Card recommedations?

[MidiGuy]

What is the best video card I can get for $200 or under? While I'm not heavily into gaming, when I do play a game, I like it to be very smooth and to look very good. My interests include Descent 3 (and other Descent games) and the Myst games.

EDIT: By the way, I don't intend to overclock, at least to start.

Thanks!

-Midi

 

[sash1]

If you're not too much into gaming, then get the Radeon 64Mb DDR. It is around $150 and it has excellent/unmatched 2D and good 3D quality as well. It should satisfy your needs in terms of gaming (and it will OC well if you decide to). If you don't care much for FSAA (as Radeons take a big performance hit using it), then this'll be fine. Besides, the Radeon can do anisotropic with a minor performance hit.

 

[jobberd]

for under $200, you still have a broad selection to choose from, excluding Geforce3 and Geforce2 Ultra. Unfortunately I don't know much about the games you mentioned, only that descent 3 is a year old at least, and the Myst games are just a VERY large collection of pictures. If im correct, a Radeon LE will suit you nicely, and put more then $100 in your pocket. However, double check with the games, because im not 100% sure on that.

 

[MidiGuy]

Thanks for the input guys! Here are a few more things to consider...

For one thing, I don't know/remember what FSAA or anisotropic are. For another thing, after thinking a bit more, I'm not sure I really want to sacrifice any graphics performance at all (including for more recent, demanding games) as long as I stay under $200. However, if that means performance or appearance in things like e-mail and Internet surfing are going to suffer noticably, I might not like that either.

I'm considering the MSI StarForce 831. What do you think of that card?

Thanks!

-Midi

 

[MidiGuy]

Oops! Duplicate post. Wish I could delete it instead of just editing it away... :-D