Windows Aero

[greybell]

When I upgrade to Vista, I would like to benefit from the Windows Aero interface.

To do so, I need to upgrade my inbuilt Graphics card. When I did a scan on the Crucial website, it turned up The Crucial Radeon X1300 256MB AGP. According to its spec, it supports Vista, but does that mean Aero also?

And can I run Aero with 512 Mb of memory?

 

[Nitestick]

moved to windows OS and software, where this belongs

 

[KSoD]

To check this out Google the Vista Upgrade Advisory Tool. Either that or go to the M$ site for Windows Vista which can tell you everything you need to know.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/

 

[Vybuni]

Support for DirectX 9 graphics with a WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)2, Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel.

That is the recommended minimum for a "Premium ready PC," which I believe includes Aero.

You could probably run Aero/Vista with 512MB RAM, but I would definately recommend upgrading to at least a gig.

Vista minimum requirements page

 

[greybell]

Thank you very much, everyone!

 

[greybell]

I had another look at the graphics card spec and couldn't see any WDDM references, but here is what it said:

Complete support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 and Shader Model 3.0
256MB of DDR2 memory
128-bit DDR2 memory interface
4 pixel-shader processors
3 vertex-shader engines
450MHz core frequency
700MHz memory frequency
Dual link DVI-I, S-video, and VGA connectors

Microsoft Windows® XP™
Microsoft Windows XP x64 Edition
Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005
Microsoft Windows Vista™

So will this be alright in your opinion?

 

[The General]

Yes.

 

[greybell]

I salute you, General !

Cheers.

 

[maroon1]

As far as I know, all shader model 2.0 video cards can run Aero

Geforce FX series or newer can run Aero
ATI radeon 9500 or newer can run Aero

 

[ShackledPhoenix]

The X1300 should be fine for the Aero Interface, it's the RAM that's going to hurt you. While running Vista! it typically takes up over 600 MB of RAM.

If you want a Vista! upgrade with any speed, head for 1 gig or higher.