Best DirectX 8 card under $100

[KGB1]

I'm looking int o buying an upgrade for my 1.3 celeron. Right now I have a Geforce 2 Ti500. I want a DirectX 8.1 card for it. What should I get?

A geforce 4 ti4200?
Radeon 8500?

I just want to play most games out there and my GF2 aint cutting it.

 

[TimeKeeper]

vote for 8500LE. then Mod to 9100.

 

[KIAman]

You cant get a nice 128mb radeon8500le for under 100. Great 2D, Superb 3D. Ti4200 64mb is nice too but I think the radeon is more powerful and has better features.

 

[TimeKeeper]

Originally posted by: KIAman
You cant get a nice 128mb radeon8500le for under 100. Great 2D, Superb 3D. Ti4200 64mb is nice too but I think the radeon is more powerful and has better features.

Really? Last week I got one for $88 shipped.
Although it does NOT come w/ the 3.3ns RAM like my other 64MB LE, but I have no problem clocking it to 280/280 w/its 5ns RAM.

 

[Cabana]

I think he meant "can".

 

[jiffylube1024]

If you can get a Ti4200 for under $100, get it, it's the faster card (it's pretty close, though). Otherwise, get the 8500 (128MB preffered, 64MB acceptable). Both are great cards.

If you do end up getting an 8500, make sure you don't get a hacked up third party LE with low clock speeds (ie 230/230 or 230/190). Try to get at least one clocked at 250/250.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Your Celly 1.3ghz is going to hold back any o fhtese DX8 cards so a CPU upgrade might be wroth saving up for over the coming months. Int he meantime while your CPU is underpowered simply enable 'eye candy' to soak up some of the gfx card power your CPU can't tap. On the Rads I'll mention you want 16tap AF, maybe even try 2xAA if the res is maxed out in the game. On the GF3/4TI you'll want 2xAA & 4xAF. Anyway, on to the cards...

GF3 are decent enough for 3D gaming but compared to all the Radeons and the GF4TI they are let down in image quality, dual display ,TVout and DVD playback. Rad9000PRO, Rad8500LE, Rad8500 or Rad9100 (in rough order of speed form slower to faster, 10-20% between each) are great all round cards, only let down by AA and poorer CPU scaling (they don't get the most out of the faster CPUs). The GF4TI4200 offer great perf and are now pretty cheap, they're faster than the Rads I mentioned previously BUT diffs are only there on faster CPUs, if you want to play with some AA & AF and upgrade to a XP2000+ / P4 2ghz this is a good choice. All these cards are very good so see what prices are like. 128MB is worth the little extra it costs, do check the clock speeds of the 8500 series as they tend to vary a lot (230/166 - 275/275), and 4200 brands to avoid are Evga, Aopen and Gainward.

If you don't have plans to upgrade your CPU simply get whatever is cheapest as the diffs between GF4TI4200, Rad9000PRO (only consider the PRO), Rad8500 (inc LE) and Rad9100 are very small, if non-gaming aspects aren't a worry you may find a bargain GF3 card.