comparison between IGP nforce2 board vs nforce2 + "decent" video card

[techiecool]

to preface this conversation, i am not an avid or huge gamer, but do like to play games occasionally. i was trying to decide between getting a graphics card (something decent and under $50-60) or get an IGP. either way i play to get a nforce2 mobo w/ amd 1700. i was thinking that one advantage of the graphics card would be that i could reuse it, but would i really want to in 2 years time. thanks.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Getting an nforce2 SPP board with an actual GF4 MX 440 would give you a little bit better performance but not too much higher cost (depending on the motherboard choice). I guess it would depend on what games you play and how important the speed they run at is to you.

Depending on what video card you get, you very well may use the card in 2 years on a system you build for someone with low-end needs, or as your own toy system. My roommate in the past couple of years has built systems based on TNT2, Voodoo Banshee and even a Matrox Millennium.

 

[mechBgon]

Here's the start of several pages of benchmarks that may help you get a feel for the comparison: AnandTech's nForce2 Performance Preview