Bang for my buck in a new video card

[habbcake]

I'm looking for a pair of new video cards for two systems I am putting together. Talking with a buddy about it, he suggested I go for a geforce 3 TI card and I will get more for my money...so far I've been looking close at the ASUS V8200 T2 Deluxe 64M card on newegg for 89.99, but it is out of stock so I'm delayed in ordering it. Also looked at the Gainward GF3TI200 TI450-128MB card for $105 on newegg, which I understand will overclock very well.

I was just hunting for a little more input (since I have to be patient with the ASUS card) to see if anyone could suggest a better option.

I'm not looking for a hard core gaming setup... but it will be used for gaming, so I want something that can handle it. I'm new at building my own, so overclocking isn't high on my priorities unless the OC-ability of a card is foolish to pass up.

System:
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard
AMD athlon XP 2100
256 Crucial RAM X 2




Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[JSSheridan]

Welcome to the forums. From what I've seen, ATI's Radeon 8500 core performs a bit better than the GF3 and is a bit cheaper, so I'd say those are the best budget cards right now. If you can find an 8500 or 9100, same core but different model #, clocked at 250/250, then it will be a good buy.

For a bit more money, I would recommend the GF4 TI4200. I consider this to be the best buy on the market for an low-mid level card right now, and the best overall value. The ATI 9500Pro would be the best card in the high-mid level price range, and the ATI 9700Pro is the fastest card available. Good luck. Peace.

 

[nick1985]

for 110 at newegg you can get a ti-4200

 

[oldjerome]

CompUsa was selling g4-4200s for 99 bucks after rebate.I bought one. Box said 64meg but card was 128meg.Pretty good deal considering the source.Oh yeah, its a pny brand.

 

[Duvie]

GF3 cards are direct x 7.0 only...I have a gf4 mx card that can do much more then most gf3 cards and overclocks to enhanced default of 300/600...scores 8000's in my rig in 3dmark2k1se....DVI out, CRT out, Tv-out, VIVO and a host of software (windvd, winproducer, winencoder)....88.00 bucks shipped...only used a week....

I may be partial but that is bang for the buck...I can handle games, plus do video capturing, editing, encoding, multiple monitor support, and TV-out. (great for watching those Divx movies on the big sceen!!!)

 

[JSSheridan]

Originally posted by: Duvie
GF3 cards are direct x 7.0 only...I have a gf4 mx card that can do much more then most gf3 cards and overclocks to enhanced default of 300/600...scores 8000's in my rig in 3dmark2k1se....DVI out, CRT out, Tv-out, VIVO and a host of software (windvd, winproducer, winencoder)....88.00 bucks shipped...only used a week....

I may be partial but that is bang for the buck...I can handle games, plus do video capturing, editing, encoding, multiple monitor support, and TV-out. (great for watching those Divx movies on the big sceen!!!)

If I remember correctly, the GF3 is a DX 8 card. The model # for a GF3 was the NV20, while a GF4 MX was a NV18 I believe. Peace.

 

[tapir]

no, GF3 is DX8.1. GF4mx series is dx7 only. GF2 is dx7 only. GF3 and GF4 ti are both dx8.1 parts.

 

[fluxquantum]

Originally posted by: Duvie
GF3 cards are direct x 7.0 only...I have a gf4 mx card that can do much more then most gf3 cards and overclocks to enhanced default of 300/600...scores 8000's in my rig in 3dmark2k1se....DVI out, CRT out, Tv-out, VIVO and a host of software (windvd, winproducer, winencoder)....88.00 bucks shipped...only used a week....

I may be partial but that is bang for the buck...I can handle games, plus do video capturing, editing, encoding, multiple monitor support, and TV-out. (great for watching those Divx movies on the big sceen!!!)

i will have to disagree. i own a gainward geforce 3 128MB and it runs through 3DMARK 2001SE, which requires directX 8, like a champ.

 

[habbcake]

Thanks for all the feedback

Now for some of my stupid questions.

I have a motherboard that supports AGP 8X...would it be foolish get a card that only does 4X?

Radeon 8500 8500LE and 9100...Ive seen suggestions that the 8500 is better than the LE and 9100...is that correct?

I've had trouble finding the clocking on some cards that I have looked at, or sometimes they only stated the core clocking...is there a good way to find out the clocking on a particualr card if it isn't stated in the detail about the card?

I'm leaning more towards cards in the $80ish price range, but would be willing to go up to $110 for a too-good-to-pass-up-for-that-price deal. I've found a lot of cards in that price area between radeon and the geforce 3's I started with, or even some low end geforce 4's...but there are almost too many for my green experience with the video card market. If anyone would be so kind, and has a deal they know of, please slap me in the face with a link for it with the idea of "Here is what a good deal for a good card in that price range would be. Use this to compare all other deals to." I've looked at a ton of them, and can't figure out what features/speeds would justify differences in price.

Thanks again, for all the help...I've been reading this board religiously since I was introduced to it.

 

[Richdog]

GF3 cards are definately DX*, I've got one. Get a Ti4200 they're good value.

 

[Boogak]

Originally posted by: Duvie
GF3 cards are direct x 7.0 only...I have a gf4 mx card that can do much more then most gf3 cards and overclocks to enhanced default of 300/600...scores 8000's in my rig in 3dmark2k1se....DVI out, CRT out, Tv-out, VIVO and a host of software (windvd, winproducer, winencoder)....88.00 bucks shipped...only used a week....

I may be partial but that is bang for the buck...I can handle games, plus do video capturing, editing, encoding, multiple monitor support, and TV-out. (great for watching those Divx movies on the big sceen!!!)

As others have mentioned, the GeForce3 is a DirectX 8 card. Your GeForce4 MX is a DirectX 7 card. The GeForce4 Ti series are DirectX 8 cards as well.

Back to the original question, the Radeon 8500 series would probably be your best bang for buck card under $100. The 8500LE is a lower clocked version of the 8500, and the 9100 is a rebadged 8500LE with some extra features (like Fullstream which makes streaming video look a bit better). The really bad part about ordering a 8500LE is there are alot of different cards floating around with varying GPU and memory speeds, all of which still qualify as a 8500LE. They can range from 230/230 to 250/275. I wouldn't worry too much about using a 4x on a 8x AGP mobo, there will be little to no difference in performance.

 

[habbcake]

As others have mentioned, the GeForce3 is a DirectX 8 card. Your GeForce4 MX is a DirectX 7 card. The GeForce4 Ti series are DirectX 8 cards as well.

OK...to magnify my greenness...is AGP 8X the same thing as DirectX 8? And then AGP 4X supports DirectX 7?

 

[Budmantom]

AGP 4X and AGP 8X it doesn't matter but you can't go wrong with the $110 GF4 Ti4200 from newegg, you won't regret it.

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: habbcake

As others have mentioned, the GeForce3 is a DirectX 8 card. Your GeForce4 MX is a DirectX 7 card. The GeForce4 Ti series are DirectX 8 cards as well.

OK...to magnify my greenness...is AGP 8X the same thing as DirectX 8? And then AGP 4X supports DirectX 7?

AGP 4x and 8X have to do with the bandwidth of you agp slot and directX7/8 has to do with programing. So no and yes to the questions above.