Geforce III or Kyro II + 256MB DDR Ram + Hercules Game Theater XP

[dfloyd]

Tough choice here. Have almost decided to go with the G3 as its definatly the best card for any games that come out in the future but just read that the Kyro III is supposed to come out in October.

So the problem is, do I buy Kyro II now and all the fancy stuff, then upgrade to something later, either K3 or G3 when price drops.

Or go ahead and get a G3 now and hope I made a good choice. The only main concern I have is the Aquanox benchmarks I have seen. Every card runs them slow, but even the G3 runs them slow. I want a card where I can run all games at a minimum of 1024 x 768 x 32 high quality. With current implementation of Aquanox this does not look possible even with the G3 (Just using this as a representation of games coming out in the future, cause if I pay that much for a video card it had better hold up well for at least a year). But it does seem the Kyro II would do that on all current games I play.

I would eventually add the ram and the Game Theater XP to my system if I bought the G3. Just dont have the cash to do it all up front right now.

 

[ThExorcist]

I have been thinking that if you needed a video card now a kyro II would be best. Here are some reasons:

1. kyro II gives best bang for the buck right now. Prices range from $108-$159 depending on where you purchase it. With future drivers this will just get better.
2. You can now say kyro II gives at the minimum Geforce 2 GTS performance and can surpass Geforce Ultra in an unspecified amount of games.
3. If you purchase a Geforce 3 you will have the card to beat temporarily, but will have to pay for it anywhere from $320-$450 depending on who you buy from.
4. kyro III is to be released October-November and Imagination Technologies have stated that they want to bring down the price for performance on video cards meaning that it may be safe to say the kyro III may cost anywhere from $200-$250.
5. Early assumptions from many sites and reviews state kyro III will be the card to beat and that Nvidia's next card might not be enough.
6. If you bought a kyro II for $108-$159 now and decide to update to kyro III assuming costs of $200-$250 the most you would pay for both cards originally would be $308-$409. Compare that to cost of Geforce 3 today and you may pay less for kyro II today and an upgrade to kyro III later.
7. If you do buy Geforce 3 today which is fine and decide to update later to kyro III since it is very possible that Nvidia's next card may not be capable of competing either then you are looking at spending $520-$700 for Geforce 3 today and kyro III later.
8. Last but not least is support. I have to say that so far PowerVR and Hercules have been doing a great job releasing drivers. Actually I don't think I can remember one week that has gone by which a new driver hadn't been posted. To tell you the truth the only other company I know that releases drivers more frequently if not equal to this is... yep Nvidia.

So depending on how you like to spend your money, which only you can decide, here is some stuff to think about...

This just in...
http://www.aceshardware.com/#N50000289

This just keeps getting better and better!!!