Help with new video card purchase

[RoboTECH]

Hi. I would like some help in deciding which kind of video card I should get.

I have decided that I should get a GTS, Radeon or 5500.

Can someone please spell out for me exactly what the advantages and disadvantages of each card is and give me a complete spec list for each card ?

Can someone please tell me what the best place to buy each of these cards is?

Do the Radeon and GTS do FSAA?

What is FSAA? Could someone give me a complete description of it including it's advantages and disadvantages? Please include benchmarks as well from each type of system on the planet.

I read that the GTS might not look so good in 2d. Can someone tell me about this?

Is there an advantage to having a T&L GPU? I read that nvidia has this and voodoo doesn't. Can someone give me a complete list of the advantages and disadvantages of T&L? How about a complete list of games that support T&L. Please include benchmarks with T&L enabled and disabled on a system that is comparable to mine.

Or should I just wait and get one of the new cards that are cominng out. What new cards are coming out? When will they be out? Will they be DX8-compliant? What is DX8? How much will the new DX8 cards cost? Can I use a non-DX8 card with DX8? Can I use a DX8 card to play DX7 games?

What happened to the voodoo6-6000? Is it out? I heard it had a lot of processors on it. Does it do HSR?

Is the 5500 fast with HSR?

what is HSR? Can someone give me a complete breakdown of how HSR works? Is it fast?

Thank you for doing all my research for me. I'm not going to list my system specs, nor am I going to tell you what games I play or applications I need the video card for.
I'm also not going to tell you a price range that I'm interested in.

You'll just have to guess.

I need to make my purchase tonite, do if this thread doesn't have 20 answers here within an hour, I'm going to be upset.

Please advise.

 

[snow patrol]

ROFLMAO!

 

[Taz4158]

Hahahahahahahahahaha. So very true.

 

[bluemax]

Were this the truth, I'd say you need more help than you're asking for!
Some people need psychiatric help more than a new video card... I will too if I don't get mine soon!
At least some of us have the ability to glean information from a whole mess of sources and make an educated decision instead of the blind following of any particular company just because "one sucks" and "one r00lZ".

 

[snow patrol]

Hey Robo, whatever you do, don't go with Voodoo. 3dfx sux and NvIdIA iz 1337.

 

[han888]

hm..... get the 8Mb intel i740

 

[WetWilly]

Hi. I would like some help in deciding which kind of video card I should get.

I don't know why everyone else that has posted finds your question funny, but I'll try to do my best

I have decided that I should get a GTS, Radeon or 5500.

Actually they're all the same card with different form factors. The key formula here is: Total # of chips on board = Graphic Quality. Remember to count those tiny thingies that have silver stuff on them when doing the chip count. It's a good idea to take a magnifying glass to the store when you evaluate video cards.

Can someone please spell out for me exactly what the advantages and disadvantages of each card is and give me a complete spec list for each card ?

There are no differences. The only differences perceived are primarily influenced by how the user is affected by marketing information. For example, nVidiots think nVidia cards are better, while 3dfx Zealots think Voodoo cards are better. ATI is still trying to get a following with a cool nickname. The current favorite is Rademorons

Can someone please tell me what the best place to buy each of these cards is?

Wal-Mart

Do the Radeon and GTS do FSAA?

No. No card does FSAA. 3dfx claims to do it, but it's an optical illusion. You can simulate FSAA by smearing Vaseline all over your monitor.

What is FSAA? Could someone give me a complete description of it including it's advantages and disadvantages? Please include benchmarks as well from each type of system on the planet.

FSAA = For Sitting on your Ass All day. This is a hypnotic phenomenon caused by the video card and is related to the application you're running. For example, productivity applications like Quake 3, Unreal Tournament and Counter Strike will cause you to sit on your ass all day. The only disadvantage is reduced blood flow to your legs. You don't need benchmarks because they're irrelevant when you lose the feeling in your legs and your bowels hurt because you've held "it" for 16 hours straight because of something called a "fragfest." A related concept is the "LAN Party," which is like an orgy except there's no good looking people and no sex. Here's an excellent article for reference: Special Olympians 3, Quake All Stars 0

I read that the GTS might not look so good in 2d. Can someone tell me about this?

No. This is a topic of heated discussion between Bill "UltraNerd" Gates and Larry "Unfrozen Caveman" Ellison, and will be resolved next week in a cage match smackdown.

Is there an advantage to having a T&L GPU? I read that nvidia has this and voodoo doesn't. Can someone give me a complete list of the advantages and disadvantages of T&L? How about a complete list of games that support T&L. Please include benchmarks with T&L enabled and disabled on a system that is comparable to mine.

T&L (T!ts & Legs) are not a hardware, but a software issue. All three cards will render them nicely. This isn't the appropriate forum to discuss "games" and "scores" that involve T&L. Please raise those issues in the Off Topic Forum

Or should I just wait and get one of the new cards that are cominng out. What new cards are coming out? When will they be out? Will they be DX8-compliant? What is DX8? How much will the new DX8 cards cost? Can I use a non-DX8 card with DX8? Can I use a DX8 card to play DX7 games?

I'd just wait indefinitely and use your existing onboard video. The new cards are basically the same, only more expensive - roughly the cost of your mortgage payment. DX8 is one better than DX7. The best card for DX7 and DX8 games is something called a "Virge." This card has no compatibility problems with DX7 and DX8.

What happened to the voodoo6-6000? Is it out? I heard it had a lot of processors on it. Does it do HSR?

The Voodoo6 6000 was kidnapped by a secretive group of nVidiots. Rumor has it that, in their language, they "f33rd" it. Yes, it had HSR (HeatSink Retention). It used thermal glue.

Is the 5500 fast with HSR?

Yes. HSR (HeatSink Retention) adds stability and approximately 50 frames per second. Without HSR, the 5500 can render about 10 frames before it melts.

what is HSR? Can someone give me a complete breakdown of how HSR works? Is it fast?

HeatSink Retention works by retaining the heatsink.

Thank you for doing all my research for me. I'm not going to list my system specs, nor am I going to tell you what games I play or applications I need the video card for.
I'm also not going to tell you a price range that I'm interested in.

Good. All those details simply make making a recommendation much more difficult. All you need to know are two things:
1) Onboard Video
2) Virge

I need to make my purchase tonite, do if this thread doesn't have 20 answers here within an hour, I'm going to be upset.

Whoa, calm down there! Wal-Mart doesn't close 'til midnight during the holidays. Mine's open 24 hours.
[Edit]But then again, the Electronics Dept. closes at 10:00pm. You'd better hurry![/edit]

Please advise.

Post any time. Gotta go. There's a customer at the counter.

 

[Deeko]

lol....people thought it was funny because Robo knows all this, and this is the kind of stuff people continually post all the time.

 

[BFG10K]

According to my "expertise" in video cards you should get a Voodoo 1. It's the only card capable of running Quake 3 Max Quality at 2048 x 1920. Boasting a core clock frequency of 50 MHz and having a massive 4 MB of video RAM puts this card at the forefront of 3D application acceleration.

 

[snow patrol]

ROFLMAOPIMP WetWilly Great posting guys



<< You can simulate FSAA by smearing Vaseline all over your monitor >>

hahahah!

 

[RoboTECH]

&quot;You can simulate FSAA by smearing Vaseline all over your monitor&quot;

ROFL!!!!!!!

 

[miniMUNCH]

That's some good sh#t there fellas! I just borrowed some vasoline from my nieghbor and FSAA looks great!

But my monitors smoking a little now so I think I'll clean of with some toluene and concentrated sulfuric acid. After that I'll do a couple lines of blow, rob a bank, and call it a day!!

Does anyone here ever worry that someone will read this and take it seriously?? Sound outrageous? I know people retarded enough to believe you guys?

I faked out the metrology (calibration) mamager at my company really bad one time. He didn't know how to calibrate an RTD. I told him he needed to remove the metal sheath of the sensor, blah, blah, blah...I bascially told how to destroy it beyond all repair. He wrote down every word I said with drawings and diagrams and everthing. He finally realized I was sh@tting him when I, and couple other engineers who were listening, started laughing. I tried not to, but I couldn't help it; it was too funny!! Needless to say, the metrology manager hates me now.

 

[slacker2]

Hi. I would like some help in deciding which kind of video card I should get. I have decided that I should get a GTS, Radeon or 5500.

Get all three. The 5500 comes in a PCI version and the performance hit is negligible, therefore you can put at least two of them into your system at the same time. I would suggest that you put the Radeon into the AGP slot and the 5500 into the PCI slot. Also, if you get a Y-splitter cable for your monitor, you can hook two cards to one monitor at the same time, which will effectively double your framerate, while giving you T&amp;L and 4X FSAA at the same time. Even better, if you get a motherboard with an AGP Pro slot, you'll be able to hot-swap the GTS and the Radeon while your system is on, as long as you keep your case open and have the drivers for both cards installed. Good luck and have fun!

 

[Supergax]

Has everyone forgotten about the 4meg AGP PCChips VGA card with the extremely powerful SiS graphics chipset?

 

[Tung]

ha. wut a bunch of no-life..

 

[RoboTECH]

slacker, excellent advice! Thanks!