Can I get a good video card for around $200

[TheDennis]

I am looking into getting a new video card. I only wanna spend around $200. I was going to get a Voodoo5 but now since they are bought out I don't know if should do that. I do want an AGP card. I would loke to get 64mb but I know that will probably be pushing it for just $200. Does anybody have any suggestions?

 

[Noriaki]

Just FYI A Voodoo5 isn't really 64MB, it has 64MB of Physical memory, but each chip only gets 32MB and it needs to duplicate textures in each half. The way it's configured it two banks of 32MB 166Mhz memory it's more like 32MB of 333Mhz than it is 64MB of 166Mhz (or 32MB DDR).
This isn't entirely accurate...but the Voodoo5 is more like other 32MB cards when it comes to the amount of texture storage available...a GeForce2 64MB has quite a bit more texture storage than a Voodoo5-5500. From what I've been told and read in Anand's reviews 64MB isn't really worth it over 32MB for a Video card anyways.


Anyways as for your question I'm looking at an Asus V7700 GeForce2 GTS 32MB for $319 canadian at a little local shop. That's around $200US and canadian prices are usually a bit higher than the states. So you should be able to do a GF2 GTS 32MB for $200 or even less maybe.

 

[TheDennis]

Thanks Noriaki. That's a good bit of information that I wasn't aware of.

 

[JimMc]

Radeon 32 MB DDR is a great all around card, some potential issues under W2K which is just driver related. A GeForce 2 if you're a hardcore gamer and just want max FPS.

In the long run, the Radeon will be a better choice if you believe ATI will come out with a major driver improvement in the near future. It is the most DX8 compliant card on the market now and I think we'll see the next driver release soon and it will be an improvement.

 

[Noriaki]

<< Radeon 32 MB DDR is a great all around card >>

That's true, I had a Radeon 64MB Vivo and tried to use it in Win2000Pro...what a mess that was...but that was a few driver revisions ago so you might be safer now.
That kind of turned me off Radeon, but I was a fairly early adopter, and you usually get hit for early adoption...look at the AMD750 when it first came out hehehehe.
But the Radeon has an excellent feature set, far better 2D and good 3D quality (if not the 3D speed). I have a DVD Decoder card so I don't really care about the DVD features of the Radeon but those are a big plus if you don't have a DVD decoder card.

 

[Daniel]

Head over to the FS forum, I think you will find things there are way cheaper than retail for a video card.

 

[oldfart]

If you shop at the FS/Trade forum, you can get 64 meg Radeon or GF2 cards at bargain prices. PM a guy named Hawk for the retail Radeon and DecoY for the GF2. The 32 meg versions of both can be had for under $150. As far as which one is better, that is a well discussed topic here.

Edit: There is also a guy named addragyn selling 64 meg engineering sample Radeon cards (no VIVO) on the FS/T for $155. Quite a bargain.