Video Card Testing for DirectX 9.0c
I have tried a few video cards with DirectX 9.0c and have been looking at affordable cards for use on a secondary system as well as my primary system.
An nVidia 6600 card performs well, an ATI 9550 is also a good performer for a bargain price, and the ATI 9520 works with Alibre but seems to lack performance. The ATI 9550 seems to be the best value, and if you buy a version with a cooling fan, there is information posted on the web on flashing the card with ATI 9600 bios as the 9550 is reputed to be a 9600 with crippled bios. Actual manufacturer is up to your own preferences.
I am not touting what I think is the best card, but trying to simply report what seems to interest others in the past - how can I get into DirectX 9.0c economically, and what works. The ATI 9550 chipset has been a real value and provides good perfomance even on my slower AMD Athlon 1700+.
Does anyone feel the performance is better with the more expensive graphics cards? I am very happy with the performance of the $165 nVidia 6600, and impressed with the $65 ATI 9550. Make sure to use the latest drives on all, as there are issues posted in the forum relating to drivers.
I work with dual system on multiple monitors and feel it is significantly more productive than just a single system and monitor. I run Alibre on the primary system, and use the 2nd system for reference information and 2D CAD review. The primary system has dual monitors, and 256mb of video memory is nice here (vs. 128mb on less expensive card). I also use the 2nd system to test new versions of Alibre before committing the production system to the upgrade-well worth the effort given driver issues.
I do notice some performance lag on model rotation on the secondary monitor with the nVidia 6600. Performance is flawless on the primary monitor, and that is for whatever monitor I make primary (left or right/first or second). I have a feeling that it is DirectX and not the hardware that is responsible. Anyone have good performance on both/multiple monitors?
A second and third monitor is nice to move all those cluttering extra Alibre windows out of the way and still leave them open all the time. My 2nd systems monitor can be configured as a 3rd montor on my first system by using the MaxiVista software (some 60hz flicker), or just with a KVM switchbox. My favorite setup is the Main Alibre window on the center monitor and ancilliary windows on the left and right monitors. Turn on X-mouse functionality with TweakUI and window focus follows the mouse. 19" CRT monitors are cheap these days, and I am thinking about a 21" (as that is what I used to pay for a 19"). The one down side of LCD monitors is they have a native resolution, but CRTs function well at switching between different resolutions base on need.
Kirk
Thank you for your understanding.