Old Clunker Video Card upgrade question

[devrynerd]

Alrighty... I've lost my touch after since I built my last system. After starting college to learn about Computers, I've forgot everything about computers. So, my systems remains an Athlon 500 with a Voodoo 3 3000 card! I don't really play games (or have time to anyhow) however I just helped my bro-in-law assemble a computer. His is an Athlon 2500+, but with a V3 2000 (left over from old old system). We'd like to do some LAN play (older games, not too demanding... i.e. UT, Nascar Heat), so here are my delimas.

It looks like for the price the Geforce 4 Ti4400 is the best deal. I like ATI before because they were the underdog, but obviously not anymore. I don't mind to go with either company, but isn't ATI's 2d better looking still? (I know, opinion based)

Is the Geforce 4 Ti4400 overkill for my system? And would my 300W PS be sufficient enough? (Entec case, can't even remember model #)
What wouldn't be overkill? ATI 7000 or Geforce MX cards?
And for my Bro-in-law, what budget card for Barton 2500+ system? I'm thinking Ti4400.

I know, if I would upgrade my system (could for $200) w/out vid card, my vid card would be a huge drawback, and I really don't need a new system. I'd prefer waiting another year and a half after I graduate to build a complete system.

Thanks guys, love the site & forums. Read them anytime I have a chance... (not too often anymore )

*Edit* one of my main reasons for wanting a new card is XP drivers! I Love 2k, however I guess I gotta merge to XP like everyone else. **

Athlon 500
Gigabyte board
256 RAM
WD 20 GB 7200 HDD for OS (2MB cache)
Maxtor 80 GB
Voodoo 3 3000
SB Live Value

 

[kd2777]

If you like ATI go with a 9600 pro/xt/non pro (which ever your budget allows). The xt is the best at about 150, the pro will go for 140, and the non pro will go for about a 100 (newegg.com). I personly have the 9600pro and it works great. I play ghost recon and ravan shield on it and it looks good to me. One of my close friends has a 4400ti and he ikes it alot too. In the 3d mark scores I'm better be a few points, with a cheaper card. I run a 1.8 p4 and he runs a 2000 xp. Hope this helped.

 

[Salvador]

I think the hot deal would be to look for a good, used GF4 Ti4200. They are very good buys these days and give the 9600 a run for its money. The nice thing is that you can find one between $50-$70. The 4400 would be a waste IMO. You could easily overclock a 4200 to run at 4400 speeds and more without even making the card sweat.

ATI's are nice, but you're not going to find a good price on a used card. For some reason, the ATI cards seem to hold their value better.

Sal

 

[novice]

IMO, the best bang for the buck video card is still the Geforce 4 Ti4200. You should be able to find one for under $100. An ATI 9600 Pro will cost at least $50 more for a very small performance increase for a casual gamer. If you were a die hard gamer, then the 9600 Pro would probably be the minimum you would want to consider. But given your relatively slow processor, I think a 9600 Pro or higher would be somewhat of an overkill. Even a $70 FX5200 or ATI 9100 would be a good upgrade for your system, compared to your old voodoo 3. I speak from experience, having upgraded from Voodoo 3 to Geforce 2 MX, to Geforce 2 GTS to Geforce 3 to my current Ti4200. Along the way, I also have upgraded the other components as well, from a PIII 600 to XP 1700 Palomino to XP 1700 T-Bred. Naturally, the motherboards and ram were also upgraded along the way. Since your brother in law has a current potent CPU, his system would benefit more from the video card upgrade. Depending on his budget, I would go for the RAdeon 9100 on the low end, the Geforce 4 Ti 4200 or FX 5600 Ultra in the mid range, or the FX5900 non ultra on the upper end ($175 to $200). Of course, if he wants the ultimate, either the FX5900 Ultra or Radeon 9800 Pro are available for their rather high cost. Good luck.

 

[devrynerd]

Awesome! Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. Had no clue about the Ti4200, schweet stuff.

I know my bro-in-law would benefit the most. I would really like to have a card with good XP drivers... and maybe play AVI's (DiVX really) better. I have a hollywood plus MPEG2 decoder card for DVDs.... but I don't think I can get other pragrams to take advantage of it.

The Ti4200 would be able to run DVD's off the card itself wouldnt' it? What about the 9600 SE?

Thanks guys, great feedback.

 

[novice]

Originally posted by: devrynerd
Awesome! Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. Had no clue about the Ti4200, schweet stuff.

I know my bro-in-law would benefit the most. I would really like to have a card with good XP drivers... and maybe play AVI's (DiVX really) better. I have a hollywood plus MPEG2 decoder card for DVDs.... but I don't think I can get other pragrams to take advantage of it.

The Ti4200 would be able to run DVD's off the card itself wouldnt' it? What about the 9600 SE?

Thanks guys, great feedback.

The Ti4200 runs DVD's just fine with the software that came with it. I believe most if not all current cards are DVD capable, provided you have a DVD drive, of course.