Best 2D Videocard?

[qz33]

I am interested in what videocard is best for 2D, image quality and speed performance wise. I will at least want 2 cards to run in SLI if 2D can be forced to run in SLI. I want to be able to hook up at least 4 monitors at high resolutions.

Also can cards stilll be unlocked to run 2D at 3D cpu/memory frequencies?

Please educate me.

 

[Lord Banshee]

Firstly, SLI is not what you are looking for. This term is not the use of two cards to drive four monitors but to drive 1 monitor at twice the performance.

I also think you are confused at how the clocks and video cards work in general. The 2D/3D clocks has nothing to do with 2D clocks can only accelerate 2D and vice versa. It is just a slower clock as 2D graphics do not require fast GPU, it is used to save power and lower heat in your computer.

The best cards for 2D used to be Matrox, but i am not sure anymore. My guess is the NV 8xxx series is just as good if not better. But then again what kind of 2D are you talking about? just normal applications like word, excel, and web browsers or are you talking about video performance like playing back video such as DVD, HD-DVD, and any HD video. If it is the first, normal GUI apps, then i say get any card you can afford from nvidia with 8xxx or ATI with HD2xxx series. If it is the second, video playback, then i would get the nv 86xx or 85xxx or ATI HD26xx or HD24xx as these have video hardware accelerators which help process the video data and some image quality algorithms.

Now with saying all this i wish you good luck and if i was you i would get the two of the same card for less driver problems, especially if you are only doing 2D stuff.

 

[miker75]

Even the slowest 3D card is very quick in 2D..

If you're just after 2D, then the HD2400 or lowest end Nvidia card would be fine (read: anything below $100)..

If you're after Vista Aero performance... look elsewhere... that's 3D and you'll need a decent 3D card for that..

 

[kmmatney]

Even integrated video is quick in 2D (inlcuding Vista without Aero). Yiou can split the signal to 4 monitors using something like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817107951

or better,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817107327

if you want to expand your desktop over 4 screens, then there are ways to do that to, using 2 Quaddro videio cards.

 

[Lord Banshee]

I think he means a desktop that is expanded on all 4 monitors, well i think.

If so i do not see he needs a quadro's for that. 2 normal video cards should work. Most 8xxx series except for the 8500GT has two dual link DVI ports. So as long as you can get the drivers to work right it should not be a problem.

Which GPUs have two dual-link DVI connectors.
http://www.nvidia.com/page/tec...gy_extreme_hd_gpu.html

 

[CrystalBay]

Is Matrox still in business ?

 

[Modelworks]

heh, yep.
They just released a very interesting triple play adapter.
Feed it one input from your video card and it will split it between 3 monitors for a panorama type view.

 

[*kjm]

Originally posted by: CrystalBay
Is Matrox still in business ?

Yep http://www.matrox.com/graphics...ucts/qid/qidlppcie.php

 

[skriefal]

Originally posted by: miker75
If you're just after 2D, then the HD2400 or lowest end Nvidia card would be fine (read: anything below $100)..

If you're after Vista Aero performance... look elsewhere... that's 3D and you'll need a decent 3D card for that..

A sub-$100 HD2400 or low-end Nvidia (7300, etc) card will handle Aero just fine. Even the newer integrated graphics chipsets (ATI x1250, Nvidia 7050/7025, Intel X3000) will handle Aero.

 

[JAG87]

another vote for matrox for 2D use.

 

[evolucion8]

I heard that Matrox is the best for 2D cause it uses 10 Bits per channel to display things on screen and 2 bits for alpha (Alpha is barely needed on desktop usage), but also I can see in the Radeon X1K specs that it can do that but dont know how. May be with special conectors?? Jum, dont know

 

[qz33]

what's this about Matrox and 10 bits per channel/alpha? I want the best 2D experience and probably the best video too. Too bad there aren't any programs that can use a videocards piplines entirely to run any encoded video. Also Aero Glass is a consideration since I like the bells and whistles. Does anyone know if SLI can have an impact on Aero Glass? Its just that pure gaming performance is lower on the list than gui/video performance.

I intend too hook these through PCIe so as to not slow down the machine I am building. It will also have multi-cores/milti-sockets to help run the cards without affecting application performance.

 

[aka1nas]

SLI only allows you to run a single display while it's enabled, so you would want to just be running two independent display adapters. For Vista and Aero they will need to be using the same WDDM driver, so you will want to buy cards from the same chipset vendor(Nvidia+Nvidia, ATI+ATI, etc).

 

[postmortemIA]

is this some kind of joke?

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
is this some kind of joke?

Most likely. But assuming it isn't, two of these will give you the best 2D performance of all time.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: qz33
Too bad there aren't any programs that can use a videocards piplines entirely to run any encoded video.

The ATI HD2400 and HD2600 cards decode videos entirely on the videocard, for certain popular HD codecs. Not sure what application software you need to also achive this.

 

[chucky2]

Realize that what made Matrox so good back in the day was that they engineered and used very good filters for the D-sub, which other manufacturers didn't do. Their drivers were also very good; the ATI of old was horrible.

Now with DVI, where everything is a 0 or 1, that's lots less important.

Unless you're talking about 2D CAD work where a Quadro type card is needed for accuracy, if you're hooking up to a DVI monitor for just general viewing, then I really doubt it'll matter much.

Chuck

 

[evolucion8]

Even some technologies from them like True Displacement Mapping are used on todays games, we owe that one to Matrox.