inexpensive video card recommendation

[Rapamatic]

I am building a budget PC for a friend who will be using it mostly for web surfing and word processing. For around $30 I can get an ATI Expert 2000 32MB or a MSI TNT from newegg. I'm sure for what my friend will be doing this will be more than plenty. Would you recommend one of these over the other or are they basically the same?

Thanks!

 

[ElFenix]

the ati has a better quality board so that theres less signal degradation between the ramdac and the monitor cable, resulting in better looking text. but of course it will really blow ass for games. not that the cheapy tnt won't.

 

[Duvie]

For not much more priicewatch list radeon ve and radeon 7000 ve's for around 39-44 dollars...they are agp and range from 32-64mb sdram...

At least you will be dealing with a more up-to-date gpu that supports direct x 8.0...whether you use it now it is nice to know it will have a bit more life...

 

[Insane3D]

Yup, exactly what ElFenix said. I use the ATI Xpert2000 PRO for all my non-gaming customer builds. It's a great card, has hardware DVD support, and can support high refresh rates with excellent 2D. Great card for $35...

 

[Rapamatic]

Thanks for the quick reply, I think I'll use the ATI Expert2000 Pro. Newegg seems to have the same card for $29, $34, and $35. Is there a difference among the three?

 

[ElFenix]

it looks to me like all 3 are the same. ati does weird things like change ram speed without changing model numbers, though that doesn't really affect 2d performance.

 

[Insane3D]

I noticed that as well, but I couldn't quite discern any differences. There is a slightly more expensive model with TV out, but that doesn't seem to be any of those. My understanding is the OEM ATI cards use the ATI chips, but the boards are made by third party companies. It's probably just different versions of the same card. They should all perform equally.

 

[Rapamatic]

Thanks a lot for the great (and rapid) advice!!!

I love this place!