Best Video Card for P3?

[Hankysmoo]

I have a p3 700 overclocked to 980 but want to upgrade my geforce 2 gts. Which video card should I get for this comp? I heard that my processor wouldnt be able to fully benefit from the Geforce 4 so which is the best bang for the buck video card for my computer? Thanks

 

[vss1980]

To say it will not fully benefit from a Geforce 4 compared to say a Geforce 3 is not strictly true. Its just that the cards speed will bog down and be limited by the CPU a fair bit before the card really runs out of enough power to be able to cope.

Anyway, at the moment, in terms of value a Geforce3 Ti200 can be picked up now for a fairly nice price. Also, cards in the same sort of performance and price area are the Radeon 8500LE, Radeon 9000, and possibly you could even consider a Xabre 400 I suppose.

 

[TourGuide]

GeForce 3 Ti500s are listing right now on Pricewatch for $100, and they'll kick the pixels around a bit better than the Ti200s. It probably depends on how much you want to spend.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Yeah you won't get much extra perf out of a GF4TI unless you upgrade the CPU (and therefore mobo and pref RAM too). You'd be well advised to get a GF3 or Rad8500, ideally a 128MB version of either. Model numbers are TI200 and TI500 for GF3, the TI200 o/c's to very near TI500 speeds, both offer excellent AA and Aniso perf. The Rad8500LE is simply a slightly slower (10%ish) version of Rad8500 but again expect to make this up with o/c. Rad8500 has the following over GF3 cards; generally slightly faster 3D, much better image quality, better TVout, dual display and hw DVD playback. Rad9000 is a cut down cheaper to produce Rad8500, the 9000PRO is about 20% faster than Rad9000 but even the PRO usually lags behind the Rad8500LE. 128MB is already proving important in some current games but will certainly be necessary to get the best out of the new games, so a GF3TI200-128MB would be preferable to a GF3TI500-64MB and so on.

So you could get one of the GF3 if you really want great AA and Aniso or one of the Rad8500 if you don't mind compromising these features for the superior image quality, TVout, dual display and hw DVD playback. You could go for a GF4TI4200 (again pref 128MB) and this avoids having to make a compromise as they have great 3D perf, AA, Aniso, image quality, better TVout (than GF3) and dual display so you're only really missing out on hw DVD playback. However you won't get a huge amount out of GF4TI above GF3/Rad8500 unless you are planning to upgrade your CPU in the near future.

A final note is to note the manu of any given gfx card. For GF3 cards Leadtek and Gainward are known to offer the best image quality but generally there is little diff between other manus. For Rad8500 cards do double check features and clock speeds as these vary a fair bit depending upon the particular manu AND whether the card is oem or retail. For GF4TI cards manu matters very little so you are best to judge on price and bundle. HTH!