help me pick a couple vid cards

[tokamak]

OK i'm going to be building 2 rigs within the next few weeks but i dont know what to do for vid cards. all the new titanium this and LE that has got me confused as to whats good and not. here's the situations:

situation #1: this will be for my sister's computer. basically all she does is surf the net and write papers. on occasion she will play the sims or something. so i don't need top of the line, but i dont want crap like tnt2 or something. i need something that can get the job done for several months to come, has good 2d, and is low cost. the rest of her system will be a duron 1ghz, ecs k7s5a, and 256mb ddr ram.

situation #2: this one will be for me. i do play games, but, i'm still on a tight budget. need something that can give me a good framerate at a good resolution but i dont want to pay more than $200. I currently have a geforce1 ddr 64mb, so i'm looking for an upgrade over that. the rest of my system will be an athlon xp, an iwill xp333r (probably) and 512mb ddr ram.

thanks in advance

 

[novice]

Go to newegg and check out the Radeon DDR card for your sister's system. Under $50 shipped, yet still provides DDR ram and supposedly better 2D than the Geforce 2's. For yourself, I would suggest the Geforce 3 Ti 200. It runs around $150 or so shipped. The Gainward card comes with 4 ns ram and should be a good overclocker. Also supports all the latest eye candy in Direct X 8.1. I wish I had the $200 budget, I just ordered the Geforce 2 GTS-V for $53 shipped. Best bang for the buck gaming card in the severely budget challenged group.
Chuck

 

[powerMarkymark]

<< Go to newegg and check out the Radeon DDR card for your sister's system. Under $50 shipped, yet still provides DDR ram and supposedly better 2D than the Geforce 2's. For yourself, I would suggest the Geforce 3 Ti 200. It runs around $150 or so shipped. The Gainward card comes with 4 ns ram and should be a good overclocker. Also supports all the latest eye candy in Direct X 8.1. I wish I had the $200 budget, I just ordered the Geforce 2 GTS-V for $53 shipped. Best bang for the buck gaming card in the severely budget challenged group.
Chuck >>



What novice said................


I have a MSI GF3 Ti 200 64 MB AND an ATI Radeon 7000 DDR 64 MB in my main system. They are great cards. Just be sure you get the latest drivers for the ATI cards though, my system always froze on me until I downloaded them.

Good luck.

 

[EricCrunk]

Situation 1- I assume your sister isn't too keen on drivers/driver issues. Last time I checked ATI still had some SERIOUS issues with their drivers. I would pick up a geforce 2 for her, which did indeed trash the radeon in all tests. A geforce 2 gts card is like 30$ now(32 meg) and will run anything she could throw at it.

Situation 2- The release of the Geforce 4 ti4200 is a few weeks away, if you wait until this release, you will notice prices dropping rapidly on the ti200. You could easily pick up one of these cards for a mere $100 or less (hell you can now if you check out the hot deals forum). You could also go with the ti4200 which is 200$ (I would say average 170$ online) which can be overclocked near ti4600 speeds.

 

[jcmkk]

Go with one of the Radeon DDR cards for your sister. Doesn't matter which one (original, 7000 VE, or 7500). Get a 7500 if it is in your budget. For your rig, wait till the GeForce 4 Ti 4200 comes out, or a retail Radeon 8500 right now.

 

[Rand]

System 1: What's the budget?
If your on a very severe budget the SiS315 is pretty decent for the cost. Average 2D, a decent feature set, and adequate performance for very light gaming duties.
If you can afford a bit more then a Radeon 7000/7200 would be a very good option for her.

System 2: Definitely the ATi Radeon8500 if your buying now, or if you want to save a bit of money the GF3 Ti200 is available but it's somewhat slower and not nearly as well rounded of an option.
If you can wait a month- month in a half then the GF4 Ti4200 and Radeon 8700 should be available for slightly under $200.
Neither are what I'd consider a huge boost over the aforementioned cards though, so personally I wouldnt bother waiting.

 

[vedin]

System one. Kyro2, Geforce 2, (Not MX, stay away from them no matter how strapped for cash you are), Radeon of any kind, (except VE), that's about it. The Radeon's driver issues are way overblown. Once it's installed, and works, that should be all you have to do unless you have troubles, which you prolly won't with any of those cards. Dont' let anyone fool you, Geforces have problems too, they're just less frequent. I'm not going to say prices, they're all really close, but as soon as I do, someone's going to quote a lower price from a more reliable dealer.

Your system...prolly wanna go Geforce 3Ti 200..unless you want to wait for the Geforce 4 4200. I'd wait, but that's just me.

 

[tapir]

Definately get yourself a Gigabyte R8500, those things go to speeds of about 310/310 and are faster clock-for-clock than an ATi R8500. One of those will set you back ~$150 at newegg, and at the speeds I mentioned it beats out a Ti 4400 (twice the price!).

For your sister, check out a Radeon 7000 or Geforce 2. Or a Kyro II.

 

[swifty3]

For sis, get the gainward 32mg card for $43 bucks (newegg) . It's a nice card for the money.
U should wait, and get a gainward or leadtek ti4200. definetely worth the money and the wait. pretty big improvement in raw power over ti200.

 

[apologetic]

For your sister's computer you might want to consider getting an nforce chipset motherboard (Asus?) that has a Geforce2 built in. It might be a cheaper solution.

 

[Instagib]

I agree with swifty

 

[Willoughbyva]

I would say go with one of the ati radeons with ddr for your sister. The 2D is really nice. The drivers from ATI have much improved in the past couple months. I have an ATI AIW 7500 and haven't had any problems with it at all.

As for yourself. People like the Nvidia cards for 3D, but the Radeon 8500 is a pretty good performer for the price.

If you want to know more about ATI from regular users try www.rage3d.com they also have news and download links and stuff.

btw: Get a built by ATI instead of one of the powered by ATI cards if you can.

Will

 

[zobskyX]

ok, i've been in both situations so i can relate.

bottom line for both these PCs - bang - for - buck performance without being out of date too soon

1. for sister's PC,
get a ge force 2 gts (or a geforce mx if you are really strapped for cash) - this config should handle almost anything out there. i personally run a gts 32MB DDR and the only game which just begins to tax my PC is MS combat flight sim II (pacific) at 1024+ resolution and 32 bit color. price $50 or less

else, get the cheapest radeon if you might need decent DVD capability $50 - $60 (radeons have hardware DVD decoding, but give up a little in gaming capability, though i doubt she'd notice)


2. for your PC, you could still use a GTS if you are realy strapped for cash,
else, ..check out this article http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q2/020409/index.html (the Ti4200 should be out soon for less than $200). allegedly beats out some GE force III cards

Nvidia make better gaming cards

question to the thread, what about kyro II, no-one seems to talk about them anymore. any issues ????

Vin G.B.

 

[rogue1979]

For a budget card the original Radeon 32MB DDR for about $46 shipped would be a good choice. Or maybe for a little more fire power a Geforce 4 MX 440 for about $85 shipped, it is basically a souped up Geforce Ultra with a few new features. For yourself the Radeon 8500 is a very good buy, but if you could wait a few more weeks the Geforce 4 Ti 4200 64MB will be $179 and kick some serious butt.

 

[sirspotticus]

Hey Tokamak,

I'm also kind of in the same boat. I put my old Radeon LE into my sister's computer awhile ago. It's an amazing card as far I'm concerned. Absolutely kills all GF's and GF2's for a bargain card, especially 2-D wise. You can find it almost anywhere for <$50.

And as for my new card.. I bought a Gainward GF3 Golden Sample and can easily say it is the most dissappointing piece of hardware I have ever owned. It overclocked well, I suppose, but otherwise it was nothing special at all. I will give it some credit though. The 2-D was much better than people give it credit for, although Gainward supposedly has the best among GF's. I still prefer the Radeon for 3-D gaming. Anyways, I bought an 8500 to replace the GF3 and have to say that it was a HUGE improvement. I can't name one thing it doesn't do better. Don't listen to anyone who criticizes ATi's drivers, most of them are either morons or have never used them.(well, not counting the ones who waited forever for win2k drivers) The bottom line is that Nvidia = clownshoes.. but hey, that's just my opinion so you can take it or leave it. Just wanted to let you know what I found with my first GF card. It is a nice little story that reminds me of why I am a fanboy.

p.s. - You also might want to think about waiting until we find out when ATi's next cards come out, which will hopefully be summer. For the games you'll probably want to play(Unreal2, the next Doom, NWN, etc..) I don't think that the ti4400/4600's are going to perform nearly as well. They sound like another case of too much hype with too little improvement.

 

[merlocka]

The bottom line is that Nvidia = clownshoes..

Wow, nVidia's been called many things - but clownshoes? That's a first.

Last time I checked ATI still had some SERIOUS issues with their drivers.

When did you "check" and what issues are you referring to?

A geforce 2 gts card is like 30$ now(32 meg) and will run anything she could throw at it.

Newegg has the Radeon 32 DDR OEM for $39 +$8 s/h
Newegg has the Visiontek GTS-V for $48 + $5 s/h
Lowest GTS on pricewatch is (GTS-V) $48 + s/h, where can you buy one for $30?

(the Ti4200 should be out soon for less than $200). allegedly beats out some GE force III cards

No allegations about it


The best part about advice is that it's free, and worth every penny....

I would pick up a geforce 2 for her, which did indeed trash the radeon in all tests

(The Radeon LE)... absolutely kills all GF's and GF2's for a bargain card

 

[sirspotticus]

Gee, thanks a lot for that recap Merlocka. About the only thing you didn't quote was that I said:


<< hey, that's just my opinion so you can take it or leave it. Just wanted to let you know what I found with my first GF card. >>



That means exactly what it says. Tokamak is asking for opinions and I gave him one. Now if you want me to clarify further I will...
For someone who is going to "surf the net and write papers" you don't need a card that wins out in a majority of lame hypothetical tests and benchmarks. I have played the sims with a Radeon LE on a similar computer and I'm not blind, it gets the job done and looks a hell of a lot better than a Visiontek GTS-V. It seems like so many people on these forums are so busy getting off to the fact that their card scores 300 more 3dmark points than someone else's that they can't make realistic judgements anymore. It's pretty much common knowledge now that the Radeon has better 2-D, and with respectable gaming it fits the bill perfectly for Tokamak's needs. All his sister really needs is something that is easy on the eyes. Read your last post again, the key word there is bargain.

That being said, I don't think Tokamak could go wrong with any of the cards that have been suggested so far. As for the GeForce series though, I find that for most games the Radeon produces sharper, cleaner visuals. I couldn't hold my own in a real technical discussion about video cards, but I have enough knowledge to properly tweak a video card. No matter what I did with my GeForce3, I could not get it to look as good as my Radeon. This even held true for 3-D games like CS and NHL'02. But apparently I have to say it again.. that is just my opinion.

Finally, forgive me that I don't buy into the hype surrounding the Ti4200. Don't forget that we're helping Tokamak find a suitable card for <$200. The Radeon 8500 can be had now and for over $40 less than the Ti4200 which is still a few weeks away. I also don't believe in the way Nvidia works their product life cycle. You want to see a big improvement in product intros? Look at the R200 core --> R300. It warrants a whole lot more change than the GF3-->GF3Ultra-->Ti200/500 scheme that Nvidia came up with. We might as well tag on the 4200/4400/4600 onto the end of that because featurewise it doesn't seem that evolutionary. Congrats to those jokers for finally making a card that will output to a tv and monitor at the same time.

The next worthwhile upgrade I see will be when the NV30 and R300 come out, which shouldn't be all that far away. Now that will be a big improvement upon the 8500, Ti500, AND the Ti4600.

 

[tokamak]

thanks a lot for all your opinions guys - they are all valuable to me. as of right now i'm leaning toward something radeon based for my sister as the consensus seems to be that the 2d is a little better and the gaming is more than adequate for light use. as for myself, it looks like gf3 ti200, gf4 ti4200, and radeon 8500 are all players. i guess what will ultimately decide it for me is what i can find a good deal on in the for sale/trade forum when the time comes . keep in mind that i'm not even planning on starting these systems for at least 2 weeks, and since we all know how fast this industry moves, things may be completely different by then...