Desktop video performance with nForce1

[timwhit]

I am wondering how desktop video performance is with the nForce1 chipset. For instance, how would it compare to an ATI Radeon 7000 or an nVidia Geforce4 MX440? No 3D software of games will be used. The primary use of the system is as a business system. Will there be any user discernable differences in performance (I don't care about benchmarks)? The motherboard I am planning on using is the Asus nForce A7N266-VM with an Athlon XP 2400+ and 512MB DDR.

I know everyone usually bashes onboard video and I have not had good luck with onboard video in the past, but many people speak pretty highly of the nForce chipset. Does this chipset suffer the same shortcomings of other integrated motherboards?

 

[timwhit]

Just wanted to add that I have built systems around the A7N266-VM before and never had a problem with them. However, I have never used any of these systems extensively. The main reason I like it is that it has onboard video, sound, lan, and it's cheap. Plus installation went like a snap for the two systems that I built using this board.

 

[Tea]

I have very little experience with them, Tim, but I would be very surprised to see it go any slower than anything else, so far as office apps go. In theory the nForce 1 is a couple of percent slower than a KT-266A. The reality is you will never see the difference. I'd go with it.

 

[blakerwry]

2d graphics are limited only by Your CPU speed/Bus speed. And lets not forget refresh rate.

Basically, the graphics are going to be displayed as fast as your CPU can serve them up to the video card. It is not like in the 3D world where you need a high end video card to achieve maximum fps. AFAIK 2D graphics have been like this since about the TNT 1 days.

As far as I'm concerned, the only reason not to use a 4-6 year old graphics card for 2D use is because they might not support things like overlay or cool things like desktop color correction. (My secondary vid card a matrox millenium does not support overlay, thus i use it for my secondary monitor where I will not be as likely to play back video)

However, overlay has been supported well since before the TNT, and color correction has been implemented before the geforce. So any card you find on the market is going to allow you to do these things. If you require 3D in a window then either of these cards should serve you fineas well.

Bottom line... don't worry if you are only concerned with 2D.... the only reason people bash on-board vid for 2D is because some of the crappier implementations have bugs that result in incorrect display of the video. This shouldn't be a problem with an N'Force mobo.