Nvidia Geforce 7300 or Matrox APVe?

[Andy Gerome]

My budget is around $300.00 . Looking to buy the better of these 2 video cards. Which one would you choose? Thanks - Andy

 

[Handruin]

What are your goals for the video card? The matrox looks more like an industrial card not aimed at gaming and the 7300 series seems more for gaming than design/CAD/video editing, etc. Are you doing work with this proposed card or gaming?

$300 (assuming $US) opens a decent range of graphics cards especially if you plan on gaming. Most of the 7300 series cards are under $100...so $300 leaves a good margin to play with. I haven't worked with Matrox cards for over 10 years so I can't really comment on them.

 

[Mercutio]

He's probably dealing with local retail pricing.
He may not live in the US.
And he may not have a credit/debit card for ordering things off the internet.

US$300 and Newegg.com would buy something close to top of the line from nVidia; a 7900GT could be purchased with enough left over to buy a 7300 to go along with it.

Generally someone interested in a Matrox card would be interested in a professional application like CAD. The proper nVidia equivalent would be Quadro, but even at that, there are hacks to get Quadro driver functionality on standard Geforce-type hardware.

Generally, I don't think Matrox cards are worth the money any more (unless you need three displays running off one card or something). Particularly not $300, be they USbucks or Moosebucks or RooBucks.

However, I also refuse to endorse an nVidia made graphics card.

Buy ATI.

 

[Andy Gerome]

Thanks for replying. My goals? Hmmm... I'm an audio and instrumental musician guy. Worked with some major music artists, generally with analog. This is primarily for my own personal video projects though. I'll be composing music to video, a little video editing but nothing extensive, and maybe a little outside work. NOT a gaming guy at all but... would like to be able to work with a game, from a music stand point (...never thought the Ninja Turtle thing would ever take off... still kicking myself for turning that one down). So... I guess the biggest thing is clarity and power, but would like to have a card with extra options. If I can get a couple years out of the card without buying up, I'm happy. I run a PC w/2 LCD monitors. So I guess those are my goals. I use Nuendo and plug-ins for my audio work now. A buddy of mine has the APVe and loves it. He's into a lot of stuff and is very busy with it. I figured the Matrox was a good choice because I know it gets along well with Nuendo and my P4 2.8 . Recently I was informed about the Nvidia 7300 card. They thought I should consider it before making a decision. That's it! Any good advice would be much appreciated. I'm pretty green in this area so bare with me. Thanks Andy in Nashville, Tn.

 

[Handruin]

From the looks of things, Nuendo is more of a 2D/GDI rendered desktop application that won't benefit much (if at all) from 3D acceleration. That means a GeForce 7300 series would be somewhat wasted if you don't do anything with Direct X or OpenGL.

Since you're doing audio/video, you might want to consider a graphics card with passive cooling to reduce the audible noise.

 

[Andy Gerome]

Great points. Your comments were very directed towards my use, and I really appreciate that. Although the 7300 cost much less than the APVe, I was prepared to go for the Matrox. Because I know someone first hand that is actually useing it, I am still swayed that way. But, I thought this was a great place to ask what others thionk too, maybe from another Nuendo user here. Funny though, because the person (dealer for both cards, seemed to think that the 7300 would be more suitable, instead of the APVe. But I see your points... very well. Thanks.

 

[Stereodude]

Since you said you're running 2 LCD monitors, I would look at a fanless dual DVI nVidia based card. That puts you into a PCI-E x16 7600GS card.

Example 1
Example 2

 

[Sol]

If you have the money to splash around ATI's X1900 video cards are capable of doing video encoding/re-encoding without using the CPU and a lot faster (based on the marketing you might want to find an independent review). That could save you some time if your doing a lot of video work where you need to re-encode stuff a lot (which would save you using high quality uncompressed video for drafts and such I guess).
Otherwise I'd think something along the lines of an x1300 with dual DVI would have all the quality and power you need with some to spare and plenty of change out of your budget.

 

[Andy Gerome]

Wow! All great comments. I really appreciate the help. A few more and then I'll need to really just pick one. I can see that this could keep going on and on. I'm sure there's plenty of great cards out there... I'm just inexperienced about the video end. But I guess I'll have to just pick one and go with it. Trial and error, ya know? Thanks again.

 

[ddrueding]

The best price/performance can be had by either nVidia or ATI. Pick the best of either that will fit in your budget, and stop worrying about it

 

[Stereodude]

After all, friends don't let friends buy Matrox.

 

[Andy Gerome]

Thanks for the info. I think I have what I need to choose. Thanks - Andy