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fluidedge

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 1, 2007
1,365
16
a couple of questions

1) Is the 2600HD card good enough for me? - I will be doing mostly video editing and motion graphics. Not hugely intensive or anything, but we will be moving into editing HDV this year.

2) I'll need to buy a monitor with this, my options are either dual, cheap 20" monitors, a good 22" monitor or a cheap 24" monitor. Which would you go for? Would the 1920x1200 res be a *really* worthwhile upgrade, over the 1680x1050 so i can view true 1080i/p footage? I'm leaning towards the 24" for this reason
3) Is there a noticeable difference between DVI and VGA connections, particularly as i will be editing digital content. and producing graphics at high frame rates?

any advice appreciated
 
Nvidia Video + Dell 24" Both Worth It

1. Nvidia card is worth it as Motion uses it's ram + it's way faster. I ordered mine with ATI + NVIDIA as a separate part so the MP comes sooner. But I use 4 displays all the time.
2. Dell 2408 is a great deal and yes you NEED 1920 x 1200 for your HDV editing.
3. I can't see the diff but Dell has both inputs & cables so you decide.
 
I will definitely pay the extra $200 for the nVidia card upgrade. You can't go through a page in any Mac Pro forum with people raving about how awesome it's going to be.

I just opened my new 24" monitor yesterday (BenQ G2400W with HDMI for $374.99CDN, pretty good deal if you ask me) and if you can find a good 24" monitor for a good price, trust me you will not regret getting it.

At first I daydreamed how amazing games will look on it, but I have yet to play games on it yet, but I but my FCP workflow on that monitor and with a long timeline and a much bigger preview window, it makes a beautiful difference.

I can't tell the difference between VGAor DVI signals either, but if you're getting a new mac pro, VGA won't be an option anyway (I think? Though it probably comes with a VGA-DVI adapter). When you get a monitor, you might want to have an HDMI input too so you can use a Blu Ray player on it too if you want, since you're editing with HDV footage anyway.
 
I notice a huge difference between VGA and DVI (1920x1200, 24" Dell monitor). DVI seems to just work, everything is crisp and clear.

For VGA, the monitor normally has to 'calibrate' it, and sometimes if it calibrates and you don't have a maximized window on the screen it won't calibrate correctly, or it might just be a tiny bit off and your text looks fuzzy or something.

You will want DVI over VGA for sure.
 
I'm a motion designer and I have no huge need for the Nvidia card. Motion works fine without it for the things I do with it, and After Effects can't really use it. I'm glad I didn't wait as I've already gotten a ton of work done.
 
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