Which is a better choice for video card for editing?

A

AppaLuci

Active member
Anyone know if there's much difference between these, and which configuration would make for a better, faster editing situation? (CS3, laptop)

One is a faster processor, less video card (I think?)
The other is barely a step down in processor, apparently more video card.

a)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache
256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1800
(Dell)

or

b)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 2.0GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8700M GT - Enables DirectX® 10 Graphics!
(Alienware)


Thanks for your vote.
 
Should I assume the no-answer as of yet means 'no difference', or perhaps no one knows about these cards? Maybe my question is too nit-picky... but I'm just trying to be extra thorough in knowing what I'm getting before pulling the trigger on a purchase.

Thanks..anyone?!
 
I'd go with the first system simply because you aren't going to be taxing the GPU much while editing with CS3. However, one thing that does matter - especially with After Effects - is the amount of system RAM. More = better. :)
 
Ok..no thanks to this thread, I'm learning more about this....

It's seems that having a video card with Open GL is an advantage for an editor. This one doesn't have it particularly. The 8800 GTX does. I'm going to keep looking and see what else I glean about this.
 
nordicspy said:
I'd go with the first system simply because you aren't going to be taxing the GPU much while editing with CS3. However, one thing that does matter - especially with After Effects - is the amount of system RAM. More = better. :)
Click to expand...

Ok. So, you say the first system based on the 256MB graphics card being enough, and 512MB being too much? Or because of the 2.2GHz CPU vs 2.0GHz? I didn't think that that ATI card was overly desirable.
 
For pure editing (e.g. no After Effects) you really won't be taxing the GPU. Even when using AE, I would focus more on the amount of system RAM (for preview purposes) and CPU speed for pure processing power. Also, as Capt Quirk said, the faster bus is desirable as well.

So yeah, I chose the 2.2 Ghz system because it's the faster of the two AND because the ATI card is fine. I checked the ATI site and the x1800 is Open GL 2.0 compliant. However, if you are going to be gaming on this system, this particular ATI card might not be the best.
 
Interesting. Thanks, nordicspy. I'm still working on understand what is my best choice for video cards. Yeah, I'm not really interested in gaming, just efficient editing SD now and maybe HD soon. I've also been told that the GeForce cards can render video but are better for gaming, and it's the Quadro card that is made for video rendering so therefore more ideal. But will I really notice this difference?

So maybe from what ya'll are saying, focusing on up-ing the CPU speed (is there really a noticable difference from 2.0GHz to 2.2GHz?) and RAM and bus more than the video card memory is more crucial than getting that "perfect" video card?
 
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