Graphics card upgrade advice please

[smokinggoldfish]

Can anyone help me choose a graphics card upgrade for my desktop? The current chip is an AMD Radeon HD 6530D, which has a poor ranking, I learned from a previous discussion.

I would like a card that allowed me to view HD video smoothly, straight from the camera and after PTE conversion and incorporation into a show. Currently the HD (1920 by 1080) MOV files from my D7000 are jerky on my desktop. I learnt from a previous post, and the many responses from the forum, that the graphics capability is probably to blame for this. I don't want to spend more than necessary - I'm not into high speed gaming!

Some details of my machine can be seen in the attached screen dump. There are three PCI-E slots and one PCI-E x16 slot free on the motherboard. The PSU is 300W.

Hoping for your kind assistance,

sg

[smokinggoldfish]

Your graphics card has 2 GB of RAM and is under-powered? Times have sure changed. I guess I will have to set my sights higher. I was thinking 1 GB would be enough.

Thanks,

Tom

Hi Tom,

I was under the impression that my new desktop PC would be fine, but it seems that it was made for the average user, and that the graphics chip is not so good. Maybe that is the limit rather than the amount of memory it can use.

Lin Evans said this in a previous post of mine ( see "Jerky video from D7000 in PTE 7" )

"Click on the "Search For Your Video Card" and type in "6530D" you will find that it ranks 258th with a G3D rating of 540. A decent video card today will have a G3D rating of probably better than 1400 and the top one is 3958 so probably investing in a new video card would definitely help. Laptops are generally worse than desktops and one has to be careful when choosing a laptop to get one with a good video card as well as good CPU and RAM performance."

That shows that it is rather poor.

sg

[Lin Evans]

Hi SG,

About the best graphics card which doesn't require power from the power supply separately (you probably can't use one which does with you current power supply) is the Radeon HD 7750. This card is many times more powerful than the one you have and ranks about 67 from the top with a G3D rating of 1734. Although the manufacturer "recommends" a 400 watt power supply for this card, thousands of users have had perfect results with a 300 watt power supply.

The vast majority of powerful video cards require separate power from the power supply. When I installed my 8800 GT card (not nearly as powerful as the HD7750) I had to shoehorn a 750 watt power supply into my Dell Inspiron 530 case. Had the HD7750 been available at that time, that's the card I would have chosen. The G3D rating on my card is less than 1000 so not nearly as powerful as the HD7750. The average cost for this card is about $110.00 U.S.D.

Best regards,

Lin

[smokinggoldfish]

Many thanks Lin,

I had been looking at some of the Radeon 6000 models, but as this one does not cost so much more yet performs better I'll take your advice.

Have just ordered one!

Can't wait to see the improvement with HD video!

I'll report back,

SG

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I know I'm a bit late coming in on this, but does your video play normally in Windows Media Player?

Yachtsman1.

[smokinggoldfish]

Hi Yachtsman1,

In a previous post I reported on this:

"I have just upgraded to PTE Deluxe 7.0 so that I can use video clips in my AV sequences. My first attempt is very disappointing though. A high definition 1920 by 1080 24 fps "high quality" MOV video shot with my Nikon D7000 plays OK in Windows Media player or Windows Live Movie Maker, but is very jerky in the PTE preview - either the preview window or the full screen preview. The sound is OK but it looks as though only a small proportion of the frames are being displayed. I tried converting the video file to the .converted.avi format using PTE but the result is still bad. And making a .exe file and running that did not improve things. Looks like I am up against some sort of software or hardware speed limitation? But the PC is quite new and running Windows 7 Home Premium. The processor is quad core 64 bit and I have 4GB RAM.

Am I doing something stupid? Any suggestions?"

This led to a lot of discussion, but the main conclusion I drew was that my graphics "card" was not good enough. Sample files that I posted on dropbox played fine on other members' PCs.

So finally I decided to upgrade. The next problem will be that the files won't play well on my laptop.....

I remember that you made the same point - did you get a new laptop?

SG

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi SG

Getting a little confused now, I know others have said your video card was below par, what I don't understand is if the video plays OK in WMP, why is it poor in PTE. When I produced my first show with HD video in PTE, there were comments it wasn't smooth although it was on my PC. So I reduced the quality to MP4 & all seems OK no adverse comments. There have been other shows using the D7000 with smooth video & no adverse comments from other members. Without reading the other posts I can't offer any suggestions & as you have now ordered a new video card, lets see if there is any improvement when it's fitted.

I'm not sure what you mean about buying a new LT? I did by one earlier this year & initially had problems with running shows with video until I contacted the supplier & found it had two video cards, the high powered one had to be told to run the PTE shows, sort of a turbo boost in gaming parlance.

Yachtsman1.

[smokinggoldfish]

Hi SG

Getting a little confused now, I know others have said your video card was below par, what I don't understand is if the video plays OK in WMP, why is it poor in PTE. When I produced my first show with HD video in PTE, there were comments it wasn't smooth although it was on my PC. So I reduced the quality to MP4 & all seems OK no adverse comments. There have been other shows using the D7000 with smooth video & no adverse comments from other members. Without reading the other posts I can't offer any suggestions & as you have now ordered a new video card, lets see if there is any improvement when it's fitted.

I'm not sure what you mean about buying a new LT? I did by one earlier this year & initially had problems with running shows with video until I contacted the supplier & found it had two video cards, the high powered one had to be told to run the PTE shows, sort of a turbo boost in gaming parlance.

Yachtsman1.

Apologies Yachtsman1, my memory did not serve me well - it was Peter FH1805 who remarked that he might need a new laptop:

"When my desktop crashed last summer I deliberately chose a low capability graphics card because I didn't want to end up building sequences that would not run smoothly on my laptop (which I use to drive the projector when "on the road"). I have already made a mental note that the move into video might sound the death knell for the laptop.

Peter"

(Is there a way to have two threads open at the same time so that I can refer to one while replying to another?)

I will probably be seeking the advice of all the experts in the Forum when I need a new laptop!

SG