Due to the growing interest and public understanding in graphics cards, the
market is virtually 'flooded' with hundreds of brands to choose from.
Before attempting to pick the vendor, one must decide what his needs (and desires) are,
in terms of features and functionality.
Only then can one determine in what price range the wanted video board is.
With prices starting at under $150 and reaching $1500 (or even a few thousand $ for professional boards),
there's a very wide range of options.
However, boards have improved so much over the last few years that entry-level products now provide all
the features and performance needed for any (mainstream) application.
Though you can still buy ISA-bus video cards, the higher performance of
local-bus video has made ISA obsolete. If your PC doesn't have VL-Bus
or PCI slots, consider holding off on upgrading your video board until you
can afford a new motherboard, too.
Though video boards are improving so fast that they sometimes become
obsolete within six months of their introduction, there are three market
segments with price ranges that stay relatively constant. Here's how they
look currently:
Low-end video boards (under $200):
These are the boards that are typically bundled with new systems. These
days they use a 32-bit accelerator chip and come with 1MB of VRAM,
which lets them do 8-bit color at resolutions up to 1024x768, and 24-bit color
at 640x480. Unless you have special needs, this is plenty.
Midrange video boards ($200-$400):
These boards are for people who have jumbo monitors or who
occasionally need to do some real work in 24-bit color. Current midrange
boards typically use 32- or 64-bit accelerator chips and come with 2MB of
VRAM, which lets them do 8-bit color at 1280x1024 and 24-bit color at
800x600. (The cheaper end of this range includes some low-end boards
configured with 2MB of VRAM.)
High-end video boards (over $400):
These are boards for graphics, DTP and CAD professionals, and aren't
really worth the big bucks for anyone else. Get one with sufficient VRAM to
run 24-bit color at the highest resolution you want to use (3MB for 1024x768,
4MB for 1280x1024, 6MB for 1600x1200), and make sure that the board
supports any color correction software you use.
Shopping results for buy video board
A-8067-001-A - Sony Complete PWB VIF-17A$150 - 5 stores
Compaq DA0CT8TB6C9 S-Video Board :: Presario V2000$9 - 10 stores
Apple 630 4179 Video Board with Sun Type 13W3 Interface$107 - 5 stores
