Do I need a Video Card ?

Question

Hi,

I'm a new member of this exciting site. Here follows my first question. I wish everyone the best of luck and success.

Most motherboards come with an on board video capabilities. Under what circumstances do I need to add an external video card ?

To be more specific, If I purchase a motherboard that uses the G33 Intel Chipset (comes with graphics accelerator) such as the ASUS P5K-V, what would I need an additional Video card for ? What capabilities does it add to functionality ?

Thanks,

Steve

Answer 1

For most general-purpose usage like web-browsing and looking at photos & video clips, the integrated motherboard video is fine. But on-board video may not support the higher resolutions of large displays like 23" widescreen LCD monitors. And for gaming, on-board video is woefully insifficent.

The other downside is that on-board video typically has "shared memory" meaning that whatever it allocates for video memory is taken from your system memory , so if you have 512mb of RAM with 64mb of shared video memory, there is only 448mb usable.

Other advantages of dedicated video cards include the ability to drive multiple screens, digital output, and sometimes TV-out ports.

For non-gamers, it's usually not a big deal. But for people looking to play the cutting-edge 3D titles on their computers, video cards are the most important component in the system- it's the difference between getting 10 or 60 frames per second.

Decent gaming cards start at about $75. Really nice ones run $150-$250 and the highest end models are over $400.

Answer 2

Like others have said, if you're just going to use it for business type software such as MS Office, you're not going to need a kick a$$ vid card. If, however, you intend to run pretty much any game on the market today, or any other graphics intensive 3D rendering software [like AutoCAD], you're probably going to have to get an add on video card. Most normal cost main boards only have 128MD 2D/3D, low end VPU chipsets built in. That's not really enough for anything intensive. If, however, you've gone all out and paid a good bit for a main board with some high end vid chipset, you'll be good for several months. Check your mainboard manual for what type is built in.

Answer 3

Different cards does different things, now, folks! Some video cards have S-Video output that allows you to connect to another S-Video device (I use mine for a video switching A/V reciever to switch one 27" display between TV and two computers), other fancier cards, like the ATI All-In Wonder include TV tuners and video capture hardware. It might be something as simple as adding DVI to a VGA only machine. There are a LOT of things an add-on video card can do, even if you NEVER play games (Like ME!!).

Answer 4

It depends on where you are going to use it, if its only for typing and printing school or office works you don't need an additional video card but if its for gaming you will need an additional video card

Answer 5

hardware accelerated 3d graphics and real time rendering on the card.

If you don't play video games, there's no point in upgrading.