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Graphics card for a college-bound PC Question : How does the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600
with 256MB of memory compare with the
ATI Mobility FireGL V5200 with 256MB of memory and hardware OpenGL acceleration
in similarly configured laptops, as in the HP Compaq nc8430 Notebook PC and the HP Compaq
nw8440 Mobile Workstation?
This computer is for college. I'll mostly be
using it for Microsoft Office applications and Web
browsing, but I will need decent performance for
video, programming, and some engineering applications.
Answer : The FireGL line of graphics cards is the
brand ATI (www.ati.com) uses for its line of professional graphics solutions
suitable for CAD/CAE, 3D content creation and other professional graphics chores. FireGL
graphics chips typically have additional features enabled, such as
accelerated line drawing, two-surface rendering and more. These features are
not used in most consumer applications, including games.
So unless you need support for an application
like AutoCAD, SolidWorks or Autodesk 3ds Max,
the Mobility Radeon GPU is a better fit and will probably add less cost to the
laptop. |
