually before I get some nasty responses - I'm comparing the Matrox cards to the other cards in the same class, like GeForce's, and Radeon's, not the higher end workstation video cards (which you're going to certainly shell out the bucks for...).

 

[pmonett]

No nasty response in sight. But that is probably because the issue is 2D. For gamers, there are rabid fanatics in every house, because 3D is still a young and ever changing technology.
But 2D seems pretty much dead in the water - nothing happening on that side. Matrox has nailed 2D quality for years now, and the only innovation they can bring is multi-monitor display.
I have to agree with paparazi, for 2D only I'd be more inclined to look at the monitor. A G-400 is a sure value, I do not think a 9600 Pro could do any better in 2D.
Of course, the real issue might be finding an excuse to play Q3 - in which case I'm all for it ;-) !
Except that I would recommend a GF4 Ti4200. Nvidia seems a lot more stable and reliable, even if they have missed the latest high-performance podium.
Now the flames are really going to start - but on 3D, not 2D !

 

[Guest_imported]

I do have the upgrade bug and I highly value fast response time. It's been two years since my last upgrade. I'm planning to buy a second PC and connect it to my present PC via networking. I found a Matrox G550 32MB video board for $25, which I'll use until the ATl 9200 ships. I hope the ATI 9200, Win XP, and a 2.4MHz P4 will greatly improve my video conferencing and my response time. I'm reluctant to leave Matrox with their excellent support and SW. I currently can easily change # of colors, refresh rate, reslution, etc. without rebooting. I doubt if I can do this with ATI or Nvidia.

 

[pmonett]

Ohh, it's been a while since I've been able to do that on my GeForce boards.
Never had ATI, but I doubt they have any problems switching screen resolution. Reboot is no longer required since years ago for most graphics cards.
Doubt no longer !

 

[Grenage]

And to think I always assumed it was windows that controlled whether it needed to restart on graphical changes

 

[pmonett]

Now, now. Windows only requires a reboot if it detects a change in configuration (really cynical here).
The engineers in the graphics department simply found a way to avoid Windows detecting there was a change - and presto, no more reboot ! ;-)

 

[Grenage]

Ah that explains it

 

[Guest_imported]

Your statements imply that changes to the video paramenters seldom require a reboot. My experience this week at a video store was different. I tried to change 2 parameters on an ATI 9000 video board and in each attempt I was told I would have to reboot to effect the change. The 2D display with this board was as readable as my display with a Matrox G400. However the 3D was much better. Thus I continue my search for a superior video card.

 

[Grenage]

Maybe thats simply as good as 2D gets ?

 

[Treeking]

Richard70:

ATI FIRE GL X1 256MB DDR 8X AGP Pro50 Dual DVI-I Out - WHITE BOX
Specifications:
Chipset:FGL 9700 Visual Processing Unit (VPU)
Memory:256MB of DDR memory
Bus: AGP Pro50
Dual integrated 10-bit per channel 400 MHz DACs
Eight parallel rendering pipelines
Four parallel geometry engines
Direct X® 9.0 functionality in OpenGL®
Programmable pixel and vertex shaders
Vertex shaders up to 1024 instructions with flow control
2x/4x/6x full scene anti-aliasing modes
DVI Res Support up to: 1920x1200 analog up to 2048x1536
Resolutions above 1600x1200 are supported in single head configuration only.
OS Support: Linux®, Windows® XP, and Windows® 2000
Ports: Dual DVI-I connector
OEM Box, (see pics for details) Model#: FIRE GL X1256M -OEM Special Free FedEx Saver Shipping
- Product Link -See It! (image count 3 ) -Price Alert (N82E16814102267) Return to Service $995.00

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...=48&manufactory=1126&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

There ya go.................

 

[pmonett]

Ahh, my mistake. I was supposing you referred to changing screen resolution.
But even when I change GPU or DRAM frequency I do not need to reboot (if it works, that is). What parameters di d you try to change ?
Just curious.

 

[mbasic]

Really it depends on what you're going to be using it for. You describe yourself as a 'business-user', so if you want a high-end business card rather than a mainstream or gaming one, you'd be looking at the nVidia Quadro 4 series (I think the NVS series is a optimised for 2D) or the 3DLabs Wildcat seres, the ATI FireGL series or Matrox Parehelia cards (as with previous Matrox models, these excell in 2D image quality).

These will all cost you hefty bucks mind you, and if you're looking for a more cost affordable option, then could shop around and see if you can find an older Quadro 1, Quadro 2, Quadro 2 MX or even TNT2/M64, although these are dated by todays standard if you're looking to play games on them on the side. Else you could get the Parhelia with 64MB or 128MB rather than the more expensive 256MB version.

In reality, any of todays contemporary cards will give you a decent picture (all of which offer display property options to customise the gamma, brightness & contrast settings etc. and support such high refresh rates & resolutions, that quality isn't much of an issue anyomore with most setups), nowadays it depends more on your monitor (particularly the refresh rate it supports at your desired resolution, the dot pitch, and the display quality of the picture tube or TFT). Generally you'd want a flatscreen display if you're looking for nearest to print quality.

Basically, any of the contemporary cards should do the job, and should also give decent 3D performance when you need it, although be aware that if you're expecting to run Doom 3 etc when it comes out, then anything short of a GeForce3/4 Ti or Radeon 9000 (or equivalent) just isn't gonna cut the mustard. Any way, here's some mainstream gaming cards (I haven't bothered listing anything that's lagging behind for these days), any of which should do you, although the Matrox still probably leads the way slightly in terms of overall 2D picture qaulity & features (plus supports 3x monitor display output!): -

===========================
nVidia GeForce3 Ti200 128MB
nVidia GeForce4 MX440 SE (AGPx8 128MB)
nVidia GeForce4 MX460 (AGPx8)
nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200 (AGPx8)
nVidia GeForce4 Ti4400
nVidia GeFOrce4 Ti4600
nVidia GeForce4 Ti4800/SE (AGPx8)
nVidia GeForce FX series (a bit expensive at the moment)

ATI Radeon 8500/LE 128MB
ATI Radeon 9000/Pro 128MB
ATI Radeon 9500/Pro
ATI Radeon 9700 (a bit pricey, but smart)
ATI Radeon 9800 (top dog!)

Matrox Parhelia-512 (Retail) 64/128/256MB

SiS Xabre 400 Pro
SiS Xabre 600 Ultra
===========================

hope this help,
Mbasic

 

[Guest_imported]

Thank you MBasic for the excellent summary of 2D cards. I plan to wait for the ATI 9200 business video card. I hope it will give me better 2D performance than my Matrox G400 at a reasonable price.

 

[mbasic]

Hi Richard,
glad to be of help.

The 9200 is a pretty good card, although note that this is the equivalent to the Radeon 9000 gaming series, which although competent, would now be considered 'budget' giving around GeForce4 MX or lower GeForce3 performance, it may be worth if you can afford it to get the Radeon 9500 (this would be more future proof, otherwise you're gonna see yourself needing an upgrade within the next 1 year to year & a half, although this might not be a problem, it depends whether or not you're bothered in running contemporary games at full-speed) or else save money and get the 9000 Pro, which should give you the same performance & features (apart from AGPx8 which you don't need anyway, as the performance increase is neglegable from AGPx4, sometimes even worse!), but is cheaper.

Note that the 9000, 9100 and 9200 are essentiay all the same chipset (based around an updated Radeon 8500 core), but running at slightly diferent memory & clock speeds, with the 'Pro' of each preferable if you can afford it, for that xtra bit of juice.

This said, the 9200 is a great card, and whether or not you go for any of the current ATIs or nVidia cards, you shouldn't be dissapointed.

All the best,
Mbasic

 

[jyy]

Richard70 wrote:
"I found a Matrox G550 32MB video board for $25"

can I ask where you found this ?? ... i am looking for a good 2D card and do not care for any 3D performance because I don't play any games. the g550 for $25 is amazingly cheap and i am interested too!

 

[mbasic]

Chech these out at the moment on eBay, all of which should give you around the same performance as the G550 or better, for £30 or less (outright), any of them should be fine for 2D too: -

32MB SiS 305 - AGPx4, 1920x1200 (New - £17.00)
64MB Kyro II - AGP, FSAA (New - £23.99)
64MB ATI Radeon 7000 - TV-out, Dual-Monitor (New - £29.99)
32MB nVidia TNT2 M64 - 300MHz, AGP, FSAA (£16.00)
32MB ATI FireGL - AGP (£18.00)
32MB S3 Savage 2000 - 350MHz, AGPx4 (£18.00)
64MB nVidia GeForce2MX - AGPx4, T&L, TV-out (£25.00)
16MB 3Dfx Voodoo3 3500 - TV Tuner, Unreal game (£25.00)

Any of these should be OK for your purposes, in particular the GeForce2MX, Radeon 7000 Dual-Monitor or ATI FireGL business card.

Hope this helps.
Best of Luck with it,
mbasic