Video card for non-game use

[lmg]

I'm considering upgrading the video card in my desktop machine. Right now I have an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 128Mb AGP card. I don't do games - the wildest thing I'm likely to display is an Excel chart - and the machine is mainly used for programming and the web, but I'm always looking to tweak out the best possible performance.

My question is simply, would I benefit from a more modern, higher-end card, or not?

 

[t0kinl3lunts]

No, it shouldn't affect performance at all. Also, buying a high-end agp card right now isn't a very good upgrade. If you decide to game and don't want a whole new system you can always buy an AGP card later when the prices of current generation cards drop.

 

[RaistlinZ]

For basic 2D work the card you have now is more than sufficient. Heck, it's even overkill for everyday work, heh.

 

[munchow2]

I had that card. It's cruddy for this generation of dx9 games but it is overkill for ms excel

 

[CraigRT]

Infact, I'd probably sell it and buy a cheap Radeon 9250 or something, and buy yourself lunch with the profits.

 

[lmg]

Infact, I'd probably sell it and buy a cheap Radeon 9250 or something, and buy yourself lunch with the profits.

I wouldn't go that far. But I guess I can put off the SLI upgrade.

 

[Fox5]

Depends, if you use DVI out, no video card is really any better than any other at this point.
For VGA out, different cards have differing analog quality. They also have different 2d performance, but you don't sound like you're doing anything that could need better 2d performance.(that could be provided by the graphics card and not the cpu)

 

[mercanucaribe]

You're a programmer and you think a faster video card might help you with Excel and programming? No wonder American jobs are going overseas.

 

[n7]

Sell it & get a cheaper one...nah seriously, you will see no benefit at all getting a better one.

 

[modedepe]

The only possible area of benefit would be video quality. And for that, you would not need to buy an expensive card, just one geared for good quality.