Help choosing video card

[aaaaaaaaaa]

Here is the story, i bought a annihilator 2 32mb (gf2 gts) card (new) and i am not satisfied with it, i only get 30 or so fps in CS. i got that with my old tnt2 16mb card. Maybe i need to configure it differently or something i dont know, but i am thinking of selling it, and buying a cheap card for about $100 or so, until i get a gf3 in about 3 months..

My system is
Athlon tbird 1 gig
gigabyte mobo w/ 128 pc1600 (ddr ram)

The cards i have considered are
Kyro II
Radeon (LE or VE)
or should i try a different brand of gf2 32mb gts

I herd the kyro did good on some games but crappy on others (i.e. UT and CS)
my friend has a Radeon VE and it is pretty good for cs, he gets about 70fps and sometimes 90, so what would be the best card for me right now, to hold me over till i get a gf3 or whatever is the best out in 3 months?

thx for your help

 

[Bestill]

If it's a toss up between the KyroII and the Radeon, save the money and go with the Radeon. If you plan on buying the Geforce3 in the near future, then no need to shell out the $120 for the Kyro II when the Radeon LE can be had for $77 from Newegg.com. It's a great graphics board and you won't find a better deal. Unless you have your heart set on dual display, go with the LE over the VE. The VE isn't a gaming board; whereas with a little tweaking, the LE is the same as a Radeon 32MB DDR.

 

[BlackWob]

Get the Radeon LE and look at Anand's article on overclocking it and enabling Z-Buffer to make it perform exactly the same as the Radeon 32MB DDR.

 

[EdipisReks]

i would try to fix your current card first. even though your old card (the tnt2) was nVidia, it is a good idea to get rid of anything on your system pertaining to it. i would set your computer to 640x480 16 bit on default adaptor, get rid of anything nvidia (do a search, and check the registry), then install the newest det3 drivers. that may very well fix your problem. you have a good card, and there is no reason to go through the trouble of selling it and getting an radeon LE (that would be my choice out of the ones you listed )when you have to do the bios flash, etc, unless you absolutely can't get your GTS to work properly.

[edit] by the way, the kyro II is a GREAT UT card, nearly as good as a v5 is in glide. i haven't used one in CS, though.

just my 2 cents.
--jacob

 

[DoubleL]

Have you thought about a Voodoo 5500, You can find them for under $100, I run the 5500 in my main computer, Asus A7V133 1.33 and run a Asus 8200 in my back up A7V 1.0, That is what I think of the 5500, I even got another 5500 to put back

 

[BFG10K]

i only get 30 or so fps in CS. i got that with my old tnt2 16mb card

It sounds like it's a configuration error. The GTS absolutely smokes the TNT2.

But since you said you're not really interested in fixing the problem and want something cheap to tide you over to the GF3, you should get a Radeon LE. Or better yet, keep your TNT2 and put the money you save toward a GF3.

If you change your mind about fixing the problem, the GeForce FAQ will certainly help you to achieve this.