graphics card

February 5, 2009 12:05 PM

Help me pick a graphics card and monitor.

I don't play any games, but I want to watch blu-ray and do a lot of video editing. Here is my list of other parts so far:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Processor
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Motherboard
Patriot 4GB DDR2-1066 Memory

What kind of graphics card should I get. I would like my monitor to be about 22". Any suggestions? Thanks to everyone.

posted by amsterdam63 to computers & internet (6 comments total)

With your usage requirements pretty much anything will be fine. The only thing you may want to consider is the maximum resolution you wish to use. The physical size of your monitor doesn't really matter. The resolution you want to see in that space is what the card will need to support.
posted by odinsdream at 12:08 PM on February 5

With the video editing, do you NEED to have good color accuracy? If so, TN panel monitors will probably not suffice (they're the inexpensive, consumer-line monitors you can find in Best Buy).

If you do need accurate colors, go with an IPS or PVA/MVA monitor.

For the video card, any modern chipset is probably capable of pushing HD resolutions and H264 encoded video. You will probably have success at the $75-$100 range.
posted by phrygius at 12:29 PM on February 5

Yes, if you're not gaming, all the card has to be able to do is drive the monitor. Just one dual-link DVI out will do, and that's pretty standard on any newer cards. If you want hardware video decoding, take a look at things like the Nvidia 9600GT or the ATI 4670 or 4830.

I don't have any specific monitors to suggest, but this thread at Anandtech is pretty comprehensive.
posted by JauntyFedora at 12:39 PM on February 5

I've got a 22" Samsung T220M connected to a Nvidia 9600GT, and I am very happy with both. But if you are interested in displaying 1080 HD, you may want to get a 1920x1080 resolution monitor instead.
posted by Simon Barclay at 5:39 PM on February 5

I recommend that you go for an AMD 4670, as it is cheaper and much more power efficient that a 9600gt. Either will be able to do what you need it to do.

You should be fine with any basic 22 in monitor, unless you do professional video work. Stay away from Acer and Viewsonic though.
posted by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 6:42 PM on February 5

If you want to play blu-ray at full resolution (1080 horizontal lines) you will need a monitor with at least 1920x1080 resolution. Every 22" monitor I've seen is 1680x1050, leaving you 30 lines short. Take a look at 24" 1920x1200 monitors. Dell makes a 23" 1920x1080 monitor that's worth looking into.

Also 2nding the Anandtech thread.
posted by doowod at 10:50 PM on February 5