newb video card question

[purpleparalyzer]

I assume the 3 series is older and less powerful but i could be wrong just checking.

 

[Bobthelost]

They are both pretty crap for gaming so i'm going to have to pass.

If you want to run word then you're sorted with either.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: purpleparalyzer
I assume the 3 series is older and less powerful but i could be wrong just checking.

The GF3's were current hardware about four years ago. I still have one of the best cards that age, the Ti-500, in this particular old (and about to be retired) PC. It's fast for 2D stuff, but compared to anything from the last couple of years, quite slow for 3D.

However, I seem to recall that the IGP for the 6100 series used newer design GPU features than a GF3 (it does Dx9, and GF3 just does Dx8). Why not read the specs on one of the MB makers' web sites? Or take a look at the AT review of the Biostar 6100 MB?

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2539

It looks to me as if the 6100 is roughly the same speed as an FX5600, which in my own personal experience. is slower than a Ti-4200, so maybe the Ti-250 or Ti-300 from the GF3 series might be similar. Never having chosen to buy any IGP solution MB's, I have to go on raw numbers . .


😉

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: purpleparalyzer
I assume the 3 series is older and less powerful but i could be wrong just checking.

Well, it's certainly older, and less powerful in the sense that the 6 series will support shader model 3.0 (DirectX 9c instead of just DirectX 8), but as to performance, it's questionable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_NVIDIA_Graphics_Processing_Units

A good performance indicator is the number of pipes, and there, the GeForce 3 is still ahead of the 6100.

In case it's of any use, a 6200 performs comparably to a 4400 Ti (faster in some measures; slower in others -- hard to say precisely, depends on the test in part). A 6100 is quite a bit slower than a 6200. A GeForce 3 is slower than a 4400 Ti, but possibly not by a large extent. So there's a good chance, IMO, with an older application at least, that a Geforce 3 will out-perform a 6100. Could be a snail vs. turtle race.

Please take the above with a lot of salt. I haven't spent much time benchmarking low-end graphics or reviewing others'. A lot depends on the particular application, and even system, and in a 6100 vs. GeForce3 case, the systems would normally be very different. What matters in the end is the performance on the target system on the target application and configuration -- nobody knows better than you what that would be.