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Need a good PCI video card

F

FSUpaintball

Banned
My friend doesn't have an AGP slot, and I need to help him find a good PCI video card. He doesn't want to spend too much money (fortunately, most PCIs are cheap).

I DON'T want a VooDoo 5. The drivers aren't going to be good enough in the future, and Tribes 2 really eats it with that card.

I was recommending a GeForce 2 MX PCI, but then I heard they take a big performance hit in PCI.

I don't know much about the Radeon PCI cards. If there's a really good one, I'll check it out.

He has a Pentium III 933 MHz with 256 MB RAM and Win ME.

Which card would be best?
 
Well IMHO the V4/5's are the only cards that really perform that well in their PCI variants... besides them the only viable options are a PCI MX/GTS or a PCI Radeon.
From what I've seen the PCI Radeon tends to take less of a hit from going to the PCI bus relative to the GF2's... and their HyperZ capabilities should be even more useful on the PCI variants then the AGP variants.
So I'd say go with a PCI Radeon over a PCI MX.
 
I second the recomendation on the Voodoo 4/5. If you don't have an AGP slot, then you really cant put a more powerfurl 3d gaming card in there other than a 3Dfx card. ATI and nVidia based boards really are great for AGP, but they have really neglected those who may be bound to PCI. And if you are looking to play Tribes 2, a Voodoo 5 can handle the game very well (your above average system helps as well) if using proper drivers. I used the WickedGL drivers on my Voodoo 3 3000 PCI and actually got T2 to run playable on my old gateway system (a system much worse than yours). 3Dfx did a great job in remembering those who wanted or needed a PCI gaming card.

There are MX PCI cards, but they won't be any easier on you wallet or on your system, they are rare and not inexpensive (when compared to MX AGP solutions).

There is still ATI to consider, yet their cheapest PCI solution can be found for $100 and up.

You can't really go too wrong with getting a Voodoo 4/5 PCI. AGP has effectively made PCI obsolete for primary video boards. Even though 3Dfx is gone, I do not see any new powerful PCI cards to be released anytime soon if not never.
 
Just upgraded to Creative GeForce 2MX 32Mb SDRAM PCI with Detonator 4.
Works fine with this rig.
The word is that Voodoo 5-5000 is the best. But 3dfx are out, and it might need more powerful Power supply.

😎
 
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