GeForce Upgrade? & 2D Quality

[spwango]

Hey all,

I'm currently running a Asus KT-133A with a 1Ghz Tbird and 256MB RAM--I have a Hurc GeForce2MX (the retail one)--I mainly use it for racing sims. At work, I have a 730PIII with a Matrox G400 dual mon. I play Q3 on it a few times a week.

Since my card at home seems to be a bit underpowered for my machine, I'm thinking about upgrading it. Likewise, I have found the G400 to be pretty unacceptable, even for playing Q3 a few times per week. Right now, I'm leaning towards the GeForce2 Pros because they seem to have the right price point (nvidia can bite me--no way I'm buying a $350 video board)--Is this the right choice? If so, what brands are acceptable? Is it OK to go with the off brands such as MSI or PowerColor?

Secondly, I'm a bit worried that the 2D on the MX card will be unacceptable for my work machine. I've heard many people complain about the GeForce's 2D, but I've never really heard anyone quantify what the problem is--In terms of 2D video, I'm certainly not a power user. I pretty much run the default settings and do brightness adjustment with the monitor. Dual mon is not a requirement, either...

Thanks for the information.

spwango

 

[AppleTalking]

MSI's GeForce2 Pro card is a good card, hardly "off-brand." Don't get the Leadtek GF2 Pro, as it only has 5.5ns memory and therefore behaves more like a GTS than a Pro. You want 5ns memory (like the MSI card has) to get true Pro performance out of your card.

You should also consider the Kyro II. It's a little bit cheaper and offers a little bit less 3D performance, but IMO the 2D and DVD quality beat out any nVidia card I've ever seen. There is a great debate over the value of the Kyro II (search this forum to find it), but I've owned one for a couple of weeks now and it works perfectly.

Good luck!
Nick

 

[Boogak]

I have the MSI 831 GeForce2 Pro card and it works great. I pretty much bought it for the same reason you listed, I think it's at the sweet spot right now in terms of price/performance in the 3d card arena.

What resolution do you run your monitor in at work? I run the MSI card at 1280x960@32bpp@100hz on my 21" Trinitron and to me, it seem to me that text tends to get blurry after a while and my eyes start to get fatigued. But the consensus seems to be as long as you run at 1024x768 and below, you won't have any problems.

 

[spwango]

Thanks for the replies,

I run a very nice 21-inch (~$1000)at work...I run it at 1152X864--will this be a problem with my MX card? I'll be moving it from my rocket at home to my work machine? As far as the pro, that will go on my machine at home with a 17" el-cheapo monitor, so I'm not as concerned about the 2-D (or 3-D) image quality as I am framerate...I might upgrade to at least a 19" sometime in the new future (a new desk is required first)

thanks,

spwango

 

[nj]

I also have the MSI 831 Pro, and I have a word of warning. They seem to be a crap shoot on what type of memory you are getting. Newegg.com lists the 831 as 5.5ns ram, which is definetely not a PRO. I would ask any vendor BEFORE buying to make sure it's a true PRO. You might end up with slower ram if you don't.

If you don't mind a refurb, the 815PRO which is a 5ns card, is listed as 125.00 + 5.00 ship at newegg. Damn good deal, if you don't mind the very short warranty and the fact it's been fixed or repackaged.

It's out of stock, so you'll have to watch it.

Refurb 815pro (second from the bottom)

The 2d quality on either the 831 or 815pro (or any of the GTS family) is average. It was good on my g400, it was above average on my Elsa SDR, and it's simply average with this card. If you have a 21" $1000+ monitor and running at 1600x1200, then damn rights you should be worried about how good the 2d is. Me? I have a run of the mill 19" at 1024x768 and It looks great to me.

But hey, I use to run a Verite 2100 with dual Voodoo II's AND a Creative Drx2 kit (2 passthrough cables), now that was some crap 2d! Everything after that is heaven.


EDIT: About the MX card. Maybe an Elsa MX would work for you. I found my Elsa GF1 SDR (which is about the same quality 2d and 3d) to give me decent frames in almost everything + look ok in 1152x864 mode. If your really worried, I would consider the Radeon series.

 

[Chusher3]

wierd, this is the first time ive ever heard of people complaining about the 2d quality of the Geforce2 cards, I use a Geforce2 MX twinview on two 15" monitors at 1024x768 and it does a pretty good job on my crappy monitors, when i get a new monitor I'll really be able to tell, but I know that my 2d performance beats my dads Voodoo3

 

[PharmaPhil]

I actually had a GeForce2 mx(generic) to test it on my Asus P3Bf-450 PIII rig. I switched back to my TNT2 Ultra and decided to wait for the GEF3 before changing. The 2d quality was that much better on my TnT2. One of my friends owns an ASUS GEF2 mx and he also has pretty bad 2d quality (although he has a crappy screen also...)