NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 32MB PCI VS. Voodoo PCI

4estGimp

Junior Member
Dec 19, 2000
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I'm interested in the NVIDIA card but read once that it doesn't really utilize PCI very well and a Voodoo 4 or 5 would be better.
Any opinions?:confused:
 

ctll

Senior member
Sep 28, 2000
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read the reviews by anandtech. (nvidia beats the crud outta 3dfx nowadays)
 

4estGimp

Junior Member
Dec 19, 2000
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I read the great reviews about the nvidia BUT it was AGP not PCI. Is it as effective when it's a PCI card?
 

romstar

Member
Nov 30, 2000
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can somebody list all the current pci 3d cards that are avalable from the different companies (which have good 3d performance) for us people with pci slots???
 

vanderStoep

Senior member
Mar 1, 2000
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In PCI you indeed loose a little bit of the benefit of the gf mx, something the voodoo does not loose. However even in PCI the geforce is way faster than the voodoo 4.
 

HappyGamer2

Banned
Jun 12, 2000
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Which is the best pci card?
It depends on your PC.
it depends on how much cash you have.
It depends on the games you play.
It depends on the tasks you perform besides games.

the voodoo5 is the best if you have a cpu above 500 (non k6-2), can afford it, have room in your case for it, and a power supply 200 watts or higher
 

RobsTV

Platinum Member
Feb 11, 2000
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HappyGamer2 wrote:
"the voodoo5 is the best if you have a cpu above 500 (non k6-2), can afford it, have room in your case for it, and a power supply 200 watts or higher"

Don't forget to add the voodoo5 is best if you like to bang your head against walls, are insane, do not care about any future support for DX or operating systems, do not care about any warranty, don't mind spending $150 today, and seeing the same thing being unloaded in 3 months for $75, you do not plan on buying anything new (games/hardware), or don't expect on making any system changes from what you get today, (IE. no fixes).
 

HappyGamer2

Banned
Jun 12, 2000
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RobsTV, you have some good points, but,:

what big OS system changes are coming up in the near future? even in the next year? Hell I'm still using win98 SE

DX changes? will there be any in the next year? the voodoo5 works fine with dx8.

$150 now for a card that will cost 75 dollars in 3 months, true the price will come down, but they will for all graphics cards, just think what the geforce gts 32mb ddr agp will cost in three months, about 85 to 120 dollars most likely.

hardware changes?? you should be ok with a voodoo5 "PCI" for a while even if you make hardware changes, the voodoo5 pci will never work on any new hardware? is that what your saying??????

New games, you have a good point here , but even so, even if i run into problems with a few new games that is still less problems than I have now with my Radeon card, lol Note i have a voodoo5 agp and a Radeon 32 mb ddr. Oh as if the geforce cards are perfect right now with a new driver realeses every week.

remember not everyone builds a new pc or gets a new MB every 4 months, if these guys did they won't be asking these questions and need a pci card.

also the way things are going now the average life span of a graphics card for a hardcore gamers is about 6 months to a 1 year(even less), depending on how much cash you have and how heavy your into it.

I plan on sticking with my dead voodoo5 for a least 6 more months, why should i drop it, it runs fine. if i run to problems down the road, (I sure don't expect any for at least 6 months to a year) I will just get a newer( the next)generation card, heck in a less than year i should be able to get the next generation card at discount prices since it will be old hat already.

your best point was the possible problems with new games, true the live span of the voodoo5 will be reduced with out future drivers, but it is still the best pci card you can buy today.





 

BFG10K

Lifer
Aug 14, 2000
22,709
3,003
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The GF2 MX feels the pinch of the PCI bus and hence its T&L unit is not able to get the data it needs. As a result the performance doesn't benefit as much in CPU limited situations as it does with its AGP brother.

As for high resolutions, a V5 has a higher effective fillrate than the GF2 MX so it will give you better results. However 3dfx have gone out of business so that means no driver updates or support. While their drivers work perfectly now, you have to ask yourself whether you're willing to risk it.

As I said in your other thread, buy yourself a new motherboard and get an AGP video card of some sort (probably a Radeon).
 

Deeko

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
30,213
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No offense, but some of the people that posted here really don't know what they're talking about :) Anyway, the V5 is not really an AGP card, it is a PCI card running at AGP bus speeds. Therefore, the V5 takes little to no performance hit going from AGP to PCI. The GeForce series does take a sizable hit. And since the V5 was already faster than the MX, and it's not too much more expensive, the V5 is really the only PCI card to consider. That is, unless you love your 3DMark.

RobsTV, what exactly are you talking about? For one, the V5 has no driver problems, so it's not that big of a deal that there won't be driver support. But, if you read the thread Robotech just posted, there is a group of engineers that will continue to make drivers and stuff for the V5. And, true it won't work in a new OS, but do yuo really think you are going to update to a new OS before you update your card?
 

Rigoletto

Banned
Aug 6, 2000
1,207
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?! You don't likely need support so long as your card survives your initial retail policy period. Hundreds of thousands of these cards have been sold- driver and installation issues are well sorted out by now. The Voodoo is plainly more sensible for *PCI- get the V5 5500 or goto another motherboard. Only get the V4 if you really see it as a good way.
Basically, T+L support is disappointing in software. V5 plays games great, and will for a long time.