PC Video Cards

[thundr51]

Ok, theres an electronics show this weekend and i've been thinking about getting a new video card. Currently i've got a Voodoo 3 2000 and it's doing fine but since I can't really expect any more driver updates it looks like I need to upgrade. Plus my card needs more memory(only has 16mb) I've been thinking of something from Nvidia but who knows I've heard mixed things. Ah, I still remember how easy it was before when virtually every new game out there was almost made with voodoo in mind. Heres' what i'm working with...

756 MHz AMD
384 Mb Ram
40 Gig HD

Right now my vid card is PCI but maybe i'll look into getting an AGP. Suggestions, Questions, Comments?

 

[wjw123]

Geforce 2 gts ASUS V7700 or less than $170

Geforce 3 ASUS V8200 - 64megs If you can get it for less than $250

Don't mess with the MX models

 

[evil wasabi]

Originally posted by thundr51:
<STRONG>Ok, theres an electronics show this weekend and i've been thinking about getting a new video card. Currently i've got a Voodoo 3 2000 and it's doing fine but since I can't really expect any more driver updates it looks like I need to upgrade. Plus my card needs more memory(only has 16mb) I've been thinking of something from Nvidia but who knows I've heard mixed things. Ah, I still remember how easy it was before when virtually every new game out there was almost made with voodoo in mind. Heres' what i'm working with...

756 MHz AMD
384 Mb Ram
40 Gig HD

Right now my vid card is PCI but maybe i'll look into getting an AGP. Suggestions, Questions, Comments?</STRONG>

First of all,why all that ram? with that kindof system 256mb will do the trick basically these days to get good performance you have to get 1 or 2 good quality sticks of ram and its better on your system to have 1 stick on its own ,
why did you buy pci card when you could have got a agp card for the same price,pci is dead and buried along with systems with integrated video.
Anyway none of that matters if you follow the following idea:
Buy a 1ghz athlon system,build it yourself with some 256mb ddr ram and a geforce 2 pro,
use your old system case and drives and monitor and even the hard drive,

heres all you need:
a motherboard for a 1-1.8 or whatever ghz athlon
a 1 ghz ddr or even 1.2ghz ddr (there pretty much the same price at the mo),a decent fan/heatsink, 256mb stick of ddr ram
geforce 2 pro 64mb
that lot will set you back about $300 in your money if ya look around.

 

[Caris Nautilus]

I have a GEFORCE 32 meg AGP card, and I've never had a problem running any game, I'd reccomend it, AGP kills PCI in the videocard department, much faster.

[ December 07, 2001: Message edited by: Drift King EX ]

 

[JHendrix]

For that system, I'd reccomend any card you can find that's based off the GeForce3 Ti 200. It's the lower end GeForce3 but hell it can do ANYTHING. It'll have 64Mb of DDR VRAM and you won't have to upgrade for a L:ONG TIME. BTW, the easiest way to spot a card for this, is to find the GeForce3 cards that cost about $150. And AGP is so worth it.

Also, Mark, I do not have a system that I use that has under 384Mb of RAM. My G4 mac and my Dell Laptop both have 384Mb. Trust me, it does make the difference. BTW, I have a friend who has a dual 1.2Ghz Athlon system with 1Gig of RAM and all SCSI hard drives in a RAID. It be damn nice, and you do notice the speed difference in just about anything you do.

Peace

JHendrix

 

[thundr51]

Actually the only reason that i have so much ram is because i already had 128 and i got a good deal on on 256 stick. The board I have allows for 1.5 Ghz so thats not a problem. So far I havent had any problems with my 750 so I don't really see a need yet to upgrade yet

Mark, the only reason I have a pci card was because I got a good deal on it some time ago. Plus i've rebuilt my machine several times to get it where it is now, i'll overhaul it maybe in another 6 months,I only upgrade when I can't do/play something. I just want get a new video card.

 

[thundr51]

oh yeah just want to say thanx for everyone's help.

 

[neojedi]

Quick check to make sure -- does your computer have an AGP slot? The reason I'm asking is it doesn't make much sense to have a PCI card if you have an AGP slot, and it would suck if you bought the AGP and had nowhere to put it.

Personally I'm about to add an extra card or switch graphics cards to allow for A/V inputs and the possibility of wallpaper / combo videos / custom avatar rips / other goodies. <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

 

[Wolf]

Bah, you don't need to upgrade the processor yet. That processor should work quite well with a Geforce 2 or 3. I have a Geforce 2 Pro on a 1ghz Pentium3 and there is nothing I can't run at the highest resolution yet. I used to own that Voodoo 3 2000 that you owned. A good card it its day, but it's now a dinosaur. I don't know where you heard "mixed things" about the Geforce line, you really can't go wrong with any Geforce card.

 

[thundr51]

Originally posted by Wolf:
<STRONG>Bah, you don't need to upgrade the processor yet. That processor should work quite well with a Geforce 2 or 3. I have a Geforce 2 Pro on a 1ghz Pentium3 and there is nothing I can't run at the highest resolution yet. I used to own that Voodoo 3 2000 that you owned. A good card it its day, but it's now a dinosaur. I don't know where you heard "mixed things" about the Geforce line, you really can't go wrong with any Geforce card.</STRONG>

Yeah, I haven't had any slowdowns with my 756 so I see no need to upgrade.
Actually, if you'll read my post you'll see that I haven't heard anything about the Geforce line, (actually I didnt' know anything about Geforce) I said I heard mixed things about Nvidia cards in general. <IMG SRC="smilies/smirk.gif" border="0"> I heard that some folks were having problems with their cards and XP drivers. And since I have XP I was concerned. But you're right, the Voodoo3 has served me really well. I'm thinking of trying to find some memory for it, but as you said, it's basically a dinosaur.

 

[thirdkind]

I'm running an Asus GF3 card with XP now and it's working fine with the September drivers (21.xx I think), but the latest drivers released a few days ago (23.xx I believe) gave me problems. Corrupted icons and other weird anomolies. Nvidia blames VIA chipsets, but many people have been having problems with these new drivers regardless of motherboard manufacturer/chipset.

The overall performance is top notch though. Asus makes rock solid vid cards and motherboards, though any GF3 should do fine. Others may say that the newer ATI cards are awesome, but I've always found their cards to be complete ass, and they're still suffering from the same problems: decent hardware with poor driver support.

Get a GeForce 3. You're guaranteed improved drivers (and improved performance) for years.

 

[RiotoftheBlood]

My advice is to not spend more than $200 on a card. It's not worth it.