If my memory serves me correct, most of the gripes that I have seen here in the forum, and also from my own useage going back to P98, and additionally from a few comments from our glourious vendors own tech support people, has been: Stay away from ATI - ATI has caused the most problems!
Of course I do not know if this still holds true for their current modle line, and whether or not it would still be true today. The most importand thing to remember is all that Protel Products, and I believe that this includes dxP04, all use only 2D for all of their graphics, including any 3D renderings, which are themselves actually only done in 2D, so that any of the sophicistated 3D junk or 3D video boards that are so highly prized in the "gaming" world, are actually worthless for Protel, and in fact may in fact cause problems in Protel, or at least I was told a while back by some of the big A's Technical Support people. They also told me that on some video cards it may be necessary to "scale back" some of the video "acceleration" so as to not cause problems with Protel. This was their advice for Protel 99 SE, and I am not quite sure that that would be applicable on DXP or what I call dxP04 (which I still have not installed). Respecting the dual output capability of a video card which you discuss below, I thought I had it on my nVidia Ge Force 4 FX5200 128Mb until I read Terry Cheers post and yours below. JaMi ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 10:03 AM Subject: Re: [PEDA] Video Board Recommendations ? For "basic" support, (neither cheasy nor caviar-based) with continually upgraded video driversets from the chipset mfg, I suggest an Nvidia-based MX440, 64M-128M memory, dual video out. I purchased my last one from EVGA, (www.evga.com), though the popularity, ease of use, performance, cost, etc. of the chipset, has made it easy to find from a variety of mfgs. Mine cost me $79 and has performed flawlessly, as did the last two. New driver packages are available for download from Nvidia on a regular basis (every month or so), because as we all know from using Protel, bugs are everywhere. Other chjipset mfgs will often be less than forthcoming with driversets. SO much so, in fact, that one of the most often cited competitors has lost theior once supreme status with the very customer base that launched them, ie, Apple customers, because the video mfg is sucvh a poor performer when it comes to supporting their products. Shiny on the outside, smelly on the inside. Make sure to verify that the card your purchase has dual video out or has a DVI as the secondary AND comes with a DVI-to-VGA converter included. Due to their overall performance, Nvida's unrivalled firm/soft support, and the entire line's low cost relative to their competitors, there are large numbers of Nvidia-based cards on the market, and many are single output devices, have a VGA and a DVI connector for dual, only have TV out for the secondary channel, or require the user to purchase a DVI converter... You can expect to pay somewhere between $80-$110 for a dual-output card of the ilk described above. Again, examine to ensure that the card does dual video, and if possible, has dual vga connections direct. A VGA and DVI combination is quite prevalent, but if you choose this route, then make sure you get a DVI/VGA adapter w/the card. aj >-----Original Message----- >From: Linden Doyle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 12:58 AM >To: PEDA >Subject: [PEDA] Video Board Recommendations ? > >Greetings all, > >I have heard that some brands of video cards can show problems >when running Protel. > >Does anyone have any recommendations as to whose video boards >work well and those I should steer clear of? > >I'm not after the latest and greatest video gamers mega-card >just something that will reliably display Protel PCBs and >Schematics preferably upgradable to a dual monitor setup >(either a board with 2 outputs or the ability to operate with >2 seperate boards) > > >Best Regards, > >Linden Doyle >Product Development Engineer >Zener Electric Pty Ltd. > > > > > > > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
