Trying to milk the last bit out of my system... help?

[SunRayLight]

Ok, I've got a Tbird 1.4Ghz matched up with a geforce2gts 32mb right now, and it's slowly beginning to show its age. I suffered through the slideshow that was neverwinter nights, and now that i've got ut2003, things have slowed to a crawl. I've got an lcd monitor, so i'd like to be at its native resolution of 1280x1024 (impossible with the gf2gts).

So i guess the question is... what's the best video card for my system? I'd have to rule out the 9700 and ti4600 (cost), plus i don't think i'd have the cpu to fully take advantage of those cards...

so cliffs notes version:
Best video card for tbird 1.4?
- has dvi
- 1280x1024
- don't need/care about aa and other bells and whistles
- not 9700/ti4600

thanks!

 

[TechieJ]

The best budget solutions now are the Radeon 8500 and the Geforce4 Ti4200 both which hover around 95-140ish. The problem with this is that you won't be able to play UT2003 at 1280x1024 with acceptable frame rates.

 

[crudas]

MSI Geforce4 Ti4400 Champion Edition

Costs $171.00 from QbitPC

I have one of these and it works well and is one of the cheapest 4400's around. Should run decent on your system at 1280x1024.

CRU

 

[Goi]

As Techie mentioned, the cards to get are the Radeon 8000 and the Ti4200, whicever fits your budget. For UT2003, the Ti4200 would be faster though, especially at the high detail settings. At medium details the difference isn't a lot.

 

[SunRayLight]

Thanks everybody for the advice... now I suppose it's whichever one of the cards (8500 or ti4200) gets down to around $100 for the 128mb version first. Time to scour hot deals...

 

[Goi]

Tha 8500s are almost at that mark already, if they're not already...the Ti 4200s still have a way to go..

 

[alkemyst]

mmmm i want neverwinter nights so my mighty monk can conquer

baldur's gate 1 and 2 rox