Entry Level Video Card

[Marwynn]

Hi all, my first post here but I've always found this place to be a good resource.

I just need some tips on which card to get as an entry-level video card. Nothing fancy, maybe DX9 support if possible, just something to replace my aged Matrox G400.

Thanks!

 

[Peter]

If you want DX9 but nothing fancy, then your minimum would be a Radeon 9600. The non-pro flavors usually are nicely fanless, and dual head capable with CRT, TV and DVI-I connections.

 

[Corporate Thug]

ti4200 or 9600 pro (the former isnt dx9 compliant)

 

[modedepe]

Without knowing the dollar amount you're willing to spend it's hard to recommend one, but a ti4200 would probably be a good bet.

 

[vss1980]

If you want really cheap but decent entry level, go for an ATI Radeon 9000 / 9200 (non-pro). They are very cheap but will give you a nice speed boost and more importantly a feature boost compared to the Matrox.
If you wanna aim a little higher, go with the GF4 for more speed than the R9000 or for better features the Radeon 9600 which has the DX9 support. If you can stretch the finances a bit get the 9600 Pro.
I suppose the nvidia FX 5600 equivalents are fine but it depends really on what you can get cheaper or what your looking for from the card.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: vss1980
If you want really cheap but decent entry level, go for an ATI Radeon 9000 / 9200 (non-pro). They are very cheap but will give you a nice speed boost and more importantly a feature boost compared to the Matrox.
If you wanna aim a little higher, go with the GF4 for more speed than the R9000 or for better features the Radeon 9600 which has the DX9 support. If you can stretch the finances a bit get the 9600 Pro.
I suppose the nvidia FX 5600 equivalents are fine but it depends really on what you can get cheaper or what your looking for from the card.

We would really need to know what kind of system you are going to put this card in and what you're going to use it for. 3d Gaming? General Office applications? Internet?

If you are posting here the words "Entry Level Video Card" shouldn't be part of your vocabulary...

 

[Marwynn]

Well the problem is, always, money.

I can't upgrade my entire system just yet, and I'm thinking of buying a new one this christmas sans video card. Current is a P3 600, 256 mb ram, 20 gig HD.

I plan to spend around 125-150 Canadian bucks so that's what? 20 american? Around a 100 bucks is fine. There's no way I'm gonna be able to get high end cards any time soon, so something that'll serve as faithfully as the G400 has is what I'm looking for.

There's a lot of Sapphire cards here, that brand any good support wise?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Marwynn
Well the problem is, always, money.

I can't upgrade my entire system just yet, and I'm thinking of buying a new one this christmas sans video card. Current is a P3 600, 256 mb ram, 20 gig HD.

I plan to spend around 125-150 Canadian bucks so that's what? 20 american? Around a 100 bucks is fine. There's no way I'm gonna be able to get high end cards any time soon, so something that'll serve as faithfully as the G400 has is what I'm looking for.

There's a lot of Sapphire cards here, that brand any good support wise?

I've never used support of any kind from any video card manufacturer. Oh wait, I did e-mail Visiontek about my last video card regarding DX9 and the lack of support for that version of DirectX. They did respond within 24 hours but not with the answer I was hoping for.

If it's broke when you get it...return it to where you bought it from. If it works, it will probably never fail you unless you do something stupid like try to crank it up way faster than it was spec'd at to begin with in which case you voided the warranty anyway or unless you try to tear the ram heatsinks off and end up tearing a memory chip off in the process-Hmm, that sounds familiar. If you have trouble getting it to play nicely with the rest of your hardware most likely some kind folk here will be able to help you out with your problem. If not, then you may have to consider buying a different video card. I think I covered all the possibilities.

BTW-You probably won't notice a huge increase in performance with your current system. You will need to upgrade your video card and the rest of your system and then you will notice a HUGE increase in performance.

 

[yhelothar]

100-120 CAD is no where close to $20 USD.... more like $70-85 USD...

and yes for that price you can get a geforce4ti4200...
it will completely destroy 9000np/9200, I mean like 2-3x faster if not more.