ATI Radeon 32MB PCI

[20_MuleTeam_Borax]

My local Walmart has ATI Radeon 32MB PCI on sale for $75 (i think, it's 70 something). This is a good deal, right? How much slower will this card be than its AGP counterpart? Should I go for it?

 

[Dark4ng3l]

it's probably a ve or an sdr radeon witc are quite a bit slower than the 32ddr retail card.

 

[SCUBA]

if i were u i would bought it

 

[20_MuleTeam_Borax]

Assuming it is not the ve or sdr versions, how would it compare to the agp version of the card?

 

[AU Tiger]

The PCI version is SDR and comes with a Video Out.

EDIT: The box should state what type of memory is one the card. I do believe there will be a decrease in performance due to PCI interface not being as fast as AGP, but it definitely is better than buying a new motherboard if you don't have an AGP slot.

 

[BlvdKing]

ATI Radeon PCI is an SDR card w/ TV Out. Is dog slow too. I have one in my Linux machine because it is excellent 2D but not so great 3D (the Radeon Linux drivers are immature). It's running on a TBird 700/256 mb RAM and I remember getting about 50 fps in Quake 3 Arena at 800*600 32 bit color/textures.

EDIT: the above bench was done in WINME.

 

[yellowperil]

I had the card too, but I was unable to get it to work with the i810. RMA didn't work either, ATi says they're working on the problem.

From reading user reviews it appears that the SDR PCI is beaten at 3D by the V3 3K PCI. It was rated pretty highly as a business card (good 2D), and it has DVD hardware assist and S-Video out. Hot Deals forum had something about getting the SDR PCI and an MP3 player for cheap at Office Depot (around that price you mentioned). I would check that thread out.

 

[pay]

Just get the LE, its cheaper, and can be flashed to retail 32mb ddr

 

[BlvdKing]

I'm sure he has a reason for purchasing a PCI card. The card is slow in 3D, but it does make up for this shortcoming with other features. Then again, Quake 3 Arena is playable at lower resolutions.....I wouldn't try Tribes 2 though. IMO, it is the 'most recommendable' PCI 3D video card because the Voodoo 5 PCI is now unsupported.