I'm considering buying a new PC and I'm pretty settled on what components I need except for the graphics card. All the mags rave about the Geforce cards but I'm not sure that's what I need. I like the occassional flight sim but nothing like Quake etc. I'm really interested in smooth DVD playback. The Mesh 700GDR is in my range, but do I need that graphics card? What about the ATI cards with video capture (which I could really use for work purposes).
Can anyone advise?
Thanks
Eric

If you're not a serious 3D gamer then you're right to avoid the GeForce cards. The performance difference won't be worth the price premium. ATI's Rage Pro cards are good for DVD playback and video capture, as is 3Dfx's Voodoo 3500 TV, which has been around a while and should be relatively cheap. Some of these cards can do MPEG-2 encoding as well as the more standard AVI.

Thanks. Can you help me further? Which of the ATI cards would you recommend to achieve good DVD playback and decent gaming? I lecture at a college and would like to include video clips in powerpoint presentations. Evesham do a system that's caught my eye, the Athlon Vivo which has what Evesham call the ATI Fury Pro Vivo, which I haven't seen anywhere else. I heard that the All in Wonder card is good. What should I be looking for? Advice?
Thanks
Eric

The VIVO is effectively the latest incarnation of the All In Wonder range. VIVO stands for Video In, Video Out, so there's a good chance that it will do what you want it to. We haven't reviewed one yet, though - perhaps others could comment?

Can't comment on VIVO but can I suggest a dedicated MPEG decoder card? If you truly want the best quality then this is for you -- although graphics cards can take care of it, and software decoders are out there too, only a MPEG card will guarantee smooth and high-res playback most of the time (I say 'most of the time' because video playback really stretches your PC so you're looking at a high-end PC with, most importantly, a fast 7,2000RPM hard disk -- ask Mesh if yours has one; I'd steer clear of telling them about your video needs because they'll try and sell you something very expensive).