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Choosing Your Graphics Card

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

We found some very interesting results from

our shootout. This helped us determine what to look for when going for a graphics card.

First, you should have an idea of what you want to do with your card. If all you want to

do is run common business applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, databases,

etc, then a high-end graphics card will not give you a significant performance

differential over an entry-level one. In fact, we found that the maximum difference

between the highest and the lowest Business Winstone scores was seven percent. And the

price you’ve to pay for this difference is over Rs 14,000! Definitely not worth it.

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Video RAM is an issue when going for a graphics card. 4 MB

is entry-level nowadays, and even 8 MB cards are easily available. Abroad, the entry level

is shifting from 16-32 MB! So don’t go for anything less. If you want more realistic

game play, then you’ll need a card with minimum of 16 MB VRAM. As most games nowadays

use Direct3D features, ensure that the card supports most of them. Last year when we

tested 3D cards, we found that a number of Direct3D features were not supported. This

year, however, things have changed, and cards support most of them. (For details, see the

table on the next page). These features and what they mean have been covered in the

article "Know your Graphics" in this issue.

The next thing to look for is OpenGL

support. This allows higher-fps rates, resulting in smoother, faster game play. The prices

of these cards can vary, depending on the number of features supported and the extra

bundled goodies. A video-capture feature, a few game titles, VR glasses and video editing

software are just some of the things that you could get along with the card.



A list of Direct3D

features supported by various cards



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3000ZX
color="#000000" size="1" face="Arial">AsusAGP-



V3400TNT
size="1" face="Arial">Asus AGP-V3800 TVR Deluxe color="#000000" size="1" face="Arial">ATI RageFury 128 (16 MB) size="1" face="Arial">ATI Rage Fury 128 (32 MB)  color="#000000" size="1" face="Arial">CreativeGraphics card Blaster RivaTNT size="1" face="Arial">XO AGP color="#000000" size="1" face="Arial">Volcano,



Voodoo,


Vanshee
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