sbangs
if your wondering why this is here
It has been specifically requested by 20 users now , it is an issue of great importance as many users have asked about this
Many are confused so I hope this will help relive this problem slightly
I apologise for any unforeseen inconvenience this guide causes
Guide To Video Cards
This guide will help you find a good graphics card for your computer or laptop
And help you spot bad ones however sugar coated their advertising may be
Its important to choose your card wisely especially if it is in a laptop as its nearly impossible to change with out damage to the laptop
There are two types of graphics card in pc or laptop
Integrated
This type is commonly used in cheaper computers infact nearly all dell computers (not that im suggesting any thing ;)
This is referred to the fact it is integrated into the motherboard this card does not have its own video memory
this card takes its memory as a certain percentage of your ram
these cards are not suitable for use in virtual dj or for gaming purposes ,
they are suitable for people who only want to use a machine for typing and web browsing
you can set the percentage of the ram which the card can use in bios
to access your bios
you need to press F1 or F2 or Del when you computer boots
all bios systems are different but as a general rule if you look on the peripheral settings you will see an option to adjust the size of the agp aperture remember if you set this to high your overall performance will drop as you now have less ram
if your computers bios is different it will tell you what key to press on start-up
Or GPU/AGP CARD
Are separate cards which plugs into a AGP slot
AGP SLOT
on your computers mother board
in systems with two graphics cards plug into PCI cards , or if you have an integrated graphics’ card you can buy a pci card and disable your integrated card
in newer systems the card goes into a pci express port
PCI slot
these cards are better as they have their own dedicated memory and processor for rendering video , called the
Graphics processing unit (GPU)
The GPU is a microprocessor dedicated to manipulating and rendering graphics according to the instructions received from the computer's operating system and the software being used. At their simplest level, GPUs include functions for manipulating two-dimensional graphics, such as blitting. Modern and more advanced GPUs also include functions for generating and manipulating three-dimensional graphics elements, rendering objects with shading, lighting, texture mapping and other visual effects.
Video memory
Unlike integrated video controllers, which usually share memory with the rest of the computer, most video cards have their own separate onboard memory, referred to as video RAM (VRAM). VRAM is used to store the display image, as well as textures, buffers (the Z-buffer necessary for rendering 3D graphics, for example) and other elements. VRAM typically runs at higher speeds than desktop RAM. For the most part, current Graphics Cards use GDDR3 or GDD4 whereas desktop RAM is still mainly using DDR2.
This means your processor and ram is able to work faster and this boosts the performance of you computer especially for vdj as the audio of the video is decoded in the ram
Now lets take a moment to Discuss what all the confusing numbers they put on graphics cards actually mean
they don’t just make them up for fun honest ;)
What the specs mean
Processor clock speed: Much as with PCs, a higher clock speed for the graphics processor does not automatically mean it runs faster. A 400MHz processor that can do twice as much per clock cycle as a 600MHz processor will outperform it. In terms of rendering speed, the per-clock performance of the graphics processor is indicated by the number of pixels it can process per cycle.
Memory size: This is the amount of memory on the graphics card, to be used exclusively for graphics operations. Nearly all chips support multiple memory configurations, some up to 512MB. The effect of memory size on performance will vary depending on the application. The graphics processor can talk to the graphics card's memory much quicker than it can talk to the PC's memory, so the more memory on board, the less it has to go to main memory for the information it needs to render a scene
I would personally recommend that you use a card with a video size of 256 meg or above.
Memory bandwidth: This is the speed at which the graphics processor can talk to the memory on the card. One of the big bottlenecks in 3D performance is the speed at which the PC can deliver information to the graphics processor. Faster memory means that this bottleneck is eliminated, resulting in faster rendering speeds. There are two types of memory used on current graphics cards - DDR and GDDR3. GDDR3 is faster, and better able to keep the graphics processor occupied.
Performance will also be affected by the width of the memory bus. A graphics card with a 128-bit memory bus can haul double the amount of data between the memory chips and the graphics chip than a card with a 64-bit bus. Generally, only mainstream cards have a 64-bit memory bus.
Shader model: DirectX Shader Models give developers a great deal of control over the appearance of the scene on screen, and can be used for various neat effects like complex shadows, reflection, fog and the like. Microsoft has improved the Shader Models over time, giving more power to the developers (and thus greater potential to make scenes look realistic). Shader Model 3.0 is the latest version, found in DirectX 9.0c. At this stage, only Nvidia supports Shader Model 3.0.
Fill rate: This indicates the speed at which the graphics card can "paint" a scene. Each surface in a 3D scene has to have a texture applied. The pixels (or texels) per second rating indicates how many pixels of textures can be painted per second. What is a texel? It is kind of like a 3D pixel. For instance, a flat surface may be painted (textured) with a 640 by 480 image of bricks, in order to make it look like a brick wall. Each pixel in that texture is known as a texel, and each has to be processed to take into account of the distance from and angle to the viewer of the wall. Other textures, such as light maps, can then overlay the original texture.
The fill rate is a product of the clock speed of the processor and the number of pixels it can process per clock cycle. The number of pixels that can be processed per clock cycle is gleaned by the number of pipelines the graphics chipset supports.
Vertices/triangles: Where the fill rate tells you the rendering performance of the graphics chip, it does not cover the performance of the card in geometry calculations. The graphics chips cannot work on curves - they can only process flat surfaces; but if you have enough flat surfaces you can make them look like curves. In a process called tessellation, all objects in a 3D scene are broken down into a set of triangular surfaces - the more triangles, the better the curves and angles of the real world can be represented. A 3D object can be made up of hundreds or even thousands of triangles. This is what game developers are talking about when they talk about the number of polygons in a character - the number of discreet (flat) surfaces in the character model.
Unfortunately, to further confuse matters, ATI and Nvidia talk about geometry processing power using different standards. Nvidia chip specifications refer to vertices per second (that is, the points at the corners of the triangles), while ATI specifications list triangles per second. (You cannot, incidentally, just divide the Nvidia numbers by three to get triangles - triangles next to each other share vertices).
Anti-aliasing: A technique used to make scenes look better by eliminating visual artefacts such as the jagged stepping effect caused by diagonal lines and square pixels. (Open up a paint program and draw a diagonal line, and you'll see what we mean). Anti-aliasing does improve image quality, but usually causes a performance hit. There are multiple levels of anti-aliasing, and some reduce performance more than others.
RAMDAC: This stands for Random Access Memory Digital to Analogue Converter. This is the chip that takes the scene and converts it to the format that your screen uses. The graphics processor creates a final image of a scene - the RAMDAC takes the image and puts it on the VGA or DVI cable for your monitor to display it. RAMDACs have different speeds - usually 350MHz or 400MHz, and a graphics card may have more than one. A faster RAMDAC indicates that the graphics card can support higher output resolutions, and multiple RAMDACs indicates that the card can support multiple displays, possibly in a dual-head configuration.
Other features
Much like washing powder companies, graphics chip vendors are rather inclined to throw technobabble at users about new and unique technologies in their products. CineFX, SmoothVision, HyperZ and a host of other graphics technologies are detailed by Nvidia and ATI in their marketing materials. Some of these technologies do have a significant impact on the performance or visual quality of the display, or on the ability of the card to compress video streams, but others may be just marketing fluff.
Now there are some important things to consider
Do you need any of the following?
Other components
TV-out - you may want the ability, via either a composite (RCA) or S-Video connector to display the output of the graphics cards on a TV screen.
You need this If you plan to show ur virtual dj videos on a tv!
DVI - a graphics card with DVI has a connector for DVI monitors. This is handy as there is a large range of LCD screens that support DVI. DVI is a type of monitor connector that offers better image quality than the standard VGA connector. Graphics cards that have DVI connectors usually ship with a DVI to VGA adapter that allows you to plug in an analogue monitor cable.
Sharper picture on external monitors
Dual-head- now sported by many graphics cards, dual-head is the ability to use two monitors, usually side by side. Your desktop stretches across both monitors. Cards with more than one output often support dual-head, although the heads may not be symmetrical. For example, an ATI card might have both a VGA connector and a DVI connector. You can use them in a dual head configuration if you want to run two monitors side by side.
Now this option allows you to mix on one screen and send the video to a projector or an external montor
you can get up to 8 heads on some cards but its important to get a very large card such as 512 mb
on dual and above cards
you wish to split the second ouput of video to more monitors or projectors
you can use a VGA spliter box
commonly this is used at trade shows
you can use the model shown to connect one output up to 8 monitors or projectors
they come in sizes of 2 , 4 and 8
getting the most from your card
Another element that may be important to some buyers is the overclockability of the graphics card. Overclocking refers to pushing a particular piece of hardware, be it RAM, CPU or Graphics card, past the clock speeds available out of the box. Most hardware can be overclocked to some degree, with the limiting factor being the temperature of the item.
Depending on the brand of card you buy, the cooling you have in place and the quality of the memory it uses, you may be able to push the card well beyond its standard specifications, with some cards overclocking to speeds past that of the next tier up. Several companies even guarantee their cards to overclock to a certain level, so if you are interested in pushing your PC that little bit further, and can afford to spend a small amount more, be sure to look out for those. You can also shell out a bit of extra money and buy some third party cooling devices for your card, including fans and heatsinks, which may increase the level to which you can overclock, but this will obviously cost more, and may also be louder than any out of the box cooling available.
It is important to be aware that overclocking can damage your hardware, and many manufacturers will not honour the warranty if it is damaged in this way, so overclock at your own risk.
When buying a card never take a companies promises or word at face value always check review websites such as
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/taxid;2136212627
to see what users think of the card
also check out bench marks of cards
this is the comparison chart for doom 3
if you use the latest most demanding graphical games as a bench mark it gives a good idea of what card to purchase
for example in this comparison GeForce 7900 with 102 frames per minute
now if you have read this far and think OH MY GOD what is he talking about
crucial memory have a free tool advising you on what cards your pc can support from their product range (upgrades), crucial cards generally have a high frame rate and are highly recommended
this tool will automatically detect things like PCI EXPRESS
and advise based on the fastest port
laptops
laptops except alien ware computers do not allow you to open the case and simply replace a card , so its important that you get a good card when you purchase a laptop
unfortunately a lot of cards available to alienware systems are of a poor quality as they use shared memory or have a low bus speed
Avoid the following words at all cost
Shared Memory
Integrated Graphics
It is possible to have it sent back to the factory to have the card changed if it is not an intergrated card
Or you can take it to your local pc shop who can advise on what cards your laptop can take
a laptops card will usually cost more than a desktop card so keep this in mind
I will post a software setup guide for showing video separately
I hope this has been useful to you if not send me an email and let me know how it could be better :)
It has been useful to me ;) as this is the topic I have just spent about 8 weeks learning about on my A+ Certification as a pc Engineer
If you need more help on this
msn – admin@skyfxlmedia.com
It has been specifically requested by 20 users now , it is an issue of great importance as many users have asked about this
Many are confused so I hope this will help relive this problem slightly
I apologise for any unforeseen inconvenience this guide causes
Guide To Video Cards
This guide will help you find a good graphics card for your computer or laptop
And help you spot bad ones however sugar coated their advertising may be
Its important to choose your card wisely especially if it is in a laptop as its nearly impossible to change with out damage to the laptop
There are two types of graphics card in pc or laptop
Integrated
This type is commonly used in cheaper computers infact nearly all dell computers (not that im suggesting any thing ;)
This is referred to the fact it is integrated into the motherboard this card does not have its own video memory
this card takes its memory as a certain percentage of your ram
these cards are not suitable for use in virtual dj or for gaming purposes ,
they are suitable for people who only want to use a machine for typing and web browsing
you can set the percentage of the ram which the card can use in bios
to access your bios
you need to press F1 or F2 or Del when you computer boots
all bios systems are different but as a general rule if you look on the peripheral settings you will see an option to adjust the size of the agp aperture remember if you set this to high your overall performance will drop as you now have less ram
if your computers bios is different it will tell you what key to press on start-up
Or GPU/AGP CARD
Are separate cards which plugs into a AGP slot
AGP SLOT
on your computers mother board
in systems with two graphics cards plug into PCI cards , or if you have an integrated graphics’ card you can buy a pci card and disable your integrated card
in newer systems the card goes into a pci express port
PCI slot
these cards are better as they have their own dedicated memory and processor for rendering video , called the
Graphics processing unit (GPU)
The GPU is a microprocessor dedicated to manipulating and rendering graphics according to the instructions received from the computer's operating system and the software being used. At their simplest level, GPUs include functions for manipulating two-dimensional graphics, such as blitting. Modern and more advanced GPUs also include functions for generating and manipulating three-dimensional graphics elements, rendering objects with shading, lighting, texture mapping and other visual effects.
Video memory
Unlike integrated video controllers, which usually share memory with the rest of the computer, most video cards have their own separate onboard memory, referred to as video RAM (VRAM). VRAM is used to store the display image, as well as textures, buffers (the Z-buffer necessary for rendering 3D graphics, for example) and other elements. VRAM typically runs at higher speeds than desktop RAM. For the most part, current Graphics Cards use GDDR3 or GDD4 whereas desktop RAM is still mainly using DDR2.
This means your processor and ram is able to work faster and this boosts the performance of you computer especially for vdj as the audio of the video is decoded in the ram
Now lets take a moment to Discuss what all the confusing numbers they put on graphics cards actually mean
they don’t just make them up for fun honest ;)
What the specs mean
Processor clock speed: Much as with PCs, a higher clock speed for the graphics processor does not automatically mean it runs faster. A 400MHz processor that can do twice as much per clock cycle as a 600MHz processor will outperform it. In terms of rendering speed, the per-clock performance of the graphics processor is indicated by the number of pixels it can process per cycle.
Memory size: This is the amount of memory on the graphics card, to be used exclusively for graphics operations. Nearly all chips support multiple memory configurations, some up to 512MB. The effect of memory size on performance will vary depending on the application. The graphics processor can talk to the graphics card's memory much quicker than it can talk to the PC's memory, so the more memory on board, the less it has to go to main memory for the information it needs to render a scene
I would personally recommend that you use a card with a video size of 256 meg or above.
Memory bandwidth: This is the speed at which the graphics processor can talk to the memory on the card. One of the big bottlenecks in 3D performance is the speed at which the PC can deliver information to the graphics processor. Faster memory means that this bottleneck is eliminated, resulting in faster rendering speeds. There are two types of memory used on current graphics cards - DDR and GDDR3. GDDR3 is faster, and better able to keep the graphics processor occupied.
Performance will also be affected by the width of the memory bus. A graphics card with a 128-bit memory bus can haul double the amount of data between the memory chips and the graphics chip than a card with a 64-bit bus. Generally, only mainstream cards have a 64-bit memory bus.
Shader model: DirectX Shader Models give developers a great deal of control over the appearance of the scene on screen, and can be used for various neat effects like complex shadows, reflection, fog and the like. Microsoft has improved the Shader Models over time, giving more power to the developers (and thus greater potential to make scenes look realistic). Shader Model 3.0 is the latest version, found in DirectX 9.0c. At this stage, only Nvidia supports Shader Model 3.0.
Fill rate: This indicates the speed at which the graphics card can "paint" a scene. Each surface in a 3D scene has to have a texture applied. The pixels (or texels) per second rating indicates how many pixels of textures can be painted per second. What is a texel? It is kind of like a 3D pixel. For instance, a flat surface may be painted (textured) with a 640 by 480 image of bricks, in order to make it look like a brick wall. Each pixel in that texture is known as a texel, and each has to be processed to take into account of the distance from and angle to the viewer of the wall. Other textures, such as light maps, can then overlay the original texture.
The fill rate is a product of the clock speed of the processor and the number of pixels it can process per clock cycle. The number of pixels that can be processed per clock cycle is gleaned by the number of pipelines the graphics chipset supports.
Vertices/triangles: Where the fill rate tells you the rendering performance of the graphics chip, it does not cover the performance of the card in geometry calculations. The graphics chips cannot work on curves - they can only process flat surfaces; but if you have enough flat surfaces you can make them look like curves. In a process called tessellation, all objects in a 3D scene are broken down into a set of triangular surfaces - the more triangles, the better the curves and angles of the real world can be represented. A 3D object can be made up of hundreds or even thousands of triangles. This is what game developers are talking about when they talk about the number of polygons in a character - the number of discreet (flat) surfaces in the character model.
Unfortunately, to further confuse matters, ATI and Nvidia talk about geometry processing power using different standards. Nvidia chip specifications refer to vertices per second (that is, the points at the corners of the triangles), while ATI specifications list triangles per second. (You cannot, incidentally, just divide the Nvidia numbers by three to get triangles - triangles next to each other share vertices).
Anti-aliasing: A technique used to make scenes look better by eliminating visual artefacts such as the jagged stepping effect caused by diagonal lines and square pixels. (Open up a paint program and draw a diagonal line, and you'll see what we mean). Anti-aliasing does improve image quality, but usually causes a performance hit. There are multiple levels of anti-aliasing, and some reduce performance more than others.
RAMDAC: This stands for Random Access Memory Digital to Analogue Converter. This is the chip that takes the scene and converts it to the format that your screen uses. The graphics processor creates a final image of a scene - the RAMDAC takes the image and puts it on the VGA or DVI cable for your monitor to display it. RAMDACs have different speeds - usually 350MHz or 400MHz, and a graphics card may have more than one. A faster RAMDAC indicates that the graphics card can support higher output resolutions, and multiple RAMDACs indicates that the card can support multiple displays, possibly in a dual-head configuration.
Other features
Much like washing powder companies, graphics chip vendors are rather inclined to throw technobabble at users about new and unique technologies in their products. CineFX, SmoothVision, HyperZ and a host of other graphics technologies are detailed by Nvidia and ATI in their marketing materials. Some of these technologies do have a significant impact on the performance or visual quality of the display, or on the ability of the card to compress video streams, but others may be just marketing fluff.
Now there are some important things to consider
Do you need any of the following?
Other components
TV-out - you may want the ability, via either a composite (RCA) or S-Video connector to display the output of the graphics cards on a TV screen.
You need this If you plan to show ur virtual dj videos on a tv!
DVI - a graphics card with DVI has a connector for DVI monitors. This is handy as there is a large range of LCD screens that support DVI. DVI is a type of monitor connector that offers better image quality than the standard VGA connector. Graphics cards that have DVI connectors usually ship with a DVI to VGA adapter that allows you to plug in an analogue monitor cable.
Sharper picture on external monitors
Dual-head- now sported by many graphics cards, dual-head is the ability to use two monitors, usually side by side. Your desktop stretches across both monitors. Cards with more than one output often support dual-head, although the heads may not be symmetrical. For example, an ATI card might have both a VGA connector and a DVI connector. You can use them in a dual head configuration if you want to run two monitors side by side.
Now this option allows you to mix on one screen and send the video to a projector or an external montor
you can get up to 8 heads on some cards but its important to get a very large card such as 512 mb
on dual and above cards
you wish to split the second ouput of video to more monitors or projectors
you can use a VGA spliter box
commonly this is used at trade shows
you can use the model shown to connect one output up to 8 monitors or projectors
they come in sizes of 2 , 4 and 8
getting the most from your card
Another element that may be important to some buyers is the overclockability of the graphics card. Overclocking refers to pushing a particular piece of hardware, be it RAM, CPU or Graphics card, past the clock speeds available out of the box. Most hardware can be overclocked to some degree, with the limiting factor being the temperature of the item.
Depending on the brand of card you buy, the cooling you have in place and the quality of the memory it uses, you may be able to push the card well beyond its standard specifications, with some cards overclocking to speeds past that of the next tier up. Several companies even guarantee their cards to overclock to a certain level, so if you are interested in pushing your PC that little bit further, and can afford to spend a small amount more, be sure to look out for those. You can also shell out a bit of extra money and buy some third party cooling devices for your card, including fans and heatsinks, which may increase the level to which you can overclock, but this will obviously cost more, and may also be louder than any out of the box cooling available.
It is important to be aware that overclocking can damage your hardware, and many manufacturers will not honour the warranty if it is damaged in this way, so overclock at your own risk.
When buying a card never take a companies promises or word at face value always check review websites such as
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/taxid;2136212627
to see what users think of the card
also check out bench marks of cards
this is the comparison chart for doom 3
if you use the latest most demanding graphical games as a bench mark it gives a good idea of what card to purchase
for example in this comparison GeForce 7900 with 102 frames per minute
now if you have read this far and think OH MY GOD what is he talking about
crucial memory have a free tool advising you on what cards your pc can support from their product range (upgrades), crucial cards generally have a high frame rate and are highly recommended
this tool will automatically detect things like PCI EXPRESS
and advise based on the fastest port
laptops
laptops except alien ware computers do not allow you to open the case and simply replace a card , so its important that you get a good card when you purchase a laptop
unfortunately a lot of cards available to alienware systems are of a poor quality as they use shared memory or have a low bus speed
Avoid the following words at all cost
Shared Memory
Integrated Graphics
It is possible to have it sent back to the factory to have the card changed if it is not an intergrated card
Or you can take it to your local pc shop who can advise on what cards your laptop can take
a laptops card will usually cost more than a desktop card so keep this in mind
I will post a software setup guide for showing video separately
I hope this has been useful to you if not send me an email and let me know how it could be better :)
It has been useful to me ;) as this is the topic I have just spent about 8 weeks learning about on my A+ Certification as a pc Engineer
If you need more help on this
msn – admin@skyfxlmedia.com
Posted Wed 22 Nov 06 @ 4:20 pm
DJ Rudra
you da man!!!
Posted Fri 24 Nov 06 @ 4:31 pm
sbangs
thankies :)
Posted Fri 24 Nov 06 @ 4:33 pm
discodave
Firtsly, thanks for the detail post.
I've noticed that most mid ranged laptops (£500-£600) seem to have intergrated shared memory cards and some seem to have integrated but with dedicated memory. I'm looking to buy one at the moment. Are they really no good for VDJ (Hercules Mk2). I'm only looking at mixing audio - not video.
Thanks
I've noticed that most mid ranged laptops (£500-£600) seem to have intergrated shared memory cards and some seem to have integrated but with dedicated memory. I'm looking to buy one at the moment. Are they really no good for VDJ (Hercules Mk2). I'm only looking at mixing audio - not video.
Thanks
Posted Fri 24 Nov 06 @ 5:20 pm
sbangs
for audio thats fine
:)
this is advise for video junkies :)
:)
this is advise for video junkies :)
Posted Fri 24 Nov 06 @ 5:27 pm
rip rap jay
hey dudes ive got a djx700 behringer mixer nd im lucking for a desent laptop around 400 quid nd im wondering wot sound card i would need 4 this setup 2 work .ty
Posted Thu 25 Dec 08 @ 8:00 am
sbangs
rip rap jay wrote :
hey dudes ive got a djx700 behringer mixer nd im lucking for a desent laptop around 400 quid nd im wondering wot sound card i would need 4 this setup 2 work .ty
Well depends really what you would like it to do and use?
If just the mixer a DJIO would be a good place to start as it features highquality outputs for a mixer.
Posted Sat 27 Dec 08 @ 1:06 pm