[MacDV] G5 Video Card Choice

[Jeremy Kezer]

Kunga,

>Dual 2 GHz G5 Purchase for Digital Video Editing and associated 
>multimedia applications. No gaming.
>
>Can anyone shed any light on if they would spend the additional $300 
>for the 128 MB ATI Radeon 99800 Pro Video Card if they were planning 
>on driving two monitors @ 1600 x 1200 or more each FP or CRT OR 
>would you be satisfied with the 64 MB ATI Radeon 9600 Pro card for 
>this twinview setup? No gaming. Strictly digital video, music and 
>other multimedia applications. You think 32 MB per screen is plenty 
>if you are not going to use the Mac for games? Or do you think 64 MB 
>per screen is worth the extra money? Thanks.

Depends on what video editing product you are using.  If you're using 
Avid Adrenaline, Mojo, XpressPro or XpressDV, they have the option of 
using OpenGL for real-time effects.  The 9800 card has better OGL 
support, although the 9600 is no slouch.

Another consideration is future-proofing your system.  OS X also uses 
more and more OGL resources, which is one reason why Quartz Extreme 
isn't available on older systems with less VRAM.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Kezer

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jeremy at kezer.net                              http://www.kezer.net/
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