I'm torn between two cards. Which one should I buy?

[olemissrebel]

I know you guys answer this same question at least twice everyday but I'm going to buy a video card this morning and once I do it, I want it to be a solid card that will last me for a year or two. Now, the main reason I want to upgrade my old Voodoo 3 2000 is because of the TV-Out option. I have read plenty of messages on many boards that state that ATI has some of the best TV-Out on the market while NVidia is quite lacking. I want a card with video out because I want to be able to emulate some arcade games of mine on my television that require some hefty video power (yes, the resolution is limited to 800x640 on TVs, I know) but I want to make sure it works first. I have absolutely fallen in love with the GeForce 3 Ti200 card because of it's raw power but I don't want it if the S-video is just sitting back there not working. Is the quality poorer, does it just not work because of driver conflicts, or does it really work? I mean, that would be the ultimate card to have because it combines power with s-video(if it works) and some nice cables. If only I knew that the video out would work...

Basically, I have 200 bucks (give or take) to spend on a video card and I want to make sure I make a purchase that will last me for a while because my system (AMD 1700XP, 256mb RAM, Soundblaster Live) is of good quality and I need to finish it off with a good video card. Are the scores of an ATI Radeon 7500 (excellent TV-Out and cable bundle) comparable to those of the GeForce3 Ti200?

So, here are my questions again....(Radeon 7500 or GeForce 3 Ti200)
1. What's the story on the S-Video Out with the GeForce cards? Does it work or not?
2. Does GeForce 3 Ti200 come with S-video to RCA cable like the Radeon cards do?
3. If you were going with GF3, would you pick VisionTek or PNY?
4. Which card would YOU buy and why?

Thanks a lot for your help and I'd be very appreciative of your responses. I'm about to spend around 200 bucks on a video card and I want to make sure that I make the best purchase for my needs that won't give me a lot of problems.

 

[Darius]

Radeon 8500 OEM. You get better than GeForce3 Ti200 performance with better 2D quality. Overclocked, you can get closer to GeForce3 Ti500 performance. Cheaper than $200 right now.

 

[cool]

<<
So, here are my questions again....(Radeon 7500 or GeForce 3 Ti200)
1. What's the story on the S-Video Out with the GeForce cards? Does it work or not?
2. Does GeForce 3 Ti200 come with S-video to RCA cable like the Radeon cards do?
3. If you were going with GF3, would you pick VisionTek or PNY?
4. Which card would YOU buy and why?
>>



1. I don't know
2. I don't know
3. Visiontek
4. GeForce all the way...
5. I know my answers weren't much helpful but better than nothing.

 

[rogue1979]

I think the question should be Geforce3 Ti 200 or Radeon 8500 OEM. The Radeon 7500 got trashed in the last review by a Geforce2 Ti. One more note, in this round of benchtesting the Radeon crashed 3 times, the Geforce none. I know this will cause alot of flaming, but even though the Radeon drivers have improved drastically, they are still not as solid as the latest Detonators.

 

[Innoka]

Your motives do not make a video card anywhere near as expensive as $200 necessary.
"I want a card with video out because I want to be able to emulate some arcade games of mine on my television that require some hefty video power"
Unless you regard yourself as a genius who has written a unique PS2 emulator you will find emulators use the CPU ineffeciently compared to the original machine spec, but don't strain the videocard. And not at low resolution especially. An MX can handle that.
You don't need to spend $200 to get a card with TVout. You could buy a Radeon VE for a third of that, easy.
"I want to make sure I make a purchase that will last me for a while because my system (AMD 1700XP, 256mb RAM, Soundblaster Live) is of good quality and I need to finish it off with a good video card"
Forget about buying computer hardware to last. Whatever you buy, in a year you'll find something twice as fast probably cheaper.