How to Choose the Best Video Card With Upgrade to Vista

Series Summary

Computers are complex machines built upon very simple principles. They perform arithmetical operations millions of times over to transform digital information moving at lightning speed into usable human data. A personal computer's job is to help a user create, manipulate, deliver, receive or delete media content. This is a simple, sterile definition that sounds uninteresting on the surface. Nevertheless, these fundamental functions mimic human ability in some surprising ways. The computer is increasingly becoming an engine of the imagination, a platform for the digital life. Computer technology changes fast. Keep a computer running smooth and consistently with proper maintenance in order to protect this ever-changing investment. In this free video series on computer software, computer consultant Dan Afonso discusses troubleshooting tips for the new Windows Vista operating system developed by Microsoft. Afonso begins by explaining how to choose the best video card, customize Windows Vista settings and create a recovery disk. He then explains how to run old programs, set the Windows Vista Processor Affinity program and he also explains how to sync an iPod. Watch these free videos and learn more about troubleshooting the Windows Vista operating system on a PC today.

Video Transcript

"Do you know that Windows Vista comes with a built in media center allowing you to keep a library of all your videos and music in one convenient place? Hi, I'm Dan Afonso of Afonso Consulting and Nfold IT, and this is how to chose your next video card for Vista. Vista has a wide range of things you can do with it. And this range of things and what you intend to do with it pretty much determine what you should get for your next video card. And there's a little bit to the scale. On the first level is, you want to be doing email web-browsing, basic things like that, running your applications. For this you don't need much of a video card, you need something that can run Vista, has just enough 3-D to handle all the nice, fancy graphics it does, but you really don't want to spend a lot of money on it. For this, even the included graphics on your mother board should be plenty unless you're running an Intel 915, or any of the other Intel 900 series. Unfortunately there have been some flaky graphic developments with there, and they don't support certain hardware features that Vista needs. That's just the way it goes. So, for those, I would recommend a low end card. Something like, if you can get an after market, ATI, X800, X1600, something lowish end but fairly inexpensive, go for it. It's a good way to go. Next up is, you want to do video. Now, if you want to do video and TV stuff on it, you're sorta looking for a mint media video adapter. Both Nvidia and ATI contain products...have products for this. ATI, of course, has the All in Wonder, TV Wonder, Theater, etcetera, and all these great applications that contain various video outs. All the basic cards nowadays do come with an S video out, but with HD TV, it's not quite enough. So the All in Wonder HD is what you're looking for for this. It has an HGMI out, a DVI out, this'll let you tie into your plasma or LCD, and let your run another monitor. Nvidia is going after a different demographic. They're more geared towards gaming systems, so they have several different levels of card available. And all this is going to depend on what kind of games you want to play, how hard core you're going to play them, what resolution and what output monitor you're going to get. All of these are going to be better than anything built in, and certainly better than most media. You can also get ATI for this, they're the two big companies, and they both have fantastic products...I mean, there's a huge holy war as to which one's better, but, kind of doesn't matter unless you're at that most top echelon. Every time they come out with a new generation, they have three series. They have the starter, which is designed for playing casually, gaming, or if you just want something fast. And they have the high end, you know, designed for blazing fast speeds, and, you know, the most extreme gaming experience. And nowadays you can usually put two, at least, cards in your machine so you can double the speed or whatnot. The mid-end cards are usually where I end up because there's just no reason to spend five hundred dollars on a game card that's going to last me four years. It's not a very good investment unless you're playing the hard core games. Figure you're going to spend about a hundred fifty to two hundred fifty dollars on your game card, if you just want to play games at a reasonable setting. Finally, you have your bargain basement buys. What this is, is, getting last generation's best card at this generation's discount, so, right now when this is done, you can pick up a GT8800 Nvidia for about a hundred thirty dollars. This is an extremely fast card, it's actually faster than their new low-end cards, and it's competitively priced. They're better quality. They have decent cooling on them, it's not a bad way to go. I'm Dan Afonso, and that's how to select a video card for Vista."