GeForce2 Pro -- 2d or 3d?

[Schmekelhoff]

I'm in a pickle
I looking for a vid card for a system I'm building. I love my games, use Photoshop/Dreamweaver for web design, and use After Effects and Lightwave for 2d/3d animation. I'm currently looking at the GeForce Pro for its price/performance value. I have heard that the Pro's 2d performance leaves a little to be desired, but I don't want to sacrifice the 3d gaming power. I guess the question is, will the GeForce's 2d quality be tolerable enough for some serious Photoshop use, while still being able to power my gaming? My price range is around the GeForce2's $142. Any recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[Noriaki]

I'd look at a Radeon 64MB DDR.

Great 2D quality, and powerful enough 3D that you should be satisfied.

Not quite the raw power of a GF2, but should be enough.

 

[Schmekelhoff]

bump...

Anyone else have any opinions?

 

[JackBurton]

Dude, I've got an MSI GeForce 2 Pro which is supposed to be one of the better cards with 2D visuals. Well it ROCKS in games but my old ass Matrox G200 kicks the ever living crap out of it in 2D! If I were to do it again, I'd either get a Radeon 64MB VIVO or if you have the money, a GeForce 3. That Morpheous GF3 card looks bad ass! It is a shame to waste my nice 21" Sony's display with a GeForce 2 Pro crappy 2D. Like I said, I've even considered going to a GeForce 3 for the improved 2D, and of course I'll have even better 3D performance.

 

[LuNoTiCK]

I think the radeon would be the better choice because of the 2d quality for what you do. I dont know how well the geforce 3 does in 2d, but I know it's much more expensive and I'm guessing the radeon is still better than it in 2d.

 

[Rankor]

What resolution will you be playing at?

What resolution will you be working at?

I honestly can stand the 2D performance of my GF2 semi Pro on my KDS AV-7T @ 1024x768. Anything over that resolution on it and my head starts to hurt (or is it my eyes?) from the blurry text.

The card's currently on RMA to replace a dead cooling fan. In the interim, I'm using a plain vanilla Matrox G400 32MB DH OEM card I bought in November of 1999. I can bump up the monitor's max resolution 1280x1024 and not worry about headaches or eyeaches . I (also) have a G450 on my work/productivity rig and the 2D is great @ 1600x1200 on my AV-21TF.

(The G400) is much slower by today's boards, but I love it in CS even if I get 30-40 fps as compared to solid 99 fps with the GF2 semi Pro card I had.

As Noriaki and others have added, the Radeon could be your best ticket. I'd recommend the 64 Meg VIVO version, though.