Graphics Card : In use all the time ?

[Dolby]

Another noob question :

Does a graphics card only come into play during (3D) games? Do they help speed up general graphics at all - everything one see's on the PC? Browsing thumbnail pictures?

I don't game on my PC at all, and just wondering if it's actually worth it getting a seperate card or utilising onboard?

 

[Chevron]

Another noob question :

Does a graphics card only come into play during (3D) games? Do they help speed up general graphics at all - everything one see's on the PC? Browsing thumbnail pictures?

I don't game on my PC at all, and just wondering if it's actually worth it getting a seperate card or utilising onboard?

No. Unless you're into HD video, then depending on your processor you might need help from your gfx card.

With ati cards you can use it to make encoding videos faster, but the options aren't that varied.

For a home user gfx is basically useless at the moment.

Just remember though that your onboard gfx card uses up ram. So getting something like a 4670 is beneficial in that you free up resources.

 

[Deenem]

Does a graphics card only come into play during (3D) games? Do they help speed up general graphics at all - everything one see's on the PC? Browsing thumbnail pictures?

I don't game on my PC at all, and just wondering if it's actually worth it getting a seperate card or utilising onboard?

A graphics card does generate everything that you see on screen, not just games, but as you guessed all the horsepower is required to generate 3D images, not the 2D graphics that makes up most application. 2D graphics are so simple, the CPU from a Casio calculator is probably fast enough to handle them

That said, these days even onboard graphics chips can handle 3D rendering, so a lot of application developers are building 3D effects into ordinary consumer applications. Google maps uses DirectX to render images, 3D screensavers, Vista Aero needs a 3D card, Ubuntu Linux has amazing desktop effects if you have a 3D card.

So, short answer, onboard graphics is 'good enough', but even a R400 graphics card might come in handy a some point.

 

[Dolby]

Vista Aero needs a 3D card

Aha! Forget about that ...

Thanks!