So what are currently the PCI video card offered on the market?

[AnitaPeterson]

 

[adlep]

I believe, the fastest one are GF 2 MX 400's which are running for aroud $60.00....
or you can get Voodoo 5

 

[FalseChristian]

As MaximumPC said the Voodoo5-5500 PCI is the only PCI solution you want. It blows the doors off a cruddy, slow GeForce2-MX!

 

[tenoc]

There are also ATI R7000 solutions in 32 and 64mb flavours.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I apologize, the first post was empty because I accidentally pressed "enter", and a second later my Internet connection died (cable "blackout")

Here's the full story:

I'm thinking of buying a video card to upgrade an elderly HP 6350 (K6-2 333, 64 RAM) for my sister, and the proprietary motherboard doesn't have an AGP slot (gotta love HP and Compaq!)

So, my choice is limited to PCI cards.
Also:
1) I don't want to spend too much (after all, it's an old machine), so my absolute upper spending limit would be $100 CDN - the lower the better.
2) Even if it would be less expensive, I don't think that a Voodoo 5 monster would fit the case of the HP 6350

I've seen Visiontek Xtasy GF2 Mx200 for $90 CDN, and I think, so far, this is the best card/price I can get. Damn it - prices here are still higher than in the States...

Does anyone here knoew more about the PCI solutions from ATI and the rest? Is there a SiS 315 in PCI format?

One more thing - TV-out would be useful on the card, but if it's not there, I can give her a hardware DVD decoder...

Thanks

 

[Peter]

SiS 315 ... not yet I guess.

There's help underway from PowerColor, they just announced an excellent PCI card made from ATi Radeon 7500LE - VGA+DVI+TV multi-display, 64 MBytes of DDR RAM. Being an ATi, it does have excellent DVD decoder hardware as well, assisting ye olde K6-2/333 well enough to easily play DVDs flawlessly.

http://61.59.36.233/web/newscot.asp?news_id=0910422001

But if you just want DVD replay and TV out, you can aim as low as the ancient SiS 6326DVD cards - these already had DVD acceleration (including iDCT) and TV-out back in 1998, and they're still around, going for ridiculously low prices by now. 3D performance of course is not worth mentioning by today's standards.

regards, Peter

 

[Athlon4all]

GF4 MX 440 PCI will prolly be ahead of a V5 PCI. I know I've seen em, take a look on pricewatch

 

[Instagib]

I would by the Voodoo 5 and play only instagib until well eternity. Seriously I would get whatever your needs require.

 

[Auric]

Strictly speaking, V cards are not on the market and have a lot of compatibility issues. Not worth the trouble. Geforce 2MX are sad performers -little better than a Savage2000 in full color. Personally, I would go for a Radeon. The HyperZ stuff would help with the low bandwidth of a 33MHz PCI bus and the quality is superb. I'm not sure if the hardware DVD features would make up for a K6-2/333. Too close to minimum requirements to guess.

This new PCI DDR Radeon sounds intriguing but is it for PC or Mac? Mac have had DDR boards because they have 66MHz PCI which can make use of it.

 

[Peter]

Auric, the bus a graphics card is on does not "make use" of the RAM on the card. The graphics engine itself does, locally and directly right on the card.

That said, PowerColor's new card is for the PC upgrade market.

I've seen SiS 6326DVD do flawless DVD replay with a 233 MHz Pentium ... and since the ATi cards also have two stage hardware assist including iDCT, I don't see why a K6-2/333 should have a problem here. Unless the sound card used is really bad, that is. Consider putting something inexpensive in that can do straight AC3 5.1-channel loopthrough (C-Media 8738-6CH sound chip on PCI card).

regards, Peter

 

[rbV5]

Actually a V3 2000 PCI would be a good match for a K2-333. Cheap and compatable. Saw one on FS/T for $25 US.

 

[sash1]

You can check out FS/FT to avoid the prices in Canada. I would look to go with a VooDoo, as they have good PCI cards for cheap, and the 2d quality is great as well.

~Aunix

 

[Peter]

The Voodoo 3 doesn't have anywhere near as good DVD decoders as the ATi chip, their 3D is getting old as well, and there won't be any significant driver updates anymore either.

The ATi and SiS chips (current 315 or brandnew 330) however are actively maintained products.

regards, Peter

 

[rbV5]

<< The Voodoo 3 doesn't have anywhere near as good DVD decoders as the ATi chip >>


"One more thing - TV-out would be useful on the card, but if it's not there, I can give her a hardware DVD decoder..."
The H+ would make more sense on an underpowered rig IMHO, why pay for what you don't need? Driver updates will be mostly unnecissary as well. I stick my V3 into my rig as a secondary card on occasion, even WinXP has great drivers if you don't need glide. 2D is great, works great right out of the box... still. No card will make that a respectable gaming rig nor a multimedia box, but would be fine for light gaming and an occasional DVD, and perfectly well for general stuff.

 

[Peter]

OK. let's talk about things that make sense and those that don't ... The contenders: In the red corner, a current, supported graphics card that has hardware DVD decoders, TV out, plus drivers and applications that support both right out of the box - and in the blue corner, an outdated one from a dead manufacturer that doesn't, accompanied by another card at extra cost that brings the missing features, hoping the two work together.

regards, Peter

 

[RobsTV]

For my old K6 system, Voodoo3 had no problems playing DVD with 300MHz CPU using ATI dvdplayer 3.1.

But, when I upgraded V3 to a GF2 MX, in some games that use T&L, performance doubled compared to the V3.
In all games, performance with GF2 MX was as good or better than the V3, even when using Glide.

With such a poor CPU, performance is easily maxed out. (ended up bumping my K6 up to K6-2+ 450@600MHz).
However, what you end up with is the ability to run at higher resolutions.
With the V3, if an old game played at 800x600x16 @ 25fps max, using the GF2 MX that same game may get 30fps
at 800x600x16. The advantage with the MX is you can crank up the resolution to 1024x768, and it still gets 30fps.

Last of all, with the V3 you are stuck using max 16bit color and 16megs.
Some newer games require a video card that supports 32bit color. (LinksLS, Myst III, etc).
While a 300MHz machine won't handle 32bit well, at least you CAN run the game, unlike owners of the V3.
Links LS Golf sim's requirement for a 32bit card was the last time any 3dfx card saw my machines.

I have a friend with a Compaq in the same position. He at least has a 1200MHz Celeron.
So far, looks like the best bet for price/performance is GF2 MX 400 PCI at around $70.

 

[rbV5]

I'll stand by my suggestion.

(if for no other reason, I still like my old V3 , it worked great fro me untill I got my AIW radeon, so your not going to convince me its a poor choice for an old rig)

 

[RobsTV]

<< I'll stand by my suggestion.

(if for no other reason, I still like my old V3 , it worked great fro me untill I got my AIW radeon, so your not going to convince me its a poor choice for an old rig) >>



Yep, you have made a great suggestion.
Just like for you, the V3 also worked great for me, until I got the GF2 MX.

 

[acidvoodoo]

<< (ended up bumping my K6 up to K6-2+ 450@600MHz).

how u manage that overclock? i have a k6-2 450 in a second rig and wanna give it a boost to cope with latest games lol. what bus+mulitipliar u use? and did u need extra cooling? if so, what?

 

[RobsTV]

These CPU's interpret the 2x multiplier as 6x, so use 100x2 to get 600MHz.
I think these "+" CPU's were designed for mobile use, so require a lower voltage to begin with.
Using normal cooling, and runs much cooler than the K6-III 400@448 (112x4) it replaced.

 

[acidvoodoo]

i don't think the one i'm running is a +, how can i tell? i can't find anything in sissandra :S