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Inexpensive AGP card w/ good 2D and Full-Screen DVD?

A

adams

Golden Member
I was looking at getting the Matrox G400, but I'm looking to save some cash.

Are there any decent cards in the $50-$75 range. I don't need good 3D, as I don't do much with games. I do want good 2D and I want to be able to watch DVD movies.

Thanks,

Adam
 
2D is not much different with most cards except in ultra high resolutions. For the best DVD look at ATI cards. The Rage128 series is the last generation and in your price range. Ditto with S3's Savage4 which is second best at DVD decoding but still good quality and can be cheaper. The Rage128 can be had for around $60 and the Savage4 starting at $30 since you prolly don't need more than 8 MB of memory. Matrox cards don't do any decoding at all if that was important (depending on the CPU). Some SiS cards do but I have no idea of the quality. Just as important is using the right software decoder. PowerDVD is best all around but with an ATI card you will prolly want to use Cinemaster (or their Cinemaster based software if bundled). DVD Genie also comes in handy.
 
I would price the ATI Rage Fury. I think they are falling into the $60 range for the 16meg version. Not a good card for 3D at all, but 2D is excellent and ATI does have the best DVD output of any card in my opinion.
 
8MB should be enough for common resolutions in full color progressive 2D and for DVD. Check the specs to be sure it will do the highest res/colors you need. More would only be needed for higher resolution 3D (and faster 3D rather than using the system memory via AGP). As said the Rage128 is best for DVD (second only to Radeon) and is at least as good if not better than Savage for 2D and I believe it is not available with less than 16MB so unless you really want to save money with the S4 8MB (which is available with faster SGRAM BTW), then prolly just go for the Rage128. It comes in many different flavors (names and configurations and even a faster Pro version) so some research is in order to get the best deal on no more than you need. Also, DVD acceleration is only available in the AGP models, not PCI.
 
I'd look for a Rage Fury 16MB, if you don't need TV-out. ATi has the best DVD decoding - they are the only ones to provide IDCT decoding on-chip in addition to motion compensation.
 
The Rage Xpert 2000 can be had for $60-$80. Very good 2D,
So So 3D but not so bad.
32 megs Ram
DVD assistance built in............Greg
 
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