Hello everyone,
I got a hand-me-down computer from my cousin. It's not a race car but it's faster than anything I've got. It's got integrated video card which I want to replace. It's got a PCI-E/X16 slot that I can put a video card in.
I got an NVIDIA Quadro FX3500 card for free from my company, which was clearing out a bunch of stuff. I also recently bought an NVIDIA 8400GS for $30 on the recommendation of the salesman from the local computer store. I'm not sure which one I should keep. I know that these are "old" cards.
I know that this is not an apples-to-apples comparison, since the Quadro is geared towards pro graphics and the 8400 is geared for gaming. I know this: with the Quadro, my "windows experience" score goes from 3.5 to 5.9 (for the Aero test). It's a wash for gaming: both the 8400 and the Quadro score 5.5. I"m sure that the Windows Experience is not a definitive test, but it's something that I can compare with.
I don't do much heavy duty gaming anymore. I just play some of my old games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein and C&C Generals, along with some Lego Star Wars. Since we got a PS3, we don't do much gaming on the computer anymore.
Most of my usage will be photography based: I do a lot of RAW file processing in Adobe Photoshop and I may start to do some video editing as well.
It seems to me like the Quadro is the way to go, especially since it's free. Looking at a comparison I found online, the Quadro's memory seems to be DDR3 and the clock seems to be faster.
Will the Quadro really limit me in the gaming aspect? I know that people say it's not really a gaming card but would it be THAT bad?
I got a hand-me-down computer from my cousin. It's not a race car but it's faster than anything I've got. It's got integrated video card which I want to replace. It's got a PCI-E/X16 slot that I can put a video card in.
I got an NVIDIA Quadro FX3500 card for free from my company, which was clearing out a bunch of stuff. I also recently bought an NVIDIA 8400GS for $30 on the recommendation of the salesman from the local computer store. I'm not sure which one I should keep. I know that these are "old" cards.
I know that this is not an apples-to-apples comparison, since the Quadro is geared towards pro graphics and the 8400 is geared for gaming. I know this: with the Quadro, my "windows experience" score goes from 3.5 to 5.9 (for the Aero test). It's a wash for gaming: both the 8400 and the Quadro score 5.5. I"m sure that the Windows Experience is not a definitive test, but it's something that I can compare with.
I don't do much heavy duty gaming anymore. I just play some of my old games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein and C&C Generals, along with some Lego Star Wars. Since we got a PS3, we don't do much gaming on the computer anymore.
Most of my usage will be photography based: I do a lot of RAW file processing in Adobe Photoshop and I may start to do some video editing as well.
It seems to me like the Quadro is the way to go, especially since it's free. Looking at a comparison I found online, the Quadro's memory seems to be DDR3 and the clock seems to be faster.
Will the Quadro really limit me in the gaming aspect? I know that people say it's not really a gaming card but would it be THAT bad?