Which graphics card for Aero?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phil Chapman
  • Start date Start date
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Phil Chapman

Hi all,

I have Windows Vista Ultimate on my PC, but the graphics card does not
support Aero. I'm not interested in playing 3D games - all I want is to
watch DVD films and use Media Centre and Aero features. Can anyone suggest
a suitable AGP graphics card?

My computer has 1280MB RAM and an Asus A7A266 motherboard - I purchased it
in 2001.

Thanks
 
Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User said:
Look at any new graphics card.. 256mb is good..
Click to expand...

Yeah, even a 256Mb X1300 or 7300 will be more than enough for Aero
Glass/Dvds
 
Aero only requires a graphics card with 128MB of memory. My onboard Intel
graphics chip with up to its max of 128MB of memory allocated works fine
with Aero. It did not work when I had onl 64MB allocated.
 
128mb is the minimum requirement.. 256mb cuts some slack..
 
I have the nVidia 7600GS 256 MB PCI-e card (about $90.00 or less)
I'm not a gamer, but AERO and FLIP 3D work great.
WEI of 4.9 graphics and 4.9 gaming.


| Aero only requires a graphics card with 128MB of memory. My onboard Intel
| graphics chip with up to its max of 128MB of memory allocated works fine
| with Aero. It did not work when I had onl 64MB allocated.
|
| | >
| > message | >> Look at any new graphics card.. 256mb is good..
| >>
| >>
| >
| > Yeah, even a 256Mb X1300 or 7300 will be more than enough for Aero
| > Glass/Dvds
| >
|
|
 
dirty said:
I have the nVidia 7600GS 256 MB PCI-e card (about $90.00 or less)
I'm not a gamer, but AERO and FLIP 3D work great.
WEI of 4.9 graphics and 4.9 gaming.
Click to expand...

Even a nVidia 6200 128 MB (not TurboCache!) AGP provides Aero and Flip 3D.

Roy
 
Roy Coorne said:
Even a nVidia 6200 128 MB (not TurboCache!) AGP provides Aero and Flip 3D.

Roy
Click to expand...

Yeah, but what Mike & I are saying is that 256Mb gives you a lot more room
for manouevre, yet shouldn't cost you that much. If you have a 6200 then you
might choose to stick with it, but if the OP is buying a new card, it's
worth his while aiming slightly higher...
 
If you are looking at Nvidia Video Cards, I would hold off to see what
Nvidia is going to support with there drivers. The Vista DVD supports Aero
with the 5000 Series Video Cards and a lot of people bought them because
they were inexpensive. With the release of the 97.46 Drivers, Nvidia dropped
support for Aero in the 5000 Series Cards. Maybe they will drop support for
the 6000 Series as well.
One thing not mentioned is your Power Supply. You need at least a 300W Power
Supply to run a 6000 Series Card.
 
The 97.46 release notes list many capabilities and functions that are
missing in the release and which will return in a future release. I would
not be surprised for 5xxx support to also be in a future release since as
stated it is on the VISTA RTM dvds.
 
SAM-R said:
... The Vista DVD supports Aero with the 5000 Series Video Cards and
a lot of people bought them because they were inexpensive. With the
release of the 97.46 Drivers, Nvidia dropped support for Aero in the
5000 Series Cards. Maybe they will drop support for the 6000 Series
as well.
Click to expand...
....

I understand that nobody prevents me from continuing to use a driver
earlier
than 97.46 for a series 5000 nVidia card!


Roy
 
Since the current RTM release of Vista suports the 5xxx family of cards with
Aero (if the card has 128 of onboard memory)I expect that that a future
NVIDIA Vista Beta or RTM release will also.
 
Except 64mb is the minimum required. 128mb is the more the minimum
recommended. I could run it on my ATI mobility radeon x300 w/ 64mb of
memory, 512mb of system memory. Of course, I've upgraded system memory since
then, but Aero works fine on that configuration.

--
/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Robert Firth *
* Windows Vista x86 RTM *
* http://www.WinVistaInfo.org *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */
 
64 MB was the minimum before RC2 . AFAIK with RC2 and the RTM release the
minimum changed to 128.
 
Well I personally have a small system to test out a few networking features,
and surprisingly it runs aero even on its low specs.

They are the following

Intel Celeron D 2.66GHz
1024Mb DDR1 Siemens RAM
nVidia Gefore 6200 (crippled nv44 chip not nv43)
2x 80Gb Western Digital Caviars

Hope this helps since you can pickup old Geforce 6200's for about 20-40 GBP
if you shop around.
 
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