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Advice: Best video card for under $150 CDN.

B

bluemax

Diamond Member
I have a few options, but I don't need to go overboard. I can barely justify the purchase in the first place. 😱
Don't even ask what I have now - it's moot.

So, some of my options are:
Radeon 32MB DDR for ~$85CDN + taxes/shipping
Radeon 64MB SDR (7200 OEM) for ~$90 CDN + taxes/shipping
Aopen GF2 TI 64MB for $140 CDN + t/s
plus any other suggestions you guys can come up with.

I can finally do it - all I need is ~GTS speeds and I'll be quite happy for a long time. (I hope!)
I'm not a BIG 3D gamer, but once in a while......
somehow I don't think an MX/MX-400 is good enough since I like FSAA but I'll consider it if it's cheap!

Lower price = more consideration. 😀
 
even before i entered the thread, i was going to suggest a GeForce2 Titanium or GTS or Pro
something along those lines

my friend has a 64MB GF2 Ti and it runs Quake3 at 1280x1024 with a lot of eye candy and it runs just beautifully.. the card still pushes some good fps in games and i wouldn't hesitate to buy one on a budget for a gamer.. i am still running a GTS in mine and i am a very heavy Q3er. it runs wonderfully.

the Radeon DDR might be a better choice if you are going to be gaming on the side and mostly browsing the net, surfing, doing whatever else in 2d. Before the GeForce3's, NVIDIA image quality probably isn't as good as ATI, and might not even be still.

hope this info/advice helps your choice.

PS: I am in Canada too... where do you get your prices from?
 
I would go with the GeForce 2 Ti. I wouldn't plan on using FSAA though, if I were you. The only graphics cards that can really pull FSAA out at reasonable FPS is the GeForce 3/4 (not MX), and the Radeon 8500. The ability to use FSAA on the GeForce 2s is more of a novelty feature rather than a usefull one.
 
Prices at NCIX and a couple others... Canada Computers? [shrug] I can find that Radeon price again.
I have a local guy who sells a Radeon 64MB OEM w/ tv out for $105 after taxes. I just wonder exactly what card that is, since I don't think ATI makes such a beast in Retail.

And what I consider "Reasonable" frame rates is probably less than you hardcore gamers. 😉 As long as I get 50-60 PFS constantly I could care less about the rest.
I'd rather have pretty graphics than faster than I can register. Functionality over 3D Marks. 😉
 


<< I have a local guy who sells a Radeon 64MB OEM w/ tv out for $105 after taxes. I just wonder
exactly what card that is, since I don't think ATI makes such a beast in Retail. >>



It's called the Radeon 64MB VIVO, a fairly common card a year or so ago.
 
Except it's:
SDR, and
TV out, not VIVO

So that's not it. 😉 He sells THAT card for $100 more.
This one is some kind of 64 meg Radeon LE with TV out.
 
I just got the 64MB SDR TV out Radeon 7000LE is what it's called and being OEM it's made by Sapphire ("powered by ATI").
canadacomputers used to have it for $83 priced match to that on ncix.com where it is $88.50.
It's going in my soon to be old rig which will eventually end up either my mom's or sister's rig, so only real consideration was price.
My new case is on backorder so it may be a while before I get to try it out.
ncix.com product link
 
the radeon 7000E - gimmie a break - that's sub MX400 level performance...

canada computers has the Hercules Prophet 4500 Kyro II 64MB (SDR) video card for $100 OEM...it's GF2 - GF2 Pro/Ultra performance, depending on the game.

best card for the money if you ask me.
 


<< the radeon 7000E - gimmie a break - that's sub MX400 level performance... >>


More like MX200! :Q That's exactly what I'm running now, I think. Great for everything except intensive 3D games.



<< canada computers has the Hercules Prophet 4500 Kyro II 64MB (SDR) video card for $100 OEM...it's GF2 - GF2 Pro/Ultra performance, depending on the game. >>


The KyroII would be perfect for frying my i845 motherboard to a crisp. 😉 Which is really too bad- I'd have gone for it.
I'll have to ask if this Radeon LE that's available for $105 after taxes is a VE or not... more detail.
 
frying it to a crisp??? - what?

something i'm missing here? - some MAJOR catastrophic incompatibility?...doesn't seem likely.

anyway the 7000E is a VE, not LE - as far as I know...

if the LE version is an even slower VE, then damn, that's awful.

if it's a radeon LE, then that's good - as a mere bios update or registry hack will give u a fully functional Radeon

however, i do believe that the 7000 only comes in the E (not LE) version, which is merely a Radeon VE w/ 64mb SDR.
 
Yep. Intel 845 or 850 motherboards will FRY if you plug a 3.3V video card into its 1.5V ONLY AGP slot. :frown:
Which means no KyroII's, no Voodoo5's - among others.

Most GTS-or-better cards are safe, and pretty much ANYTHING by ATI.
Of course, a Voodoo5 PCI wouldn't be too bad. 😉 I like Glide.
 
GeForce 4 440 MX, if you can find one at this price range (they are $90 @ Pricewatch).

Dispite misleading name, these cards offer performance 10% higher than GeForce 2 Ultra, and FSAA performance on par with GF3. Plus, the benefit of hardware IDCT engine, if you have slow cpu.
 
In Canada, the cheapest is $180+taxes&shipping so far for that one. Far more than the $135 which is $90US.... :|
Darn Canadian retailers.... I can't justify that much money. Maybe they'll come down soon...... but I hate waiting.
Most people know me as "the guy who wants a video card for about two years" or something similar. 😱

On the plus side, I've researched the darned things to death - I'd be great at Future Shop. I'd actually know what I'm talking about when selling things. 😉 How rare is that?
 
You read the original message real good didn't you? 😉😉
I'm hoping for as many suggestions as possible... yours is duly noted.
 
bah, those crummy intel chipsets 😛

go ATI 7200 w/ 64MB SDRAM (I assume that means SDR SDRAM?) from canadacomputers for 132.

it's basically a regular Radeon with SDR vs. DDR - but HyperZ is something that helps it maintain decent performance even w/ SDR.

you COULD go GF2 ti 200, but why?...i definitely wouldn't go low end, as i've seen the picture quality - while the u can tweak the 2d (i.e for the desktop) there's some sub-2d components that can't be tweaked by the detonator driver set (i.e. mpeg4/divx movies)....meaning, u get this god-awful dark picture (of course, some movie players allow u to tweak movie settings like brightness, etc., but still).

besides, u get primo DVD play for multitasking while watching DVDs, excellent 2d, and certainly acceptable 3d (unless u're hardcore)

just a thought
 
For the most part, Radeon VE + SDRam = LE. It cuts an already pretty slow card in half.
I should know - I'm currently using one. 🙁

It IS a good card for anything other than 3D gaming, don't get me wrong. I'm just hoping for more power without the price.

A GTS-V would be perfect - if one could GET it in Canada. :|
Maybe GeoffS is doing another trip soon... [shrug]
 


<< go ATI 7200 w/ 64MB SDRAM (I assume that means SDR SDRAM?) from canadacomputers for 132. >>


Wouldn't a regular Radeon DDR 32MB for $85 be a better deal? 😉
 
Visiontek Xtasy 6964 Geforce 3 TI 500 BABY!!!! only like $279 at newegg.. thats not that much if you get your dad a couple wared $300 proggies he'll buy it for you.. if your nice ;]
 
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