Low-end Vcard Upgrade

[BaboonGuy]

Currently I'm using an 8500LE, I love it for the games I play (counter-strike & war3--which i can play at 1280x1024 with high settings), however I have recently garnered a need for dual CRTs, something the 8500LE unfortunately cannot do. I don't wanna upgrade right now to something like a 9700 as I have no need for it. So, here's what I came up with the Sapphire 9000 128MB Pro. I figure the extra 64 MB is worth it since it's really not that much more $ and it made sense to me to think that a dual display setup would use more vram.

What do you guys think? Should I go for another card?

Thanks.

 

[GT578]

The performance will be lower......you should really check the RAM speed on that card before you buy also.

 

[selfbuilt]

Agreed, the performance of the 9000 is lower than the 8500LE. Even the 9000Pro would perform lower. Similar for the new 9200 series (basically same as 9000). The 9100 is the exact same thing as the 8500LE, so that wouldn't make a difference for you.

The only meaningful upgrade for you would be 9500/9600 Pro (avoid the non-pro versions, not worth for the performance loss for the price difference). On the Nvidia line, an old Ti4200 would be a marginal upgrade, and the new FX 5600 Ultra would be about par with the 9600 Pro. Again, avoid the FX 5200, as it would be slower than what you have.

 

[BaboonGuy]

hmm anybody know a place where i can get a good 4200 card for a decent price? newegg has some 4200s but the brands on them didn't look too good -- they use to carry like Siluros but I guess not anymore.

also anyone think 128M will make any sort of difference on a dual CRT setup vs. 64M?