Hi,

Having acquired a secondhand Dell Optiplex 745 MD a couple of months ago I couldn't help but notice the integrated Intel Media Accelerator isn't actually the greatest with a score of just 3.4 in Win7.

As I'm not into gaming and probably never will be I'm looking for a card with fine graphics output that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and, more importantly has supported drivers for most OSes.

So far, being a long term user and fan, I've been eyeballing Matrox's offerings but which one exactly?
How much memory should the card come with and what else should I look out for?

BTW, I'm planning on getting myself an Iiyama 24" monitor soon and intend to be using the screen to watch DVD movies on etc. if that helps....

TIA,

$

If you're not into gaming, why are you looking for a new card? Isn't the Intel good enough for Aero and stuff?

Hi,

Hard to tell without having anything to compare it to, really....

Trouble is, I'm a bit spoiled when it comes to image quality being used to big CRT's which to my mind provided a more natural, more three dimensional color balance compared to my current setup.
The monitor I am using at the moment is a decent but not exceptional Dell Ultra Sharp 19" affair at a native resolution of 1280x1024 @60Hz.

I realize just changing the graphics card won't bring all that back but I thought I might at least try.
So, I wonder what other non-gaming guys would advise given the envisaged new Iiyama etc.

Anyways, thx for the input.

Cheers,

$