video cards: i'm undecided between
ATI RADEON 9700 PRO
NVIDIA TI4600 128MB
and 128MB MATROX PARHELIA

i plan to be running xpress dv 3.5 on it on dual monitors. i know the parhelia is more expensive, but for my needs (no gaming, no third monitor) is it really worth its price? what are the pros and cons for each?

thanks,
adi

by the way, in what way will these more expensive cards improve my editing? is it speed? image quality?
what will i be comprimizing if i go with... lets say a matrox g550?

Adi, I don't know much about those cards, but if you are using Avid you might be satisfied with the G550 and setting it up using the "McFly" method. This will allow you to have 2 monitors (To spread your workspace over) *AND* simultaneous output to a TV. Maybe this would be enough for you.

Cheers
Aaron

well,
ATI has always been good to me. I first got an All-in-wonder card back with my 166Mhz chip. I was able to caputre half resolution video, just becuase that is all it would let me capture with their programs. I think I might of been able to capture full frame video if otherwise. Anyways It was alittle powerful card. Now I have the ATI 8500 128mb and it works amazingly well. I have put it through alot and I haven't had any problems with it. Dual monitors were great. I haven't tried the TV out. It has a special connector to goto a standard video connection. The only problem I ran into was using the DVI connection with my CRT monitor. I was able to see the refresh or something that looked like it even with my refresh set to 80Hz. I would think any of those graphics cards will work wonders. Find the one within your price range and go with it.

Rob:D

What does Avid support?

Is there a point to upgrading if what you're using works fine? Mine's kind of old ('99 I think-- an Nvidia Diamond Viper 770D).

Why waste the money---graphics dont have to be that powerful to do basic NLE work---Thats why the matrox cards are so popular---they have been around for a bit and are very reliable---

The Parhelia looks interesting but I heard there are some issues with Premiere.

<<<-- Originally posted by David Mintzer : Why waste the money---graphics dont have to be that powerful to do basic NLE work---Thats why the matrox cards are so popular---they have been around for a bit and are very reliable---
-->>>

I'm with David. Save your money if you only want it for dual monitor purposes.
FWIW I like ATI cards. I forget which I have, 9500 Radeon I think. It was cheap, about the same price as a Matrox G550, but more powerful (for the occasional game).

I would like to advise against Asus. I have had issues with their products, and still bought the Geforce V8500 Ti pure. I spent $400 on it, and it's already dying out on me after 1 year.

On the other hand, I have heard many good things about the Radion and Matrox both.

The ATI 9700 (or better) is the only card on your list that will support Direct X 9 out of the box.

With that in mind......I wouldn't choose anything but the 9700 (or better)

the 8500 does support DirectX 9 as well. I just installed the new drivers for it and then the DX9, it works well.

Rob:D

If you can wait a little bit, you should. The ATI 9800 is coming out, and should help drive 9700 prices down.

To save a few bucks (about $100 or so), buy the Sapphire 9700 retail. It's an identical card to the ATI (Sapphire produces the cards for ATI anyways). The retail 9700 regular card, can have it's BIOS flashed with the 9700 Pro bios, and you'll instantly have a 9700 Pro card., I've done this with 2 sapphire 9700s. This trick only works if your Sapphire card comes with Samsung memory chips however.

thanks for all the replies. this board is so helpfull, as usual.
WHAT IS DIRECT X 9?

I wasn't aware that 3dFX cards such as the ATI9700 pro supported dual monitors and allowed you to "stretch" your desktop across the two? Is this possible? Or do you just have the 2nd monitor as the output? I bought the Matrox G550 which is great for editing, but my games can no longer be played anymore. The G550 allows you to stretch your desktop, have a 2nd monitor for another whole window, use the 2nd monitor for full screen DVD and preview output. Let me know if the ATI 9700 does this as I've read everywhere that using a dual setup on this card is not reccommended because it only supports the 2nd monitor as a "TV Out".

Michael Botkin

<<<-- Originally posted by Michael Botkin : I wasn't aware that 3dFX cards such as the ATI9700 pro supported dual monitors and allowed you to "stretch" your desktop across the two? Is this possible?
Michael Botkin -->>>

Yeah baby, yeah!

I'm with David....if you're not playing a video game that runs at 60 fps, why would you need a high-end video card? I've got an ATI 7500 64mb, it works perfectly. NLE's don't put a big graphics load on the video card.

by the way, i'm in PAL land. is this something i should consider before buying my graphics card?